I have almost gotten all of Tori Amos’s studio album except her first one – “Little Earthquakes (1992)”. I remember vividly where I was when I first heard of Tori Amos. Back in 1985 when compact disc first became popular, I have made a switch away from cassette format (the first CD I own is Dire Straits’s Brothers In Arms – one of the first albums to be directed in the CD market). However, as a student, the cost of a CD was too high for me to own everything that I liked. Besides, my mother’s constant nagging on the rate I acquired CD worked as a deterrence too. So I relied on the rental market back in HK to satisfy my needs, to sample the music, and to selectively purchase what I really liked.
Back then, I could not appreciate Tori Amos’s music. I think I even rented the album a second time to try it out. Just did not work for me. Interestingly, my sister Lora seemed to enjoy “Little Earthquakes”.
The one song that opened up my mind turns out to be nothing like any of the songs written by Tori Amos. “Professional Widow” released in 1996 is essentially a song of remix and dance beats that does not resemble her style of piano with the backing of a band. Since then, I have been a converted fan.
I don’t think Tori Amos is at all a mainstream artist. But those who love her music follow her career like a cult. Just how diverse is her work of music? Take a look at her collection “Tales Of A Librarian (2003)”. A 20-song set that was re-recorded because the potential was not fully realised in the original recording. This collection covers a wide range of topics such as metaphysics, epistemology, psychology, ethics, Christianity and Christian theology, political science, social problems and social services, folklore, linguistics, natural sciences, astronomy, animals, medicine and health, agriculture, home and family management, the arts, architecture, recreational and performing arts, collective biography, and the history of North America.
Some claim that her new album “American Doll Posse” is merely a concept album. Some think that her brief touch onto the topic of politics is unnecessary. Some comment that “American Doll Posse” is a mix of album materials and B-side stuffs. I beg to differ.
In “American Doll Posse”, Tori Amos has split herself in five rather distinct personae tackling the areas of beauty and love (Santa), the contradicting views of dark energy (Pip), all works of art in the forms of painting and literature (Clyde), objective documentations that challenge perception of the norm (Isabel), and finally the artist herself who laments the limited experience through finite human filter and hence the need to expand herself into different multiverse (Tori). Each persona takes onto her own set of songs and not only that, each comes with an individual blog site as well. A list of blog sites can be found at the bottom of this review.
At first listen, “American Doll Posse” (23 tracks totalled to 78 minutes of music) can be overwhelming. Layer to an album that is structured in 4 blocks of 5 to 6 songs are these 5 personae taking on their own set of songs (within this block structure). Suddenly, there are 2 added dimensions to the entire listening experience. You can (1) listen to the entire album in sequential order, or (2) treat this album as 4 sub-albums as suggested by the sleeve design, or (3) listen according to the personae of Santa, Pip, Clyde, Isabel, and Tori (click onto the picture on the left to see how I manage my play list manually). I have tried jumping the order of the album according to the persona and it is quite a brand new experience.
From the music viewpoint, Tori Amos adopt a classic rock sound blended with her piano track. “Bouncing Off Clouds” as showcased in the video-clip below is my favorite track of the album. It features her iconic Bosendorfer piano that she brings along whenever she performs live. Check out how she played both her Bosendorfer piano and an electric one at the same time at some parts of the song. It is amazing. If you are agreeable to “Bouncing Off Clouds”, I have the links of “Big Wheel”, “Father’s Son”, “Roosterspur Bridge”, and “Almost Rosey” for you.
The album comes with a DVD that contains a short video of her photo shooting session as well as a song “My Posse Can Do”. “My Posse Can Do” is a great song on its own. Too bad, it couldn’t be fitted into the album of 78 minutes.
I tend to be long-winded when it comes to artists who inspire my own music creation journey. Thanks for your patience and if you are already a Tori Amos fan, I bet you have got “American Doll Posse” the first day it was released.
Related Sites: Clyde’s blog site, Pip’s blog site, Isabel’s blog site, Santa’s blog site, and Tori’s blog site.