'Cause if it is, I’ll buy the album. But i thought she was one of those angryatmengurrrlpowerLilithFair types.
She is and she isn’t. She’s more loony than angry most of the time. ASFT is characteristic of the album, though like the alubm, its a little subdued for her. Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink are still her best, and if there’s any preaching going on, it’s unintelligible at first pass to matter anyway.
Tori’s anger is a very quiet anger. I don’t know who you’re considering the gold standard for “angryatmengurrrlpowerLilithFair types”, but if you like ASFT, you’ll at least like that album (Scarlet’s Walk), and you’ll probably like the others. I’m partial to Under the Pink and From the Choirgirl Hotel, myself.
Her current tour (I think it’s still going on) is also fantastic. I highly recommend it.
Dr. J
Hmm. Didn’t the same thing happen to Liz Phair? Squeezing out rugrats is apparently the cure for feminist outrage. 
[sub]I’m kidding, I swear![/sub]
Anyway Doctor J, I don’t think there really is a “gold standard.” I tend to think of certain artists as all belonging to a group that every girl I knew listened to back in the mid to late 1990s. Back then, I called them “the Lilith Fair bunch.” Many were a bit folky and they all seemed angry much of the time, mostly at men (or so it seemed to me back then). Many sang songs on quite violent subjects or emotions that were rather mild musically. The classic example is Shawn Colvin’s “Sunny Came Home,” about arson.
Thank God we have gangsta rap to remind all those “Lilith Fair types” that while we men might all be ‘potential rapists’, they are all still bitches and worthless ho’s. :rolleyes: Talk about cognitive dissonance!
I don’t think there really is a typical Tori Amos album. Just about everything she’s done has had a very unique flavor to it.
ASFT has some catchy tunes on it, but I really miss the piano-intensive earlier stuff. I still think Little Earthquakes was her best album.
Under the Pink and Boys For Pele aren’t very accessible at first, but once you listen to them a few times, they’ll blow you away. When “Yes Anastasia” finally clicked for me, I was in heaven.
If ASFT is more your speed, though, you’d probably be better off buying From the Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back.
If you ever have the chance, you should also check out the B-sides to her singles. So many of them are better than the album tracks. I own almost all of her CD singles, but they are in pretty limited supply for purchase these days. It may be worth your while to search out some of these songs through, um, somewhat less legal means. I think you know what I mean.
A few of my favorite B-sides are:
Cooling
Concertina
Take to the Sky
Bachelorette
Beulah Land
Flying Dutchman
Upside Down
Never Seen Blue
Sweet Dreams
Home on the Range (Cherokee Edition)
Daisy Dead Petals