Diving into Tori: help a girl out (she'll darn your socks and wash your...)

Jark

Jark

PLUMP and RIPE
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girls. I decided it was time to dive into Tori Amos, after many years of seeing her spoken about reverently on moopy by people whose taste I trust. I would love a guiding hand or two on this journey!

for context I knew almost NOTHING before this other than that clip of her assuming that Toxic by Britney was about toxic shock syndrome ("it's the feminine... blood... record" :D). I'd never knowingly heard any of her music and didn't know that a lot of her 90s work was so critically acclaimed, so I'm really going in blind.

I started with a pair of live performances which I think was a great idea





then I listened to Little Earthquakes in full, and a couple of tracks from Under the Pink. obviously Cornflake Girl is my immediate fave. I've dipped into about half of From the Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back. the sound of Choirgirl Hotel especially is SO up my alley - loved Spark, Black-Dove and She's Your Cocaine (what a title). love the incorporation of trip-hop and the grungey atmospherics.

I'm now listening to Boys for Pele which is honestly so fucking incredible I can't believe not one of you evil witches has ever held me at gunpoint with Tori's rifle and made me listen? you want to GATEKEEP TORI? I really love how "airy" some of these songs are while also being much more produced than the first two records. I keep picking almost every song to add to my Tori playlist - Talula, Muhammad My Friend, Father Lucifer, Prof Widow, Caught a Lite Sneeze, Doughnut Song... I'm quite shook. gorgeous songwriting that all sounds so effortless.

after this I think I need to play Choirgirl Hotel, To Venus and Back, and Under the Pink in full, and then try Scarlet's Walk, the Venus live disc and Live at Montreux.

I kinda want to stop before the music gets patchy and just cement how I feel about her - but what are her essential records released after 2003, if any?

which b-sides do I need to hear?
most essential concert to watch that's available on youtube?
iconic promotional appearances I need to see? I adored this with Paula Yates on the Big Breakfast
and what else do I need to know/hear?





in short, please help me cement my Tori standom because I'm 30+ years late to this particular train but I still want to HOP ON BOARD! thanks loves x
 
also watching interviews with her etc in the 90s, and the way she seduces the audience while performing - she's utterly gorgeous and her charisma is off the scale...
 
and finally to say... I need this on vinyl or ideally as poster art

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what a shoot... :disco:
 
Things get very patchy after 2003, with a few gems here & there, although I did like the Unrepentant Geraldines album (ludicrous title notwithstanding) - it's surprising that Boys For Pele seems to have clicked with you so early on as that's normally the one from the classic era that takes the longest to click with people.

To Venus & Back is one I've gone back to more in recent years. It got overlooked at the time but I loved how she blended the electronics with the traditional piano sound, very forward thinking.

I'll try come up with a list of essentials in the coming days.
 
please and thank you!! i don't think I'll be listening to anyone else in the coming days now that I've got me some horses to ride on.
 
Basically the run from Little Earthquakes > Under The Pink > Boys For Pele > From The Choirgirl Hotel > To Venus & Back is your Tori at the peak of her powers era.

After that it definitely tails off, but some sparks (ha!) remain.

Strange Little Girls is a bit redundant in places but has a couple of really interesting covers. I still really like the title track.

Scarlet's Walk is a lot, length wise, but it's all really good if you give it some time to bed in.

The Beekeeper was heavily maligned at the time and taps into some of her worst impulses, but honestly I kind of love it these days. It's a long countryside walk kind of album for me, if that's a thing you do.

After that it really goes off a cliff for me, but her most recent album Ocean to Ocean was a real return to form, and a rare example of her releasing a tight 11 song set rather than a sprawling slogathon.
 
It’s odd to me that other than Spark, nothing from Choirgirl charted. That album had hits!



 
I'm in the same boat as you, only very recently have I discovered tori. My introduction was tales of a librarian to get a gist of her music and then I bought little earthquakes, under the pink and from the choir girl hotel.
Little earthquakes is very good and more instant than under the pink IMO, but both are revelations (to me at least). I haven't played choir girl yet and I've just ordered american doll posse, scarlets walk and ocean to ocean.
 
Yes I would say the first 7 album run from Earthquakes to Scarlet are undeniable and essential. The Beekeeper, although a personal favourite, is where things started to falter, and unfortunately from then on there are some decent highs peppered amongst some very low lows, and would say just carry on through and find what you like. The voice change after Abnormally Attracted to Sin really doesn't help as it sometimes is like listening to a completely different artist.

Some iconic b-sides would include:









but there's an absolute trove to discover. This site is a great resource for everything Tori: https://www.yessaid.com/toriphoria.html
 
Her live DVD "Welcome to Sunny Florida" is also a great watch



and if you like Scarlet's Walk there's also Scarlet's Hidden Treasures, the b-sides EP.
 
She has so much music to discover, it's actually a bit overwhelming! Plus you need to really sit with her music to absorb it all.
 
some I'm currently loving

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also Spark. :disco:

I listened to Under the Pink in full and really enjoyed a couple of tracks (The Waitress, Past the Mission) but as a whole I need to revisit. I enjoyed Choirgirl Hotel more, but don't feel the songwriting/melodies are as strong as Boys for Pele, even though the production is uniformly great. at moments it felt like I could be listening to a few different trip-hop-adjacent acts from the mid-late 90s (not a criticism). maybe I'm just most enamoured with her piano playing.

next up: all of To Venus and Back. god the live version of Cornflake Girl on disc 2 is DELICIOUS! and Cooling is a stunner.
 
I've just listened to from the choirgirl hotel and it's the weakest one for me so far, out of little earthquakes and under the pink. I think it's an album that needs repeated listens so hopefully it'll grow on me.
 
I have so much to say but I don't know where to start.

But I like the direction you're headed in with the latest tracks you're loving!
 
Jark said:
some I'm currently lovin
next up: all of To Venus and Back. god the live version of Cornflake Girl on disc 2 is DELICIOUS! and Cooling is a stunner.
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How about Waitress from the Venus live disc? That is so killer.

I saw it on the American Doll Posse tour in 2007 when she did the same arrangement and it was still killer.
 
I've only cherry picked from Venus live so far but I'll play in full tomorrow.

I've also been loving Bachelorette (:disco:) and Never Seen Blue which is so gorgeous and an immediate fave.
 
post-Strange Little Girls I've only listened to A Sorta Fairytale (very nice but musically a bit less distinct?), Bouncing off Clouds and Big Wheel so far. enjoyed the latter, but I think I want to keep it to her 90s stuff for now and really get to know all five records plus extras. also unsure if I can bring myself to listen to a record called American Doll Posse with that artwork :eyes:

maybe the next full album I listen to will be Night of Hunters - thoughts on that one @Iguana?
 
I would try The Beekeeper first. It has a few stinkers (Hoochie Woman and Ireland) but some definite highlights (Barons, Orange Knickers, Jamaica Inn, Martha, Original Sinsuality, Toast).
 
From the choirgirl Hotel is really growing on me. Spark and northern lad are my faves so far.
 
Debbie Jellinsky said:
I would try The Beekeeper first. It has a few stinkers (Hoochie Woman and Ireland) but some definite highlights (Barons, Orange Knickers, Jamaica Inn, Martha, Original Sinsuality, Toast).
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I played The Beekeeper today. I loved it - especially Ireland :D but Sweet the Sting was my fave. I was surprised by how pop the songwriting and her vocals were throughout.
 
Beekeeper's main problem is that like most of her post-Choirgirl studio sets, it's just too bloody long.

She was an incredibly prolific B-sides artist in her prime, so when the physical singles market died her albums just got longer and longer and the quality took an inevitable hit.

There's a solid (if, yes, poppier than usual) 12 track set on The Beekeeper for sure.
 
I think beekeeper will be my next tori album. But I still need to listen to scarlets walk, american doll posse and ocean to ocean!
 
Jark said:
maybe the next full album I listen to will be Night of Hunters - thoughts on that one @Iguana?
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AVOID!

My favourite 2 Tori albums are Chorgirl and Scarlet's Walk. There's so much to explore in the both of them.

Beekeeper has a lot of nostalgia for me, it's going to seem quite tame though I think. American Doll Posse is good for what it is though everything post-Scarlet gets quite bloated.

The best of recent times is Ocean To Ocean, though you may be a little shocked at the deterioration of her voice after listening to the '90s classics! But there's some very decent songs on there.
 
a sorta fairytale was a huge radio hit for her and The Beekeeper feels very much like chasing that dream.

Yasss for being an Ireland truther
 


"even though I have fairies and muses in my life, don't think that they can't be pragmatic with me. they can. you know, the mystical world doesn't have to be woo-woo..." :D :disco:
 
Mark R 3 said:
I think beekeeper will be my next tori album. But I still need to listen to scarlets walk, american doll posse and ocean to ocean!
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Mark, listen to me, you’re going to want to buy the Scarlet’s Walk Limited Edition which comes with the fold out poster map, and sit down and listen to the album, following the route (get help if you’re colourblind), then listen to Scarlet’s Hidden Treasures.

Before you listen to any of the others.
 
Jark said:
I played The Beekeeper today. I loved it - especially Ireland :D but Sweet the Sting was my fave. I was surprised by how pop the songwriting and her vocals were throughout.
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If you love Ireland check out 500 Miles on Abnormally Attracted to Sin, to me they're kind of in the same wheelhouse (but 500 Miles is a actually good).
 
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