I heard the MILF song by accident on XM the other day and thought “WTF?”
I’ve kindof quit listening to Tori the past couple years, after being a HUGE fan since the '90s. I just don’t “get” her music anymore.
If you liked the style of Tori’s older stuff, try listening to Regina Spektor. She’s got the voice and the chops and the creativity, but is more…um…coherent than Tori ever was. I’m kindof hooked on her lately for some reason. I think “Soviet Kitsch” is her latest album.
Gotta agree with Tuckerfan about Kate Bush jumping the shark with the Sensual World. I’ve loathed everything she’s done since then. I give her a chance with every new release (a whopping 2 of them in the last 18 years) but no cigar.
Sometimes artists mature/move on for the worse. See Genesis post 1980 to see another band evolve into the artistically mundane.
Now, I loved The Sensual World. The title song is… well, hot. The Fog is very haunting and moving, and This Woman’s Work makes me choke up.
The Red Shoes, however… not a fan at all!
Sweet, merciful, motherfucking God, “Yo George” is bad. Cheesy bad. Awful. The worst thing I’ve heard this year.
Well, see, “America’s Kate Bush” is actually Happy Rhodes, but since Happy is obscure, few people know it. She’s much closer to Kate musically, lyrically, vocally and philosophically than Tori has ever been (though Happy is very much her own artist and has never wanted to be and has never been a wannabe).
Tori’s a sweetheart in person (I’ve met her several times) but I only like about half her music.
And Kate has NEVER jumped the shark. (This coming from someone whose favorite Kate album, indeed, favorite album EVER by ANYBODY, is The Dreaming).
I always thought Tori was ripping off Kate. That with the over acting while sitting at the piano always made me want to smack her.
Very few “artists” bother me as much as her.
I’ve always loved Tori Amos but didn’t know she was still doing anything either, and on a whim a few weeks ago I checked out her website and Big Wheels was on. I kinda liked it. I had every intention of picking the CD (and I tagged her on XM to see if I could hear anything), but after this, I’m not so sure. I’ll wait til bestbuy.com puts the 30 second samples up so I can listen to them.
I was pretty surprised when I heard it, it’s the first time I’ve listened to Tori and not wanted to polish off that bottle of Tylenol (becuase it’s depressing, not because it was bad).
So anyways, Regina Spektor huh, the BestBuy Previews sounded good, can anyone recommend a “starter” album for me.
You can hear the whole album at her Myspace page here:
I’m going to check out Regina Spektor too. And for the record I can’t stand Kate Bush. 
I love Tori deeply, but she has made exactly three good albums (Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink, From the Choirgirl Hotel). Most of the rest of them had their moments, but were otherwise totally forgettable. The rest were just 100% forgettable (namely The Beekeeper).
I’ve heard bits of this one, and it appears to be her first disc that isn’t just forgettable–it’s actively bad. That’s a real shame.
(That said, I’m sure her shows will still be good. I saw her on the tour behind Scarlet’s Walk, and it was fantastic.)
Okay, I was beginning to feel like a Luddite because I only really like Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink and Scarlet’s Walk. And of those, I like Under the Pink the best. I can’t even listen to the other albums.
Boys from Pele has that one song I really like…I think it’s called Caught a Light Breeze.
It is indeed more apt to compare Happy to Kate than it is to compare Tori to Kate. And while I don’t think Happy’s nearly the all-around artist that Kate is, I do think that she (Happy) has one of the great voices of the recording era. When she multitracks she sounds like the 15-year-old Kate dueting with the mature Annie Lennox. There are other singers with as wide a range, but most have a narrower comfort zone: I can think of no other singer who’s voice is 10-out-of-10 gorgeous from the very highest to the very lowest notes in her range.
Someone’s been watching too much American Idol.
Agreed. Regina Spektor is adorable, musically, lyrically, and physically.
“Caught a Light Sneeze,” not Breeze.
Boys for Pele is actually the one record by her that I like.
Those are my three favorite albums by Tori too.
Regarding Happy Rhodes, give me an inch…
While I’d agree with you, I think a lot has to do with the fact that she didn’t have a background that was 100% supportive to her artistry, she has always been on tiny indie labels who couldn’t afford to/didn’t do enough to nurture her (or, as currently, unsigned), and for most of her 20-year career she’s worked day jobs because her music has never made enough to make a living on, plus not having all the myriad advantages and contacts that Kate has had. She’s never had the luxury of giving it all to her music to become the all-around artist that Kate is. I adore Kate but really, she’s been an extremely lucky lady from day one of her musical development.
Agreed, though the “15 year old Kate” voice was mainly on her very early albums (out of 11) and she doesn’t use it anymore. As she’s matured so have her high voices. And her lows have gotten much richer and deeper too.
I get frustrated that she’s so neglected and ignored in the music world (and then hate myself in the morning for being too sensitive) but I do believe that she will one day be recognized for, at the very least, her phenomenal voice. Could be tomorrow, could be 50 years from now, but it will happen. It can’t NOT happen.
I haven’t heard Tori’s latest, but from her last two albums I fear it’s going to be a fern-bar worthy soundtrack. Early Tori had a high hit-and-miss ratio, but when she hit (“Crucify”, “God”, “Pretty Good Year”) it was great. Now she doesn’t even sound if she’s trying anymore.
Now on to Regina Spektor. Her latest album is actually “Begin To Hope”, which has launched the minor hit “Fidelity”. Only a few tracks sound like that, though; most of the other tracks resemble a more consistent and lyrically coherent version of Tori’s “Boys for Pele” album. I’d actually suggest you get “Soviet Kitsch”; although many are fazed by most of the album being piano-and-vocal, I like that type of her music better and the writing is fantastic. I saw her yesterday at the Moore Theatre in Seattle. Go see her if you can–she’s a fantastically lively entertainer with a rich voice live.
I skimmed though it on myspace and it seems that if you want to hear ‘old’ Tori you’ll want to stick with the tracks done by Santa.*
*But this was last night, hopefully IRC
It’s like she’s trying to make a KT Tunstall album but can’t quite get the hooks right. The piano in “Big Wheel” sounds a bit like Elvis Costello’s new album, but it’s missing something. Not flat-out awful, but not particularly good.
Tori has been one of my favorite artists for a long time, but I definitely prefer her earlier work (same favorites as Doctor J and Equipoise). Strange Little Girls is one of the worst albums I’ve ever heard, by anyone. Scarlet’s Walk was listenable, but kind of boring. The Beekeeper was boring as well. I think it has a lot to do with the production of her newer albums - I understand she’s much more involved in that now. Listening to her remasterings of good oldies on Tales of a Librarian makes this easier to notice. There’s something odd about the foregrounding of the vocals over everything else. And lately (by that I mean the past couple albums), she seems to end every song with a drawn out, a cappella word or unintelligible sound. I think that’s rather annoying.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll buy her new CD. Heck, I just forked over $60 for her A Piano collection, and I already own all her CD’s. I just like her. And I just keep hoping she’ll be as good as she used to be.