Ok, I know Tori Amos and Trent Reznor have had some friendly
\nexchanges, but the two releasing a double album in the same day
\nseems just a bit too contrived. I know it’s not their fault and
\nit’s probably just an odd coincidence, but there’s many-a-broke-ass
\ncollege students out there this week, including myself. First my
\ncar battery dies, now $40 smackers for 2 friggin’ CDs! Anyway, I
\ndigress.<\/p>\n
Like Nine Inch Nails, Amos can be guaranteed a gold album
\nprobably for the rest of her life. Count me among the geeks who
\nhave scurried about the ‘net and numerous record stores in search
\nof such rarities as her
\nForgotten Earthquakes<\/i> b-sides release. And this album could
\nhave been comprised of outtakes from her performance on the “Regis
\n& Kathie Lee” show and I would have shelled out the cash.<\/p>\n
Before
\nTo Venus And Back<\/i> was released, Amos said the album was
\nmeant to be a series of b-sides taken mainly from her recording of
\n“from the choirgirl hotel” as well as a live CD. But Amos’s
\ninspiration, “the fairies,” blessed her with some songwriting chops
\nand before she knew it, an album was formed. Though she has said
\nthis is not the official follow-up to
\nfrom the choirgirl hotel<\/i>, she did admit that this collection
\nis more than an assortment of b-sides.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, when Amos said this, I began to give the first
\nside of her album a little more weight. And sadly, it is a
\ndisappointment. By fully implimenting her backup band and
\nincorporating way too much electronica this time out, the first
\nside of
\nTo Venus And Back<\/i>, lacks a certain warmness that has
\ndecorated all of Amos’s albums.<\/p>\n
Her quirky lyrics are certainly not missing on this outing. On
\none of her more commercial songs, “Bliss,” the song begins with
\n“Father, I killed my monkey.” And on “Glory Of The ’80s,” Amos’s
\npattern of songwriting for one of the first times in her career,
\nbecomes formulaic: add some kitchy pop culture reference (Raquel
\nWelch, “Bette Davis Eyes”), sprinkle in some religous imagery and
\nthen write whatever is in your mind right now (“I had ‘The Story Of
\nO’ in my bucket seat”) and put on random in the word processor and
\npresto.<\/p>\n
Amos has been weird before. But even on her weirdest album,
\nBoys For Pele<\/i>, she at least had some direction in which she
\nwanted the album to go. A flow if you will. Given time, listeners
\nmay warm up to disc one. “Lust” and “Spring Haze” are both
\nbeautiful ditties that would fit in perfectly with most of her
\nprevious albums. But too often, the new tracks of
\nTo Venus And Back<\/i> are over produced and uninspired.<\/p>\n
The flaws on the first disc become glaringly evident once you
\nget to the second disc. The live side of
\nTo Venus And Back<\/i> has to be one of the most perfectly
\nproduced live albums this decade. “Precious Things” and “Waitress”
\nare turned into power jam sessions that evoke images of Pink Floyd
\nand Led Zeppelin in terms of their beautiful excess.<\/p>\n
Yes, parts of the first disc were excessive, but they didn’t
\nROCK. Even people who hated
\nBoys For Pele<\/i> may dig the live version of “Mr. Zebra.” Some
\nof the highlights on this disc include the full-out groove of
\n“Cornflake Girl” and the sound check version of “Sugar,” a song
\nthat is a staple of her many b-side releases.<\/p>\n
Amos has and will always be best when it’s just her voice and
\nher piano. But the live songs on
\nTo Venus And Back<\/i> show an artist who is not afraid to take
\nrisks. If
\nfrom the choirgirl hotel<\/i> was her version of
\nAchtung Baby<\/i>, then the in-studio recording of
\nTo Venus And Back<\/i> best represent her attempt at making
\nZooropa<\/i>: an essentially flawed album sprinkled with elements
\nof greatness.<\/p>\n
For many fans, getting used to disc one is going to be a rough
\nexperience. Each of these songs will take time to win the favor of
\nmost Amos fans. And with a near-perfect live album in the next
\nsleeve, it’s even more of a temptation to write off disc one as a
\nseries of self-indulgent b-sides. Every great artist who has lasted
\nhas had at least one questionable album in their collection. And
\nfor Amos, at least this album shows that she’s capable of such an
\noffense. Grade for the in-studio album: C. Grade for the live
\nrecording: A-. Let the law of averages work things out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5650],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-36277","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-tori-amos","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36277"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36277"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}