Additional personnel: Dave Ferguson (trumpet); Brendan O'Brien (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Clavinet, tambourine, handclaps, percussion); Steve Stewart, Gena Rankin (handclaps).

Engineers: Nick DiDia, Chris Goss, Tracy Chisholm.

Recorded at Westerly Ranch, Santa Ynez, California and Hollywood Sound, Los Angeles, California.

"Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart" was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Personnel: Scott Miller (vocals, percussion); Scott Weiland (vocals); Robert DeLeo (guitar, electric harpsichord, vibraphone, 6-string bass, hand claps, percussion, background vocals); Dean DeLeo (guitar, 6-string bass, hand claps); Dave Ferguson (trumpet); Brendan O'Brien (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Clavinet, organ, tambourine, hand claps, percussion); Eric Kretz (Fender Rhodes piano, drums, percussion); Gena Maria Rankin, Steve Stewart (hand claps).

Recording information: Hollywood Sound, Los Angeles, CA; Westerly Ranch, Santa Ynez, CA.

Editor: Ron Boustead.

Photographers: John Eder; Alison Dyer; Nick DiDia; Stone Temple Pilots.

Purple established that Stone Temple Pilots were not one-album wonders but Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop illustrates that the band aren't content with resting on their laurels. Without abandoning their trademark hard rock, STP have added a new array of sounds that lend depth to their immediately accessible hooks. Dean DeLeo layers his guitar tracks to create distinctive, multi-textured sounds that make his riffs more powerful. Though there are hints of grunge scattered throughout the album, what makes Tiny Music impressive is how the band brings in elements of psychedelia, trancy shoegaze, jangle pop, and other forms of melodic alternative guitar pop. By accentuating their pop tendencies in both their riffs and melodies, they are able to slip in a number of creative arrangements which manage to expand their musical repertoire significantly. Although the lyrics are nearly as ambitious as the music, they simply don't have the same weight. But with a band like Stone Temple Pilots, the music is what matters and Tiny Music showcases the band at their most tuneful and creative. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

On their third album, Stone Temple Pilots distance themselves from the grunge movement that was their springboard into the multi-platinum neighborhood. From the onset, TINY MUSIC... finds the group dabbling with their sound; "Press Play," a one-minute instrumental rides a slinky funk groove, juiced along by returning producer Brendan O'Brien on Fender Rhodes piano. From here, the DeLeo brothers and drummer Eric Kretz show a willingness to musically experiment with Beatlesque songs ("Lady Picture Show"), a Leon Redbone-like instrumental replete with slack-guitar phrasings ("Daisy") and a loung-ey track that lulls the listener with liberal applications of vibraphone and harpsichord ("And So I Know").

Lyrically, Weiland continues to enigmatically allude to matters of personal importance--whether it be the price of fame in "Adhesive," featuring a muted trumpet solo by Dave Ferguson that conveys the song's somber tone, or the shallowness of a fictional girlfriend in "Art School Girl." As a whole, TINY LIGHTS... gives Stone Temple Pilots the chance to shrug off the grunge mantle that many others continue to cling to.