Tori Amos - American Doll Posse

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from the sandbox:

so the new tori amos album has been revealed: http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/02/20/exclusive-tori-amos-plans-new-record-world-tour-buy-britneys-hair-and-more/

discuss.

-- juan a (john_aranda), February 20th, 2007 8:55 PM. (el juan) (link)

― StanM, Thursday, 22 February 2007 09:31 (eighteen years ago)

i like the way that link makes it sound as if tori is going to buy britney's hair.

the promo picture is awesome but not enough to make me bothered about tori amos again.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 22 February 2007 09:33 (eighteen years ago)

Ouch. URL's aren't linked automatically and email address filtering doesn't work yet? :-(

Anyway, here's a VERY BIG version of the front cover for all you handwriting/bible/menstrual blood fans!

2700x2700 jpeg

― StanM, Thursday, 22 February 2007 09:34 (eighteen years ago)

(er, 2700 x 2027)

― StanM, Thursday, 22 February 2007 09:35 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

guys, have we heard this clip?

http://buzzsugar.com/188416

"Big Wheel" I like it, dare I say

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:27 (eighteen years ago)

reminds me of dolly

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:27 (eighteen years ago)

i been on the other side got my
lip smacked now that i'm drivin' you
call me call me in
you think i am your possession you're
messin' with a southern girl but my
recipe is on with your
stale bread yeah it's high but
baby i don't need your cash so baby maybe i'll leave you

big wheel to my fantasy
don't you throw your shade (shit?) on me
i've been a-drinkin' down your pine (pain?), gonna
turn that whiskey into rain
wash it away (x2)
wash you away, boy
let's go

i've been on my knees but you're
super want to please did you
take me take me in
so you are a superstar get off the cross we need the wood
somehow you arise
but with attitude (without a tool?)
I know honey you're a pro, but
baby i don't need your cash momma got it all in hand now

big wheel to my fantasy
don't you throw that shade on me
i've been drinkin' yeah down your pine gonna
turn that whiskey into the rain
and wash it away
wash it away boy
wash you away now

gimme 8
gimme 7
gimme 6
gimme 5
gimme 4
gimme 3
i i i am a em eye ell eff don't you forget
m. i. l. f. don't you forget
m. i. l. f. don't you forget
baby i don't need your cash so baby maybe i leave you

big wheel to my fantasy
don't you throw that shade on me
i've been a-drinkin' yeah down your pine gonna
turn that whiskey into rain

big wheel to my fantasy
don't you throw that shade on me
i've been a-drinkin' yeah down your pine gonna
turn that whiskey into rain gonna
turn your whiskey into rain

out...

― Pye Poudre, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 20:31 (eighteen years ago)

yup, that sounds like tori.

― Emily Bjurnhjam, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 20:42 (eighteen years ago)

i really kinda like the sound. fun - it's like a good combo of old tori and new tori. just one song tho, so who knows.

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 20:53 (eighteen years ago)

Heh. All right. I'm not sure I'd go for a whole album of Country MILF Tori, but it's a fun throwaway and it points at a rougher-edged production (thank god).

― Erroneous Botch, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 21:07 (eighteen years ago)

thank god is right

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

ok so 'big wheel' is too goddamn catchy not to love. having not written anything approximating to a melody for, what, five years (being REALLY generous towards scarlet's walk, where has this suddenly come from?

not fair, i didn't want to be interested in tori again!

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 10:31 (eighteen years ago)

i know i really like it. we have some big albums coming up. tori, bjork, madonna

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:46 (eighteen years ago)

This is actually pretty good, although I expected sth completely different after seeing that picture upthread.

― baaderonixx, Thursday, 12 April 2007 08:00 (eighteen years ago)

here's a clip from another new song called "teenage hustling" that was broadcast on NPR: http://download.yousendit.com/02D98C7F45974431

― el juan, Thursday, 12 April 2007 09:14 (eighteen years ago)

yeah, this is surprisingly decent! god her last album sucked hard.

― impudent harlot, Thursday, 12 April 2007 09:46 (eighteen years ago)

(not to say i'll go out of my way to hear this one, either, but we'll see)

― impudent harlot, Thursday, 12 April 2007 09:46 (eighteen years ago)

teenage hustling sounds great! i'm confused. how can someone who wrote sleeps with butterflies come out with something that sounds so, well, decent?

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

i saw this article & remembered that.. on a level tori is absurdly awesome

<a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1556300/20070404/id_0.jhtml">Tori Amos Forms Anti-Bush Posse By Mutating Into Greek Goddesses</a>

― daria-g, Thursday, 12 April 2007 18:12 (eighteen years ago)

bbcode, why! !

Tori Amos Forms Anti-Bush Posse By Mutating Into Greek Goddesses

― daria-g, Thursday, 12 April 2007 18:12 (eighteen years ago)

When Amos heads out on the road in support of American Doll Posse, she said she'll step aside and let "all of these women" — each of whom has a specific look and fashion sense — take the stage. "So, the shows will start with one of the four women that isn't Tori, and then Tori will take the stage about a third into the concert," she explained.

i don't think "explained" is quite the most suitable verb there!

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 18:21 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/news/a/amos_tori/news_070403/281x211.jpg

Would it really kill Sony to pay their staff to take some "Stop being shit at Photoshop" lessons?

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 18:29 (eighteen years ago)

<i>When Amos heads out on the road in support of American Doll Posse, she said she'll step aside and let "all of these women" — each of whom has a specific look and fashion sense — take the stage. </I>

classic. women are suckers for those "lead character tries on different outfits" movie sequences. i am, i can't help it. guy rock stars totally miss out on the opportunity to roll out a whole new look with each album

― daria-g, Thursday, 12 April 2007 18:50 (eighteen years ago)

i wonder if tori forgets that she did this six years ago though!

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 18:54 (eighteen years ago)

lol i know, the thing is by now i've come to just like, ignore her, and just listen to the music, u know

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 April 2007 19:06 (eighteen years ago)

like yea i feel like i've seen that article before except now it has the word "Bush" in it. which is almost annoying cuz it's like, OK, you're right but is this really what moves you at your piano? i mean i guess it is. it just feels like a buzzword to me, but maybe it won't be.

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 April 2007 19:08 (eighteen years ago)

Whoa. Another new track: "Body And Soul":http://www.sendspace.com/file/17io8o

― el juan, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

Um, kindof getting really into this sound...

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 16:00 (eighteen years ago)

part of this is sounding like Throwing Muses to me, some of it sounds like vintage Tori, some of it sounds kinda Scarlet's Walky but only like in the good way, not in the horrible way

i'm surprised!

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

Her and Trent Reznor should write lyrics for each other. Not for the quality, just some variety.

― Eppy, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 16:37 (eighteen years ago)

"Teenage Hustling" = oh hell yes. I mean, I'd be far more excited if she came back to the fucked-up percussion and looping of the Choirgirl Hotel era, but... this will do.

― Erroneous Botch, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 20:31 (eighteen years ago)

The actual front cover is fantastic. Totally WTF.

― Tim F, Friday, 20 April 2007 09:38 (eighteen years ago)

Haha, and the tracklist...

"Fat Slut"! so great. Oh and "You Can Bring Your Dog"

I'm SOOO EXCITED

― Surmounter, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

"Programmable Soda"!

― Erroneous Botch, Friday, 20 April 2007 21:23 (eighteen years ago)

wow, I haven't paid attention to Tori since high school, but damn... these new songs are pretty fantastic!

― Roz, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:00 (eighteen years ago)

23 songs. that's probably too much tori in this day and age, intros or no intros

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:04 (eighteen years ago)

Interesting album!

The first half has quite a few honkytonk glam-raunch guitar-based track ("Teenage Hustling", "Body & Soul", "You Can Bring Your Dog"). These are very good (esp. "Body and Soul") but feel quite stylised, Tori is playing dress-ups and wants you to know it. Like, "Teenage Hustling" reminds me of "I'm Not Listening" from Maria McKee's amazing Life Is Sweet, but whereas Maria started with that dustbowl glam sound and then did a performance that was radically excessive to it, Tori is relying on the use of the style itself to create that sense of excess. It's all very logical - kind of the reverse of say, the tactic used on Boys For Pele, where she channeled her most aggro moments through the "frail" instrument of the harpsichord.

The second half is mostly dominated by quite pop, midtempo piano+band tracks, which you could plot on a line between "Scarlet's Walk" (eerie, moody) and "Taxi Ride" (uplifting through bittersweetness), except both more straightforwardly pop and more, erm, agitated. Perhaps "Tear In Your Hand" is relevant here, although nothing here hits me like that does. The other reference point would be the more focused tracks on To Venus & Back minus the showy production effects.

This feel, what I would summarises perhaps "agitated MOR", makes this probably Tori's most Fleetwood Mac album - somewhere between Tusk and Say You Will. This is one of the things I like about it - It doesn't repeat the gentleness of Scarlet's Walk, or the sloth of what I've heard of The Beekeeper.

Not sure what i feel about it overall.

Particularly good tracks at this stage: "Father's Son", "Code Red", "Beauty of Speed".

― Tim F, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:28 (eighteen years ago)

i broadly like it too though it's hardly a "return to greatness" - more of a "return to being interesting and potentially great". it REALLY suffers from its length - cherrypicking songs to listen to in two/three song bursts reveals that most of them are very good indeed, whereas listening to all of them in one go really drags.

a lot of the glam-rock reminds me of david bowie in places, def 'you can bring your dog'. i love that she's rediscovered her sense of rhythm - 'bouncing off clouds' in particular is gorgeously propulsive (those backing vocals! the 4/4 beat!).

there are a few songs in the second half where i feel it loses its way but the last few are really something - 'smokey joe' reminds me of how tori's forte used to be making really unsettling, discordant pop - it's almost scott walker-esque.

secret weapon of album: the interludes. they are all loads of fun.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:43 (eighteen years ago)

also i must get me some fleetwood mac albums.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:44 (eighteen years ago)

The Fleetwood Mac comparison is getting me interested in this (i must get 'Say You Will')

― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:58 (eighteen years ago)

i'm also impressed with how well (wittily) she handles the political issues, esp given how clunky she's been in the past.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:24 (eighteen years ago)

Really? I quite dislike the chorus of "Dark Side of the Sun" for that reason.

Yeah "Bouncing Off Clouds" and "Smokey Joe" are really good.

― Tim F, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:50 (eighteen years ago)

it's mostly quite abstract though, and more responsive rather than attempting to be analytic, so 'teenage hustling' and 'smokey joe' work well while 'yo george' doesn't. perhaps this is because i haven't paid much attention to the lyrics, but there's hardly anything which made me cringe whereas there are lots of funny one-liners and nicely done imagery.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:03 (eighteen years ago)

at least it's a step up, but no not quite a return to greatness from what i've heard.

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:13 (eighteen years ago)

i know i really like it. we have some big albums coming up. tori, bjork, madonna

Just curious, who is the "we" here?

― jaymc, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:31 (eighteen years ago)

people with decent taste in music who aren't bothered by shit like panda bear and battles?

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:39 (eighteen years ago)

Haha, OK, I just thought it was notable that all three of those acts appeal to gay audiences and wondered if "we" was code for "gay folks." Carry on.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:46 (eighteen years ago)

ROFL

― admrl, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:52 (eighteen years ago)

WE can't wait for the next episode of American Idol either.

― admrl, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:53 (eighteen years ago)

hehe, we was just random :-)

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:56 (eighteen years ago)

panda bear, battles > ANYTHING, HERPES, AIDS >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tori fuckin' Amos

― fandango, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 20:49 (eighteen years ago)

I have to admit that I find it faintly perplexing and offensive the way that so many people on ILX will say that a given artist is worse than AIDS - I know it's a meme but it seems pretty disrespectful to, like, people with AIDS.

― Tim F, Thursday, 3 May 2007 02:39 (eighteen years ago)

record is okay, too long, but much better than the last horrible one

― akm, Thursday, 3 May 2007 02:52 (eighteen years ago)

the aids thing is a weird analogy in any case

comparing tori to aids surely makes her seem all the more appealing. i mean if you compared her to, say, a better artist then perhaps you'd do a better job of discrediting her

― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 3 May 2007 02:59 (eighteen years ago)

I'm over the idea of Tori becoming good again. I don't know, there's stuff on the more recent albums that should, in theory, hit my buttons --- like, say, "Gold Dust" and the verses of "Girl Disappearing" --- but something's missing. It seems very by the numbers and not coming from some eerie parallel universe, displaced from time. Like the feeling I get when I hear the three part rounds thingy toward the end of "Father Lucifer;" or the totally unexpected lilt of something like "Mr. Zebra;" or the mournful, sweet discordance of "Bells for Her." Don't see that happening with any of hew newer material.

― Turangalila, Thursday, 3 May 2007 03:45 (eighteen years ago)

i know and it's really, really upsetting. i'm sorry but bells for her is crazy, something like that. anything on boys. it's really too bad.

i mean i like some of her tigheter stuff - Gold Dust really is awesome (but it sucks that it's like the ONE problem-free song on that album), but still. it's really a shame and i don't get it. ha

― Surmounter, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:04 (eighteen years ago)

but yea ur right Gold dust is still a little to contrived sounding, scripted, prepackaged

unlike yes anastasia where you feel like you're in a ship in some crazy woman's head

― Surmounter, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:20 (eighteen years ago)

tim, if out of all tori's fleetwood mac moments, the one i adore most is 'a sorta fairytale', where should i start with them? rumours i assume?

i don't think i want tori to be 'crazy' again - she is in her 40s, she is a married woman, she is content - it's whether she can replace the 'craziness' (for lack of a better word) with something equally compelling. i think american doll posse succeeds, mostly.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:36 (eighteen years ago)

There should be more love for "Mr. Bad Man." A great tune, wilfully small, with a fairly unexpected arrangement... I love it when she undersings (which is to say, I love the two times it happened in her entire career).

― Erroneous Botch, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

fine not crazy, but not cheesy either. as much as a sorta fairytale is good, it's also very fuckin cheesy. and that she didn't use to be.

― Surmounter, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

i mean the cheesy as content observation is off - you can be content and still be intriguing.

― Surmounter, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:17 (eighteen years ago)

ok this makes the entire alter ego thing more than worthwhile -

http://undented.com/images/125.jpg

― lex pretend, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:16 (eighteen years ago)

"tim, if out of all tori's fleetwood mac moments, the one i adore most is 'a sorta fairytale', where should i start with them? rumours i assume?"

Wouldn't be a bad place to start, but oddly that song doesn't make me think of Fleetwood Mac so much. "Secret Spell" definitely does.

Knowing your tastes I'd recommend perhaps their most recent album Say You Will as a good starting point - there's a high volume of Stevie Nicks songs and I wonder if maybe the 70s and then 80s rock signifiers of their earlier albums might be initially offputting.

― Tim F, Thursday, 3 May 2007 22:39 (eighteen years ago)

agreed re: the aids/herpes thing, not funny ; (

― Surmounter, Friday, 4 May 2007 00:47 (eighteen years ago)

soz... ;_;

― fandango, Friday, 4 May 2007 09:53 (eighteen years ago)

still haven't bought the album, think i'll amazon it soon - need to get a few things. friend of mine emailed over a wtf moment w/regard to this album last night, so i feel more pressured to 2 get it now.

― Surmounter, Sunday, 6 May 2007 15:24 (eighteen years ago)

my heart is sickuv been, i said my heart is sickuv been in chayayayayayans

― Charlie Howard, Sunday, 6 May 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

I'm loving this album now. It's one of those albums where at first all you can hear are the deliberate new stylistic decisions and changes, and then after a while you stop hearing them and everything makes much more sense.

If I were to edit it down I'd get rid of:

- "Yo George": obv - as per Lex's comments above the album works better when it's approaching politics obliquely (if the album was really a concept album, it would be about a woman who dates soldiers).

- "Dark Side of the Sun": unsurprisingly overblown/didactic Pink Floyd circa The Wall epic, and for that reason by far the closest thing to Kate Bush she's ever done - although all the lazy listeners/thinkers/writers/critics who insist on making the comparison endlessly will probably be loathe to admit in this instance. Actually the song isn't bad, but I dislike the chorus heaps.

- "Digital Ghost": Simultaneously a bit pompous and a bit slight - Tori's chanelling of arena-rock on this album only works when it's fast ("Almost Rosey" is great). I don't disapprove of the Beatlesesque melody per se, but the album only needs one Beatles pastiche and for some reason I much prefer "Mr. Bad Man".

Further culling efforts would probably be directed towards "Girl Disappearing", "Roosterspur Bridge" and "Posse Bonus" (which is fun but would be the first to admit that it's throway). Odd how all those crashing ballads feel like the weakest tracks here mostly. Conversely I love the energetic pop numbers - "Bouncing Off Clouds", "The Beauty of Speed" and "Secret Spell". The first two actually remind me of Hillary Duff's "Come Clean" - both as songs and in that they're begging for trance remixes.

Also I'm love love loving "Dragon", what a fantastic and eerie closer.

― Tim F, Monday, 7 May 2007 00:43 (eighteen years ago)

i'm so FUCKING excited!!!

― Surmounter, Monday, 7 May 2007 00:53 (eighteen years ago)

i totally know those albums where you hear the effects and you're like, oh she's doing THAT, i know that

but then you're like so what if i know it, she's doing it and it sounds GREAT

― Surmounter, Monday, 7 May 2007 00:53 (eighteen years ago)

A lot of the time with artists such as these I ultimately only gauge how much I like the latest album when the following album comes out, and for the first week or so I feel nostalgic for what [x artist] was doing the last time around. It's a bit like how parts of your life which often seemed boring/stressful/insert negative emotion here when you were actually living through them take on a much rosier hue in retrospect, and all you can remember is the glorious days off doing stuff you loved.

e.g. with this album there are some clunky aspects (vocally and musically) and (in a few places) anonymous/direct/simple lyrics which initially made me long for the well-shaped, very-very-literate approach she took on Scarlet's Walk (my nostalgia jumping right over The Beekeeper, which i've never heard in full).

That's not happening now, but the by-product of this process is that I like Scarlet's Walk even more than before (and I like it more than most on ILM) - i'd probably place it on par with To Venus & Back now.

― Tim F, Monday, 7 May 2007 03:21 (eighteen years ago)

"i'd probably place it on par with To Venus & Back now."

Actually i'm not sure if this is true. I dunno, it's hard to say. I always forget how much I like Venus - esp. the section from "Lust" through "Riot Poof" - it sounds lacklustre in my head but great on record!

― Tim F, Monday, 7 May 2007 10:03 (eighteen years ago)

I'm loving at least six or seven songs on this one, but if you're one of the people who needs their Tori for slow, minimal, creepy-ass gothic epiphanies (I don't really - I like Tori-with-drums), there's probably only one track here that will stand up to anything off, say, Boys for Pele: "Smokey Joe."

― Erroneous Botch, Monday, 7 May 2007 12:38 (eighteen years ago)

What about "Father's Son"?

― Tim F, Monday, 7 May 2007 13:01 (eighteen years ago)

that's the best track I thought!

― daria-g, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:48 (eighteen years ago)

she's doing it and it sounds GREAT

It's gotten to a point where I'm not sure what's going on ---- if it's the typical case of her production ruining the song, or if the song is just uninteresting in itself. Something like "Almost Rosey" was, imo, completely butchered by the album arrangement --- those ugly, generic rock ballad guitars + upping the tempo. The solo arrangement I heard from a radio performance actually had a driving and yearning quality to it that made me initially semi-interested in this album.

And I honestly don't think it's just "nostalgia" that's keeping me from liking this. Seriously, what am I supposed to like about her music "independently" of the signifiers that attracted me to her in the first place?

― Turangalila, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 01:26 (eighteen years ago)

let me just reiterate i haven't heard the album yet, that was a general statement.

i hear ya.

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 01:43 (eighteen years ago)

oh my, i love this. i'm so pleased, because "the beekeeper" was positively narcoleptic, and while. in fact, i haven't really been turned on by a tori album since "choirgirl", so this is a very very welcome turn from her. the string arrangements, the vampy glam rock guitar, the characters, even the ballads (which are always so hit or miss with her). favorite tracks so far: "big wheel", "mr. bad man", "girl disappearing", "roosterspur bridge". "girl disappearing" feels like it could be off "under the pink" even.

― Emily Bjurnhjam, Sunday, 13 May 2007 00:25 (eighteen years ago)

"Dragon" is my favourite track at the moment, so grand and yet so darkly self-sublimating, the deadpan flipside to the arch, point-making playfulness of "Programmable Soda". It's with Santa's tracks in particular that i really see the point of Tori's characters, like perhaps she would have felt uncomfortable that these tracks (where she effectively gives herself over to male desire, to male need, while asking nothing in return) might be taken literally if she had released them as "Tori" songs.

I'm really delving into the second half of the album actually, and it's probably the stronger half of the album, "Dark Side of the Sun" notwithstanding. The stereopanning drums in "Beauty of Speed"! It's probably her most actually rhythmically propulsive song since "Caught A Light Sneeze" (the rhythmic efforts on Choirgirl and Venus almost don't count in this regard because they pursue this goal so openly and at the expense of typical songfulness, though I don't mind that at all). And such a fantastically cathartic chorus.

Also those opening lines in "Code Red": "Victory is an elusive whore/she's as easily mine as she is yours". Took me a while to work out what she was saying here actually. This album partially continues that tendency which I think started with Scarlet's Walk, where there's actually quite a decipherable narrative in the songs but you have to look at the lyricsheet to work it out because lyrical phrases are stretched oddly over the musical phrases (musical pauses inserted into the middle of sentences, then entirely different lyrical points are compressed into a single vocal run).

― Tim F, Sunday, 13 May 2007 00:44 (eighteen years ago)

oooh i like to hear that xpost

― Surmounter, Sunday, 13 May 2007 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

I'm actually not into "Girl Disappearing" so much, though of the trio of BIG BALLADS (alongside "Digital Ghost" and "Roosterspur Bridge") it's probably the best.

In terms of ballad-esque stuff the bits I like most on this album are the really moody tracks, which resurrect a secret line of descent that runs "Upside Down" --> "Honey" --> "Doughnut Song" --> "Liquid Diamonds" --> "Purple People" --> '"Suede" --> "Spring Haze".

― Tim F, Sunday, 13 May 2007 00:58 (eighteen years ago)

The stereopanning drums in "Beauty of Speed"

YES!

one of the things which keeps me coming back to ADP (which i do, again and again) is the sheer...variety, i guess, of it; it's quite a restless album, agitated is definitely the right word. it's quite hard to talk about, there's so much going on! the alter egos are fun, esp when i think of them as tori's own girl group, and can make sense in places, but not consistently so, except in pip's case; similarly to how tim feels about santa, i get the impression that pip is a means through which tori can sidestep her problem of being old and content - pip's the young rebel rock chick who tori was, but sharper and more politically aware.

favourite bits off the album - the soaring melodies of 'bouncing off clouds' and 'beauty of speed' - i love the way in the latter, just as you think the chorus ends, the melody comes round again, so satisfyingly. 'bouncing off clouds' is surely an MOR take on cheesy ibiza trance? and yeah, they definitely remind me of hilary duff's 'beat of my heart'.

and then the really richly dark tracks - 'code red' in particular is amazing, it feels so decadently sinister - and so many melodic movements! and lyrics which sound amazing even though i have no idea what any given line refers to. 'body and soul' also fits in here.

i actually really like 'digital ghost' - i don't really think of it as a big ballad, it seems very small and subtle to begin with. it's like an answer to kate bush's 'deeper understanding'.

― lex pretend, Sunday, 13 May 2007 17:06 (eighteen years ago)

wow this is all getting very annoying since i don't have THE FUCKING ALBUM YET. amazon order tonite much?

― Surmounter, Sunday, 13 May 2007 22:32 (eighteen years ago)

I cannot stop listening to "Big Wheel". I'm not familiar with Tori's work, I've sort of avoided her because of her annoying fans and her "quirkiness", is American Doll Posse a good intro?

― The Brainwasher, Monday, 14 May 2007 00:55 (eighteen years ago)

"I cannot stop listening to "Big Wheel". I'm not familiar with Tori's work, I've sort of avoided her because of her annoying fans and her "quirkiness", is American Doll Posse a good intro?"

As good as any I guess... it or Little Earthquakes or From the Choirgirl Hotel I'd say, with the proviso that the production on Little Earthquakes sounds very dated (the jump in production quality from that to her second album two years later is quite startling).

Generally Tori is less quirky on record than in person, once you accept that a lot of the lyrics are free-association and only put in there because they sound like they fit, Bowie style.

"i actually really like 'digital ghost' - i don't really think of it as a big ballad, it seems very small and subtle to begin with. it's like an answer to kate bush's 'deeper understanding'."

Yes, to begin with, but the chorus! I read a review that described it as a "heavy metal ballad" and I think this makes sense. I'm liking it more now though, again partly because I'm getting used to it, but also because I've started to think that all of the Steinman/Meatloaf moments on this album* are very deliberate indeed, they're as much a part of the dress-ups as, well, the dress-ups.

* the choruses of "Digital Ghost" and "Girl Disappearing", "Dark Side of the Sun" and "Almost Rosey".

The game that Tori is playing here being a conscious adoption of male idioms for expressing emotion in music - hence the very strong sense that this album is the thematic/conceptual/visual sequel to Strange Little Girls, only with Tori's own songs rather than cover versions.

― Tim F, Monday, 14 May 2007 01:46 (eighteen years ago)

get Choirgirl Hotel first I say. I guess Little Earthquakes is the best known but it's really confessional and a bit precious.. that was the way to go in the early 90's.. although I think she is better the more she gets away from seeing things as a victim.. under the pink is really good, it's a lot about how women treat women, and boys for pele is something else, songs full of indecipherable personal references mixed up mythic/religious archetypes (why not?).. it works

quirky? sure. but she really believes it

― daria-g, Monday, 14 May 2007 01:48 (eighteen years ago)

The game that Tori is playing here being a conscious adoption of male idioms for expressing emotion in music - hence the very strong sense that this album is the thematic/conceptual/visual sequel to Strange Little Girls, only with Tori's own songs rather than cover versions.

yeah this is what i was thinking, then i found an interview where she called SLG "practice" for ADP, which makes sense.

'digital ghost' seems more (ie a lot) david bowie to me than steinman...there's something quite arch about it, though it was only ever bowie's voice which put me off so i can get past that. i hate the chorus of 'almost rosey'! the verses are so terrific, so melodically rich and propulsive, the chorus is a bit of a let-down.

i had someone explain to me exactly what he found quirky about tori amos on record (disregarding lyrics) in...2000 or so? apparently it's her pronunciation. i had never noticed that but he was right, her pronuncation of most words is a bit fucked up, though i think it's less looook-at-meeeee than "how do i fit these words to this tune". i can't imagine not hearing her albums chronologically, the arc of her career seems to be quite important, though my favourites are still the 96-99 years.

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 06:53 (eighteen years ago)

eppy posted something great on his blog about now being able to appreciate tori's high-flown concepts as pure pop spectacle, which i think is largely true - i'm more interested in these five alter egos than i thought i would be but it's less in an attempt to 'understand' their songs than to see what tori's done next.

i really love this album!

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 09:08 (eighteen years ago)

Ha ha Lex you're praising Eppy for agreeing with you!

Having said that, Eppy's piece is great.

Lex have you noticed how not only Tori's pronunucation but now her singing has gotten kinda weird? Compare how natural she sounds on Under The Pink compared to now? There's a nasal plasticity at work now. It's not bad, but it's startling to hear the difference.

― Tim F, Monday, 14 May 2007 09:47 (eighteen years ago)

oh yeah, definitely - basically i think her voice has just gotten really bad! with age i guess - she only actually seems comfortable singing clear, high notes ('beauty of speed' works v well because of this) or doing her distorted bluesy growl ('code red', 'body and soul', 'teenage hustling'). it's v apparent when she performs live. (actually when she performs live it looks a lot like she just can't open her mouth v wide because she's botoxed so much.)

i think it started...around SLG? on ADP it's really apparent because she's hardly layered her voice at all, like she did on SW. but she probably realises this and has mostly stuck to melodies within her diminished range.

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:04 (eighteen years ago)

She looks so weird live, like she's constantly surprised - has anyone ever been as botoxed as much as she has?

― Tim F, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:07 (eighteen years ago)

maybe she'll claim that's part of the doll concept too

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:10 (eighteen years ago)

also, i am worried that i am 15 again? my favourite albums of 2007 appear to be bjork and tori amos.

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:59 (eighteen years ago)

i think i should give american doll posse a listen. i can only call myself a half-fan these days, but the last couple of months i've been feeling more positive about her than i have in about 5 years.

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 14 May 2007 12:55 (eighteen years ago)

her weird pronunciation does irk me sometimes, not too much

i think it's kind of a shame that she's done whatever to look like she hasn't aged.

― daria-g, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:00 (eighteen years ago)

the weird pronunciation only started to irk me majorly after somebody pointed it out.

some of the more inane lyrics always had me a bit sceptical, however. 'tuna rubber little blubber in my igloo' indeed

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 14 May 2007 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0440407079.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

― daria-g, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:00 (eighteen years ago)

are you there, god? it's me margaret

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

on paper that lyric looks ridiculous but it's never ever grated within the context of the song! partly i think because so much of that song is reminiscing about childhood, and all the private silly things children fixate on and which take on a deeper meaning for them - i mean she goes on about purple monkeys later in 'marianne', which i always took to mean a stuffed toy or something

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:07 (eighteen years ago)

also because 'marianne' has just one of her most straight-up gorgeous melodies

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:07 (eighteen years ago)

it's a really tender song. what she doesn't spell out explicitly (or implicitly) through lyrics is made up for by the delivery

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:12 (eighteen years ago)

marianne...

― Surmounter, Monday, 14 May 2007 21:50 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah it's funny how when something is pointed out you suddenly can't stop noticing it. I didn't notice until I read someone complaining about it the way that every song on Scarlett's Walk finishes with this drawn out descending vocal note thing and no music"

"...they're waaaa-viiiing"
"lyy-ing the-errrrre"
"ameeeeericaaaaa"
"must be leaaaaavinng"
"your eyeees oonnnnnn"
"if I know craaaaaazeeeeey"

... and so on, right through the album!

― Tim F, Monday, 14 May 2007 22:01 (eighteen years ago)

oh my god that's so true!! bizarre

― Surmounter, Monday, 14 May 2007 22:41 (eighteen years ago)

the weird pronunciation thing was pointed out to me re 'bliss', it was 2000 or so and i'd been caning the album for a year, and in that time had never really noticed anything amiss until a friend forcibly pointed out that the title shouldn't really be pronounced BLEEEEEEECE

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 00:29 (eighteen years ago)

also on 'putting the damage on' she totally sings POONTING

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 00:29 (eighteen years ago)

"youuu haaaf the hoal nashun ont ol foals"

― Tim F, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 00:34 (eighteen years ago)

Haha and wtf is she saying in the second verse of "Bouncing off Clouds"? I tuuuuuuh bu duuuu yuuuoooouuuu listuuuuuuuuuu

― Turangalila, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 01:48 (eighteen years ago)

"siren" pretty much ruined by wacky pronunciation

― daria-g, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 02:48 (eighteen years ago)

Turangalila you're right! I get the first bit: "failyaaar to reeee-spowuhond... would..." but what's next??? I could just check the lyric booklet I guess.

― Tim F, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 03:29 (eighteen years ago)

'siren'! that's one of my favourite tori songs but you're right about the pronunciation. VUH NEEEAHHH YAHHHH VUH NEEEAHHH YAHHHH

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 06:51 (eighteen years ago)

can't argue with the sheer frenzy of it all though

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 06:51 (eighteen years ago)

on third listen, favorite songs are now "beauty of speed", "mr bad man," "big wheel", "roosterspur bridge" and "bouncing off clouds."

damn, this is a lot of album.

― Emily Bjurnhjam, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 06:57 (eighteen years ago)

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