peromyscus's Full Review: From the Choirgirl Hotel by Tori Amos
First off, I do not own any other Tori Amos albums. I have heard her songs before and have been, usually, intrigued by her unusual and beautiful voice, and her music. I knew she was very talented, but until this album I had not pictured her music as the kind I would listen to often.
Let me also make it known here that I am a synth junkie. I love good use of synthesized music that doesn't try to hide the fact, but rather makes use of it so well that it seems that the music *needs* to sound the way it does. I am also easily bored by consistent styles and songs that always have the same characteristic sound and feel (c/f R.E.M., "alternative"); and this is why I like good synthesizers so much: you're not using the same instruments all the time.
Tori Amos beefed up a respectable Kurtzweil synth with some stunning patchworks from the company, and added live instrument backing in the studio as she saw fit (for the first time, she was also the executive producer of this project). But it remained to be seen whether or not she could use them well. I think she succeeded marvelously in keeping my attention throughout the album, even with the songs that had minimal use of the patches (and I badly want that synth).
One other thing that impressed me about this album was the way that Amos made her lyrics even more malleable to the music than words usually are in song. You'd think this would distort the words and lessen their significance or something ridiculous like that, but who can hear the words anyway if they're not listening? I don't think so. Her words are a part of the music owing to her amazing voice and intriguing use of rhythm that has been taken up by Alanis Morissette (see, or listen to, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie).
From the inspired lyrics, enchantingly sung, to very well-produced music, to refreshing rhythms and tunes, one can tell right away that Tori Amos harbors a talent that is missing in most of the recent dispassionate and monotonous music pumped out by The Guys from the Garage Next Door-Gone Stoopid Platinum bands. Each song is greatly different from the rest, and each in itself is never boring, with samples and patches that are wondrously seamless.
Although Amos' lyrics aren't the kind that would require concentration, I would recommend listening to this music while doing nothing, and just sitting or pacing, waiting, or maybe even thinking of other things.
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