MUSIC REVIEW: Tori Amos - Crucify [EP]

"Tori Amos' covers will make you forget the original song."

Tori Amos is quite simply a wonderful musician. Her music comes from the heart, she truly uses her voice like an instrument, and her singing just melts me. Because I highly respect Tori musically, I enjoy hearing covers that reveal her own musical qualities and her distinctive revision of songs she likes. "Angie," a song from the Rolling Stones' more decadent days, is tremendously beautiful with the implicit intimacy of Tori's effortless singing. Great piano arrangements too. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is truly radical compared to the original. Instead of Kurt Cobain's loud, crass delivery with ringing guitars and pounding drums, Tori sits down at the piano and sings it quietly and beautifully. Finally, Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" gets the Tori-treatment. The piano is achingly good here, and Tori's voice...well, its awfully pretty. Funny how I've never really loved Led Zeppelin, but covers of Led Zeppelin songs are almost always excellent.

The EP version of "Crucify" is, in my opinion, superior to the album version. Although this one is shorter and lacks some of the piano flourishes of the "real" version, I think this is a more compelling arrangement, with the added guitars. The EP version of "Winter" is unchanged, which is fine, because you shouldn't mess with perfection.

MUSIC REVIEW: Tori Amos - Hey Jupiter [EP]

"Music this good can speak for itself."

Tori Amos' singles/EPs are usually good treats because they feature interesting remixes of the eponymous album versions, and sometimes some great covers and superb b-sides. Hey Jupiter is no exception, making it an inviting disc for the collection. "Hey Jupiter" from Boys For Pele is an utterly gorgeous song, and I thought it was inappropriate to remix something so...perfect. The EP version doesn't surpass the original -- it adds some harrowing drum programming and almost an industrial vibe. Yes, it's cool, but it overwhelms the simple intimacy of the original, which was basically just piano and voice. The four live cuts are very worthwhile: both "Sugar" and "Honey" are great songs (it's truly a shame that "Honey" didn't make it on Under The Pink). "Professional Widow" is considerably more delicate until the end, but it retains that weirdly lovable vitriol. This little disc culminates in a beautiful (and I mean BEAUTIFUL) rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Judy Garland would be quite humbled to hear this. Tori's graceful fragility and shimmering emotional precision just kill me on this song. Heck, the EP's worth the 8 bucks just for this song.

MUSIC REVIEW: Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

"Beautiful in so many ways."

Perhaps it's redundant to add yet another flattering review to what is already a chorus of praise. Still, I'm suddenly inspired to write as I listen to this CD and yet again marvel at how truly excellent it is. The emotional layers of her songs are not as furtive as later releases, which is one distinctive merit relative to its peers in her catalogue. There has been no other CD I've ever owned with such unadulterated emotional clarity, although other Tori albums come close. She is an artist of remarkable honesty and beauty.

Here, Tori rocks with her piano, and she also writes gorgeous ballads the likes of which are unattainable to lesser artists. She is complemented by lovely orchestrations and lyrics that tantalize with their complex imagery. Certainly one of the best artists of the nineties, and her brilliance puts today's pop puppets to shame. There's something magical about this album. It's too difficult to describe what exactly makes it so good. Just listen to it yourself. If you aren't moved, you'd better check for a pulse.

Some would say that Little Earthquakes is insuperable compared to Tori's other work. I don't feel this way; I think each of her albums offers something different but no less wonderful. And wow, she has a sweet voice, doesn't she?

MUSIC REVIEW: Tori Amos - To Venus and Back

"Good and/or great."

Tori Amos' studio work on this 2CD set is somewhat polarizing. With From The Choirgirl Hotel, Tori fleshed out her sound by adding denser arrangements with the rest of her band. With To Venus And Back, she sticks with this formula but meets with less success. Some of the songs feel overproduced, which handicaps the level of intimacy usually associated with her music. With Choirgirl this worked, but here the results are iffy. Tori doesn't cut loose with her voice as much, there's way less piano balladry, and some of the songs are a little 'ehhh'. However, the album does have its share of highlights. The ethereal, dreamy "Datura" is wonderfully enigmatic. It's to her credit that Tori somehow manages emotional expression with a fairly detached voice. Also, "Concertina," "1000 Oceans," "Bliss," and the provocative "Lust" are almost as good as anything she's ever put to record, I think. My problem is that sometimes she waxes the techno sound a bit too much.

But then we come to disc 2. The live album included is incredible. I've never seen her live, and I'll take for granted that this album is no replacement, but it's great for a live recording. It's full of revelatory moments as Tori radically rearranges many of her songs and boosts the energy level. For some reason, I don't like most live albums on my first listen, but this is my one exception. The haunting "Bells For Her" is entirely different on a piano that isn't all busted. I don't know where "Cooling" comes from, but it's an incredible showcase of Tori at her best: an emotionally intense piano ballad with utterly beautiful vocals. The violent "The Waitress" is extended by six or seven minutes, and it totally rocks. Overall, the setlist (you can see it above) is basically perfect, and Tori's onstage charisma is remarkable. The b-side "Purple People" is one of her best songs so that's good to hear. "Sugar", cut from Under the Pink if I remember correctly, is f'ing awesome.

The studio album is not her best, but the live album is one of the best things she's released. So really, the album on the whole rules.

MUSIC REVIEW: Tori Amos - Boys for Pele

"Opaque, confusing... beautiful and perfect."

Is this, the most difficult Tori Amos album, actually the best Tori Amos album? Concurrently seducing and frustrating, Boys For Pele is Tori Amos' easily most complex and enigmatic work. With her previous albums, Tori showed an unashamed pretentiousness in songwriting. Even so, she was consistently able to isolate and preserve the emotional element, making for stirring music that generated a throng of fervent fans. It was her alternately accessible yet eminently deep songs that people loved.

Boys For Pele isn't quite the same. It's confounding, confusing, and challenging. Here, the music is very experimental compared to what we expect, with traditional song structure generally often eschewed, and arrangements are highly varied. There are pianos and rock instruments, but also lots of harpsichords! Tori's idiosyncratic lyrics are complex and strange, heavy on puzzling imagery and surrealism. For many people, the album doesn't seem to work. The level of intimacy ascribed to Tori's previous work is awfully obscure, which may alienate some fans.

Fortunately, this album is worth the work to make it "stick." It is indeed intriguing, and its mystique implores exploration. Analysis reveals that the songs are deeper than they first appear; Tori has crammed enough peculiarities under the surface that it succeeds in making her relentless experimentation highly satisfying. Many moments positively shimmer with genius (particularly on the first two-thirds of the disc), and others are more subtle in their brilliance due to stylish quirks. But it's all good; there's not a single song I don't like. Some songs, like "Professional Widow", are just freakin' nuts. Tori also proves that sometimes all you need is a piano and a voice (and what a voice!) to create some of the most beautiful music around.

MUSIC REVIEW: Tori Amos - From the Hotel Choirgirl

"Amazingly good."

This is certainly Tori Amos' most robust album, as it adopts an approach that fleshes out the roles of the other musicians. Tori's piano shines as always, but it's not always the driving instrument in the music (lots of guitar here). The compositions are more "rocking" and less florid, less delicate. The arrangements are denser and that is new to feature to Tori's sound, and yet because of her magical touch they preserve a very warm and human element that makes them so accessible. As always, vocals are superb: her effortless (but hardly lackadaisical) delivery is charming, visceral, and powerful, with semi-conscious phrasing and a semi-cool tone.

Tori's albums are always snapshots of where she is at the moment, and at this point she was obviously very intuitive emotionally. Her lyrical subject matter takes on staple Tori topics, but with particularly keen emotional expression. All her emphatic poetry is there, it's just slightly more obscure than Little Earthquakes and Under The Pink. However, the album is consistently excellent and proves to be extremely well rounded, both lyrically and musically. There's also considerable variety, including the requisite piano ballads "Jackie's Strength" and "Northern Lad" (two beautiful songs), the dance-inflected beats of "Raspberry Swirl," (virgin territory for Tori; a fun tune with a nice combination of wit and sass), and the hard-rocking "She's Your Cocaine" (complete with rumbling bass and quirky melotron). The album finishes notably strong (she often saves the best for last). With the final three tracks, Tori flexes her musical vocabulary and comes across as intelligent, classy, even adventurous.

From The Choirgirl Hotel is pleasantly unpredictable and makes for joyous listening. Boys For Pele sometimes feels heavy-handed and thick, and Under The Pink is a little inconsistent. As such, From The Choirgirl Hotel is Tori's best work since Little Earthquakes, but it has more variety and creative songcraft.

MUSIC REVIEW: Tori Amos - Under the Pink

"Takes time to sink in -- then it hits you with its brilliance."

First things first: Under the Pink is not as good as Little Earthquakes overall. But considering Little Earthquakes is one of the most beautifully heartfelt albums I've ever heard (6/5 stars by Amazon's ratings), it's not like Under the Pink stood much of a chance. Nonetheless, it captures plenty of emotional power between Tori's emotive and elegant singing, her deeply personal lyrics, and her expressive piano playing.

Under the Pink is also a little less immediately accessible than Little Earthquakes. For the first several listens it's merely good, but it seems like the album's true greatness is bubbling below the surface, just explode and inundate the listener. The first 1/3 or so of the album hits you right away. "Pretty Good Year" is a gentle tune, and it moves into the witty and rocking "God," whose chorus contains an amazing hook. The beautiful "Bells for Her" is played on a weirdly tuned piano, but strangely enough the effect is chilling and stirring all at once. That harrowing chorus gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. "Past the Mission" features guest vocals by Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, of all people. Surprisingly, he's a big contributor to the greatness of this track. The bouncy, light feeling choruses are juxtaposed with that slow, somber, and delicately sung chorus. During the chorus, Reznor's own whispered vocal lines layer Tori's lovely voice. The effect is very cool. (You might consider this to be special praise because normally I hate Trent Reznor.)

And then most people might listen to the rest of the album and not be excited. "What a good album this could have been," some will say, and go listen to something else. These people will not know what they missed. Although the later portion of the album are less approachable, it also offers the best songs in the long run. The astonishing 10 minute ballad "Yes, Anastasia" is particularly incredible, as is the one-two emotional punch of the back to back ballads, "Icicle" and "Cloud on My Tongue." The jazzy feel of "The Wrong Band" makes for a fun track, while the heavily rhythmic "Space Dog" and snappy "Cornflake Girl" are both hook-laden rockers. "Baker Baker" is a pretty song, and the "The Waitress" is enjoyable in its irony.

At first I thought Tori had toned down on the personal and emotional side of her songs, but it's just more subtle than before. The great stuff here is just as good as the good stuff on Little Earthquakes, and everything else is pretty darn close. A worthy, but not quite equal, follow-up to the yet unparalleled Little Earthquakes.