pt-paratroopa's Full Review: Tales of a Librarian: A Tori Amos Collection [CD &...
For most of my Epinions career, I've been a huge fan of the talented Tori Amos. However, unlike making my huge Tori obsession public, as I've done with the likes of Madonna and Alanis Morissette, I've chosen to keep my particular love of this artist inside and to myself, which is pretty ironic when if you know that I discoveredAmos and built the obsession through this very site.
Now, there's a variety of reasons I've never really reviewed anything Tori on this site. For one, Epinions already has a talented, dedicated staff of people who idolize the ground Tori walks on and have reviewed her albums to the point that I feel anything I'd have to say was something that was already said. These writers include first and foremost shilmafone, whose Tori reviews are the kind of thing I wish more people would strive to write on Epinions.
I truthfully admit the primary reasons I'm drawn to Amos are the way she can sonically construct touching music, at times even just with a piano, and then lay her feelings on thicker with her amazing voice. But her lyrics tend to be cryptic, very much so, and are another reason I'm hesitate to review Tori's music. This is also probably why I don't appreciate Boys for Pele (her third album) as much as I should; a lot of the time, Tori just wails and rips at her harpsichord and tries to trample my poor little eardrums.
And, well, put reasons one and two together and I envision myself being stoned to death by Torphiles (as lambchops once said: "Lover, follower, stalker of Tori Amos" although I fully admit I'm probably one myself) for misinterpreting a lyric, or liking Scarlet's Walk (album seven) and Under the Pink (album two, both of which Toriphiles find underwhelming) more than Pélé. I guess I could make up for it by citing album four, from the choirgirl hotel as by far my favorite Tori offering with her solo debut Little Earthquakes coming in at number two, but that fear is still there nonetheless.
And what ever happened to the Tori Amos vs. Ani Difranco wars that used to consume Epinions, I wonder? Just a thought. It seems over the past two years, the music section community has slanted entirely to Amos' court, but I digress. Obviously I'm a Tori boy.
The Speed Round of "Getting to Know Tori Amos"
Born in North Carolina in 1962, her real name is Myra Ellen Amos, and she became Tori Amos when a guy simply told her "You look more like a Tori than a Myra Ellen." Whoever she is, she's been playing piano since she was five or six years old, although she can't read piano music, which makes her ability to play by ear even more impressive. This was alluded to in the title of her late 80's rock band debut y kant tori read, an album that was neglected and yet can simultaneously be bought for a small fortune now that Tori Amos has become more or less of a cult.
Starting with Little Earthquakes, Tori took a solo singer/songwriter approach and somehow descended into insanity along the way, speaking quite seriously of chasing the muses in her house to decide which songs to write, referring to her songs as living objects, "girls," if you will, and calling her fan base "ears with feet," all while writing lyrics like I've got Big Bird on my fishing line. And somehow, she can take on any topic - rape, religion, miscarriage, murder, homosexuals, break ups - and still come out on top. And that's why I, and many others, love her.
General Album Info Tales of a Librarian is Tori's self-called "best of," collection (even though all of her albums have gone platinum, she admits she hasn't had many mainstream hits to call this a "greatest hits,"). Many of early songs from Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink get modern reworking, and there are four songs that are either new or previously released only as B-sides to tide over the loyal Toriphiles. There's also a few odd selections, but we'll get to those.
The DVD (a brief summary)
It's pretty lame, to be honest, and feels more like a random bonus disc even though the packaging was created as if the DVD were important. There's a nice picture gallery Tori, as well as little video montages you can watch while listening to Pélé's "Mr. Zebra," and "Putting the Damage On." You can also watch a very pale, old-looking Tori sing "Honey,""Pretty Good Year," (from Pink) and "Northern Lad," (from choirgirl) to an empty stadium. Maybe she's hallucinating that she has an audience, but anyway, that's the DVD.
The CD (in chronological order)
The Little Earthquakes Era
1991's Little Earthquakes has to be one of the most important albums of the 1990's. After an era of excess in the 80's, Tori emerged as a strong female singer/songwriter, a presence that was missing for quite some time. College students, piano lovers, women and gay men had a new hero in Amos, with her confessional writing methods and honest to life lyrical stories. She bared it all, from the female passivism in Girl, detailing of a sad break-up in China and welcoming death in Happy Phantom; even if every song wasn't directly about Amos, she brought that touch of passion that showed each song was personal to her in some way. Adding to that self-importance, Earthquakes is Tori's most celebrated album and half the album therefore appears on Librarian. Luckily, they're also the best six songs.
It feels almost funny to be discussing songs like these, considering they've been dissected and interpreted all to hell around this site. Quite simply, "Precious Things," and "Winter," are my two favorite tracks from Little Earthquakes, a pair of songs about two vastly different childhood experiences that everyone can relate with. The first finds Tori using her harshest sounds of anger, including gunshots and wailing vocals, to attack those who made fun of her in middle school. "Winter," leaves Tori vulnerable on a different level, examining her relationship with her father with the musical starkness of just beautiful pianos and vocals. Both songs are the most valuable of the pearls to be found on Little Earthquakes and something any lover of music must experience.
I appreciate "Silent All These Years," for its touching music, vocals, and the relatable lyrics of newfound independence, and this really is one of Tori's most emotional moments, but I also find myself underwhelmed by the sheer amount people who overrate this song. It's a good tune, but I find it far from her best, and that's just how I feel about it. "Me and Gun," is the height of Tori letting the listener into her head as she details her rape during her y kant tori read years. Singing in a capella, Tori forces me to listen, and as a guy, I squirm that another man would be pathetic enough to do something like this. This is a definitely an important song, and one that must be heard at least once, but I find myself skipping over it because it's that uncomfortable to hear.
I was surprised to see "Tear in Your Hand," included on the track listing, because I never cared much for it on Earthquakes (maybe because I thought "tear," was meant as cut and not tear drops), and the first time I got this song was thanks to Librarian. With a pleasant folk-piano-pop sound, Tori constructed a touching break-up song that I now appreciate. And, ironically, eleven years later, "Crucify," was still the song that started my love affair with Amos. What's surprising is how full the song sounds for what little is actually there; a pounding drum, some piano, and the voice that holds notes and goes up and down and emotes more than your screechy pop star could ever hope. Filled with guilt and longing to be freed, this is what Tori Amos is all about.
The Under the Pink Era Under the Pink was released in 1994 and found Amos gaining more and more mainstream attention through the success of singles such as Cornflake Girl, Past the Mission, and God. Sounding similar enough to Little Earthquakes to keep fans satisfied, the music and lyrics did take some experimental turns, foreshadowing Boys for Pélé, with songs like the morbid "The Waitress," and the outburst of rage in the middle of "Pretty Good Year." The three songs selected for Librarian are by far the best pickings of the album, although the noteworthy "Pretty Good Year" did make the DVD cut. The only thing missing to me was the somber "Past the Mission," complete with ultra-sexy Trent Reznor guest vocals.
Picking between "God," and "Cornflake Girl," is like picking between apples and oranges, because both are two of Tori's best songs for different reasons. "Cornflake Girl,", which takes on the issue of peer pressure through symbolism of breakfast cereals, is one of Tori's most organic-sounding early tunes, eventually devolving into an enjoyable mess of piano, mandolin, trilling vocals and deep choir-like backups. On the flipside, "God,", which shows Tori challenging God and asking if he needs a woman's supervision, takes on a more rock-sounding style with harsh electric guitars. Like "Cornflake Girl," the song culminates in the line why does you always go when the wind blows with a swirling tempest of mocking choir sounds, Tori's voice jumping up and down, and the electric guitar screeching away. As seen by their success as singles, this one-two punch is among Under the Pink's best offerings.
Kind of like "Tear in Your Hand,", "Baker Baker," was another song I didn't really appreciate on it's respective album, but only through repeated listening on Librarian did I realize the song's beauty. Coincidentally, both songs were lyrically love lost songs, but "Baker," takes the balladry approach. Unlike "Bells For Her," on the same album, which drags along for five minutes, "Baker Baker," is the perfect length, and returns to the warmth and feeling of Little Earthquakes in the style of both music and lyrics: "I know your late for your next parade / You came to make sure that I'm not running / Well, I ran from him in all kinds of ways / Guess it was his turn this time."
The Boys for Pélé Era
In 1996, Tori released Boys for Pélé, an all-out attack on the male gender after her real-life break-up with Eric Rosse, who co-produced Tori's first two solo albums. The hints of insanity that were found on Under the Pink were amplified by twenty, and this is the point in Tori's career she became the eccentric weirdo she's become (in)famous for being. Holding a playlist of almost 20 songs, many similarities can be see with Alanis Morissette's Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie album: blaring lyrical weirdness, blaring vocal weirdness, blaring musical weirdness, and a lot of gems to founds under all this blaring weirdness. I'm not the biggest fan of Pélé but I still find the song selection inexcusably shallow considering Toriphiles dig this album. Most importantly, where the hell are "Caught a Lite Sneeze," and Hey Jupiter," two Tori Amos standards? There's just no excuse for their omission.
What we ended up with here are two of Pélé's four pleasant, under-two minute intermissional songs: Mr. Zebra," and "Way Down." The inclusion of "Mr. Zebra," is odd considering it's also on the DVD, but nevertheless, it's a strange little romp possessing Pélé's typically bizarre lyrics and an enjoyable circus-like delivery. On the other side of the spectrum, "Way Down," is a much more serious song with a backing choir, making it one of my favorite songs from Pélé. Also included is a catchy if not repetitive dance remix of "Professional Widow," which, while lyrically void anything in this version, is still much more enjoyable than the loud and obnoxious album version of the song, which was filled with profanity, harpsichord and out-of-key wailing that left me with a major headache.
The from the choirgirl hotel Era
In Tori's mind, Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink and Boys for Pélé were a trilogy, and that she had to continue to move on, never to make something like these three albums again. Returning in 1998 with choirgirl hotel, Tori brought with her a backing band for the first time, personal lyrics that weren't as cryptic as the metaphor-heavy Pélé talk, and freaking electronica. All of these factors blended seamlessly to create Tori Amos' most amazing work of art; a mix of old and new, life and death, love and lust. from the choirgirl hotel is and will always be my absolutely favorite Tori Amos album, although it's inclusion on Librarian is somewhat baffling. The quasi-title track "hotel" just leaves me breathless, and "Raspberry Swirl," was such a strong piece of techno that I'm confused as to why a song like "Jackie's Strength," made it over the mentioned two pieces, or even "i i e e e."
"Spark," and "Playboy Mommy," were both partially inspired by the miscarriage Tori had suffered previous to choirgirl's release. Again, though, the two couldn't be more opposite of each other. "Spark," makes allusions to the miscarriage but keeps things hidden under a dark mix of scratching guitars and keyboards as Tori voice echoes to and fro. This is one of the most emotional pieces of music I've ever heard, especially when things mix together to create a perfect moment of orgasm-inducing music on the bridge. "Playboy Mommy," takes the "Me and a Gun," style and tones itself down on the music so you can focus on Tori's words to her unborn child. Like "Spark," this is a very emotional piece, but for different reasons; "Spark," strikes emotions due the power of the music, "Playboy Mommy," because of the vocals.
"Jackie's Strength," the third inclusion from choirgirl is a decent song, if not terribly cheesy. A dedication to Jackie O., Tori does this beyond annoying "anh Jackay-yay" effect with her voice that drives me crazy. Once it gets going (the "make me laugh, say you know" etc. part), it's a pretty good song, but the challenge is to make it in that far. Either way, it just pales in comparison to about 95% of the rest of choirgirl.
The to venus and back Era
Apparently following the release of from the choirgirl hotel, Tori had planned on releasing to venus and back as a live album (venus live. still orbiting.) to tide fans over until her next full-length album of original material came out. But thanks to a sudden bolt of inspiration, Tori managed to write up and get together the 11 songs that got put into an album of studio material, venus. orbiting. Hailed as Tori's least melodic or catchy album ever, probably due to it's fast creation, to venus and back was saved from disaster mostly from the live album, but it did possess charming studio numbers like "1,000 Oceans," and "Concertina," two omissions from Librarian that I find just as shocking as "Caught a Lite Sneeze."
So, "Bliss," is the sole inclusion on Librarian that originally came from to venus and back, probably only put there to show the album freaking existed. That's okay, though, because "Bliss," is my favorite song and thankfully one of the more catchy numbers from it's origin. Yes, it's famous for the bizarre opening of Father, I killed my monkey and the bizarre short-E pronunciation of the I in "bliss" to create a bleeeess of another kind, but I find myself still enchanted by the choirgirl-styled music and the echoed vocal deliveries.
The Strange Little Girls and Scarlet's Walk Eras
The lack of any material from these two albums is pretty disappointing to me. Okay, so I can see why Tori would choose to overlook them; Strange Little Girls was a cover album with a failed concept that was hard to digest for many, but who can argue that the title track "Strange Little Girl," wasn't an awesome track? At the very least, Tori could have included that one bright spot over, say, "Jackie's Strength." Inclusions from folk/pop/rock album Scarlet's Walk are also debatable because the album had only come out a year previous, but how could you overlook an awesome single (one that actually got airplay, no less) like "a sorta fairytale?" I wasn't asking for a lot. Just two songs to symbolize the existence of these two albums, but I didn't get them.
And The New Stuff
Of course, to make this album a worthwhile purchase to the diehard Tori fans, she included some stuff that couldn't be found on her standard albums. I don't know why; this idea never really works because the new stuff is rarely that good, and Librarian follows suit with pleasant new songs that pale in comparison to the older material. "Angel," my favorite track of the new stuff, sounds quite similar to many of Tori's Scarlet's Walk songs, in particular "Taxi Ride," one of my favorites. With a warm delivery and a nice use of vocals, the personality comes through on this song. And with a wink and smile, I tell you there's just no experience more gratifying than running over hookers in Grand Theft Auto with this song on.
"Mary," takes second place among the new stuff, because besides the repetition of the monotone "Mar-eee,"s, the song works because it picks up nicely as it progresses (as do almost all four of the new songs). Talking lyrically about growing up, it's especially nice because the video was a chronicle of Tori's videology. "Sweet Dreams," is actually pretty funky and possesses a load of energy, but something about it prevents it from really sticking out in my mind, and therefore I tend to forget how it goes when I'm done listening to it. "Snow Cherries from France," is just an decent pretty ballad that reminds me of the many other Tori decent pretty ballads that weren't included on this collection.
But you know, there's so much good material from Tori Amos here that I have to give it five stars. Diehard fans can appreciate this disc because although it's lacking a couple key points of Tori's career, it's convenient to have all these songs together on one disc. Tales of a Librarian is especially a gift to new fans of Amos, who can get a taste of what each of her studio albums were about and then make a plan accordingly of which albums they should buy.
Track listing and ratings based on personal preference:
01. Precious Things - *****
02. Angels - *****
03. Silent All These Years - ****
04. Cornflake Girl - *****
05. Mary - ****
06. God - *****
07. Winter - *****
08. Spark - *****
09. Way Down - *****
10. Professional Widow (remix) - ****
11. Mr. Zebra - ****
12. Crucify - *****
13. Me and a Gun - *****
14. Bliss - *****
15. Playboy Mommy - *****
16. Baker Baker - *****
17. Tear in Your Hand - *****
18. Sweet Dreams - ****
19. Jackie's Strength - ****
20. Snow Cherries from France - ****
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