My review:

As a long time Tori fan I have been hoping for some time that she would hand in a more piano-centric album, a return to her girl-and-a-piano roots of old. And with Unrepentant Geraldines she has finally delivered this.

This is the first album (sans the classically-inspired Night Of Hunters) since the mid-90s not to feature long-time collaboraters Matt Chamberlain (drums) and Jon Evans (bass). So inevitably the album is less of a band affair, featuring no less than seven tracks with only Tori and her piano. The rest of the tracks have drums programmed by her husband, who also adds his usual guitar flourishes throughout.

One thing that struck me is that her vocals sound more controlled and strong than her more recent albums, utilising her upper range to great effect, at times harking back to her vocal stylings on Little Earthquakes.

As for the songs, title track Unrepentant Geraldines is an utter masterpiece in my eyes. The main body of the song is largely experimental and unpredictable, shifting between contrasting sections with ease, a reggae tinged verse, leading into a punk-rock style bridge, then going into a piano-centred anthemic chorus. Just when you think you've wrapped your head around the song it ends abruptly and goes into a beautiful piano-centred outro section, which, on a first listen could very easily be mistaken for an entirely different song. It really has to be heard to be believed.

Other highlights include the haunting Weatherman and the gloriously quirky Beatles-esque Giants Rolling Pin.

i was pleasantly surprised by this album. although i kind of like lead single "trouble's lament"

it did dampen my spirits a bit as my expectations were very high for this album since they'd

released a statement that the album would be 'piano centric'.

.

but upon listening to the album in full, i was indeed pleasantly surprised. there were even a

few songs i immediately connected with, a thing that hasn't happened since Scarlet's Walk.

.

most of the solo piano songs are pretty strong and some songs are truly great. there are a

few bonustracks/b-sides ("Forrest of Glass", "White Telephone To God" and "Dixie") which

are also solo piano pieces and particularly "Forrest Of Glass" is really beautiful.

.

i love her vocals on the album. at last she's no longer stretching words and syllables beyond

comfort, plus, her voice sounds really good, reaching high notes i haven't heard from her in

ages.

.

there are only 2 songs i don't like "Giant's Rolling Pin" (i truly despise) and "Rose Dover".

but that's a huge step up from everything past Scarlet's Walk, where I was happy if i'd even

like 3 songs on each album.

.

from the lyrical content and some of her recent interviews, it seems that she knows this too.

or at least she seems to acknowledge that "Tori" was gone for a while there and now she's

slowly started to come back round to her former self. it's even apparant in the artwork (tho

it's still kinda 'meh') and her clothing (no more weird floral kaftan theater costumes) and it

seems the horrible wigs are gone too. she looks somewhat like herself again.

.

all in all, great album, didn't think she had it in her anymore. here's to hoping she'll now be

continuing on this path and be completely back to her former brilliance on the next album.

Good stuff, easily digestible and focussed. I've been waiting for an album like this from Tori for too long. Glad she finally delivered.

Cloudbuster said:

Glad she finally delivered.

Ah, poppycock! Tori ALWAYS delivers.

I read an interview recently where she discussed Kate Bush's live shows... thought it made some interesting reading:

Are you excited about Kate Bush’s return?
Yeah, how exciting! I think it’s really thrilling that she’s going to be playing live.

Will you be going?
I’ll be in the States touring.

What a shame!
Exactly, yeah.

Why do you think she’s playing again after all these years?
I don’t know. It’s not an easy task, to not have played live for 35 years, and to go out at 50-something and go do it. I think that takes a lot of bravery and commitment. I tour pretty much every other year and I’m telling you right now, it’s quite something to get prepared for a show, whether you do one or 80, you still have to prepare for that, so the fact that she hasn’t done it for so long, and that she is going to do it is motivational for everyone and women of all ages.

^^ Yeah, I saw that a couple of days ago. It's lovely that she's always been so gracious towards Kate even though Kate has never had the decency to return the favour. Miserable old bag.

I've always found something on Tori's albums to enjoy but many of them in the last decade have outstayed their welcome for me; often in need of a bit of pruning. But she's rarely less than interesting even if her concepts can be beyond my comprehension at times, lol.

Cloudbuster said:

^^ Yeah, I saw that a couple of days ago. It's lovely that she's always been so gracious towards Kate even though Kate has never had the decency to return the favour. Miserable old bag.

I've always found something on Tori's albums to enjoy but many of them in the last decade have outstayed their welcome for me; often in need of a bit of pruning. But she's rarely less than interesting even if her concepts can be beyond my comprehension at times, lol.

I enjoy all of Tori's albums but I do think the Unrepentant Geraldines is more enjoyable to a lot of people because it doesn't have those two issues you mentioned that seem to bother a lot of people. It's a lot shorter than most of her albums in recent years. And although she has mentioned some concept of being inspired by visual artists, the concept isn't pushed too hard. It's more a collection of songs. Also some of the lyrics are more straightforward dealing with aging as a woman etc than some of her more obtuse lyrics.

Glindathegood said:

I enjoy all of Tori's albums but I do think the Unrepentant Geraldines is more enjoyable to a lot of people because it doesn't have those two issues you mentioned that seem to bother a lot of people. It's a lot shorter than most of her albums in recent years. And although she has mentioned some concept of being inspired by visual artists, the concept isn't pushed too hard. It's more a collection of songs. Also some of the lyrics are more straightforward dealing with aging as a woman etc than some of her more obtuse lyrics.

Yes, I guess in a nutshell I can connect with it (minus the aging woman part) without having to think too hard. A thoroughly enjoyable record.