Stone Temple Pilots: Purple (Atlantic)

AFTER ONE of my brother-in-law's Thursday-night poker games, the 20-somethings there played Pearl Jam's first album repeatedly until people got tired of it. So they put on Stone Temple Pilots instead, and everybody was happy again — funny seeing as how they sound exactly the same. Said similarity is something rock critics hold against them, since it means they're not "original," which I don't get because I've never noticed Pearl Jam (or anybody from Seattle) being huge musical innovators: my friend Frank swears Eddie Vedder sings like David Clayton-Thomas used to in Blood, Sweat & Tears!