Alternative Weekend - Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop

One of the great things about writing Alternative Weekend posts is that you can listen to the music that you are writing about at the same time.

Take the album that I am going to choose THREE songs from. I have only just started listening to the Stone Temple Pilots’, ‘Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop', and only by chance as I spotted a post on Facebook celebrating 24 years since the release of their third album.

I have only listened to their debut, ‘Core’ before which I found very patchy. The singles, ‘Plush’ and ‘Creep’ were good but I couldn’t get into much more.

Source

The Facebook link contained 1500 comments, so I read a few and zoned in on the tracks which I thought might be good.

Some of you know I have great difficulty getting into new tunes and so I was not expecting much and waited for the Grunge sounds to start. The Stone Temple Pilots are or were a grunge band, right?

But it was not Grunge, but a new sound and not what I expected at all.

Lady Picture Show – Stone Temple Pilots (Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop – 1996)

Everyone seemed to love Lady Picture Show and so this was the first one I checked out. Was I listening to a rockier version of The Beatles? I had to pinch myself to make sure.

The fabulous four would never have been so rocky, but the similarities are startling. The latter years' sounds of the Beatles can be heard in this song.

Was it intentional?, I don’t know but I do like it after just 2 or 3 plays, that is something unusual.

And So I Know – Stone Temple Pilots (Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop – 1996)

This dreamy song is as far from my expectations of the band as I can think of. We are presented with a moody, melancholic bluesy sound that I could listen to while relaxing on a boat during a summer’s afternoon.

Where are the noisy guitars and distortion? You won't find anything like that within this song.

Sit back, close your eyes and drink some Martini on the rocks, if you can find any in the damn shops!

Adhesive – Stone Temple Pilots (Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop – 1996)

There were so many mentions of this song that I could not overlook it. Initially, I was not getting it, and the chorus especially was disjointed to my hearing and brain.

Three or four more plays and this was becoming my firm favourite. 'Adhesive' does have some bite, strange timings and changes direction at times when you’re not expecting it, albeit for a short time.

This is not progressive music, so don’t expect it. I do love good harmonies, especially in the minor chords and this song delivers, especially in the latter couple of minutes.

I can hear a little of the regular Stone Temple Pilots sound within Adhesive, but I always thought their sound was decent to start with. If your perception of the band is 'Plush' then have a listen to this.

As for the rest of the album, I haven’t listened to it much as yet. If you have and like it, then let me know what you think of my picks.

The single, "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" is known to me and sounds more like their earlier work. It is a track I, unfortunately, overplayed several years ago.

I do try and find some kind of documentary of bands I investigated and found one that is around 25 minutes on YouTube. The songs mentioned above are close to the end of this clip.

When I have a chance, I will stick ’Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop’ in the car and have a good and proper listen, that is when Boris lets us go out again.

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