lots of practice.

IstenSzek said:

You were kinda not that thrilled with "The Beekeeper", were you? Do you think this would've fit?

IstenSzek said:

It definitely has that "Silly Songs" vibe of the Pele b-sides like "This Old Man", "Toodles Mr. Jim", "Frog On My Toe", "Sandwich Song", etc.

Since she mentions Ireland in there somewhere, I think it would've made a nice outro to "Ireland".

First she went to Ireland, then she lost her clothes, then she had to go meet the Beekeeper. It's a very spiritual journey.

IstenSzek said:

You are correct, sir. It was an outtake from "Under the Pink". And like "Honey", she's been kinda kicking herself that she left it off. It would've fit on there perfectly. The lyrics are really striking once you figure out what she's singing about.

IstenSzek said:

I thought the same thing about the Kate comparisons, and that's not something I'd readily admit. But it's all there.

And you definitely know your Tori, even with the confusion about this track.

She found an old instrumental demo from the Earthquakes sessions, dusted it off and wrote the words/sand the vocals this year.

So it's a nice bookend to the whole set.

IstenSzek said:

Pele, it is. I think of the new songs, this is my favorite. She sounds totally possessed in some parts and I can just see her cross-eyed and drooling like she was on that tour. Not glamourous, but very convincing. Aside from the "Do a Jig!" part, I'm loving "The lord needs my ass!"

Truer words were never spoken.

IstenSzek said:

I ping pong on this one. Sometimes I'm really feeling it, other times it kinda annoys me. And I'm guessing I might always feel that way because of how long and densely layered it is. When I'm in the right frame of mind, I can really get lost in it. And I love the subject matter. Other times, like in the morning it's just too much and a bit of a mess.

well, it certainly pleased me more on first and repeated listen
than most of the Beekeeper material.

having said that, i do think it would have fit. it might have
given the album a bit of a harder edge.

although i shouldn't really say to much about Beekeeper as i've
still to really explore that in depth.

i plan on reading the lyrics attentively over the weekend before
giving it yet another chance

lol, i love that narrative

so was it from the Beekeeper sessions? i'm curious to know since i like
"Not David Bowie" and this song very much. makes me anxious to listen to
that album again and see if i missed more gems!

hmm, that's very interesting indeed. especially the lyrics have me
thinking she's going back into a direction that is more readily
accessible to me on an emotional level. very cool song!

once again i am simply baffled with how many cool songs she has
recorded for each album. just looking at the material that was
kept off the album or ended up on it's b-sides. wow.

in that respect she's always reminded me of prince because she
would choose songs to fit in with the mood of the album and if
a song didn't fit in her idea it would be left off no matter
how good that song was. that way both of them have some b-sides
that are as good as if not better than some album tracks.

this is one of them for sure

true. but i've also got that with it's sister song "Datura" which is
just a trip when you're ready for it but kind of annoying when it
just pops up on my shuffle play in the middle of a busy day at work

makes me anxious to listen to
that album again and see if i missed more gems!

IstenSzek said:

For me, I instantly connected with The Beekeeper. It fit perfectly with my mood that Spring.

And there are a bunch of gems on there - the title track, Martha's, Pisces, Marys, Knickers, Sweet the Sting, Jamaica Inn, Mother Revolution.

I really love most of the songs.

But I know that it's the album that most Tori fans struggle with. Folks are brutal about it on her message boards.

IstenSzek said:

From everything I've read about the new album, it sounds like she's ready to kick some major ass again.

Her reasoning for the relative mellowness of the past few albums has a lot to do with becoming a mother and being happily married.

I suppose that would make anyone more objective in their writing and more able to tackle problems of the outside world instead of just internal turmoil.

It seems most Tori fans miss the insanity, the tripping with South American shamans and 'peace, love and a hard cock' days.

To some extent, I can understand. But I also like seeing that she's worked through her shit and has never repeated herself.

IstenSzek said:

One thing that totally floors me is that "Cooling", "Never Seen Blue" and "Beulah Land" are ALL leftovers from Pele. All 3 are among her very best songs and yet none of them fit with that album, or even the b-sides from it. Yet they go very well together.

I can see how "Cooling" would've fit in with the themes of fire and the Hawaiian imagery, but I can't imagine where it would be placed.

She said something about it -

“I wish she had been on Pele, cause I think it would have been kinda cool for a volcano to say, This is cooling faster than I can”

You can hear the choir from "Way Down" in "Beulah Land" and the vocals on "Never Seen Blue" are clearly Pele era.

But they all stand alone so well. I think of them as the perfect bridge emotionally into the territory she would cover on Choirgirl.

I don't have the box set, but it's fun just reading your impressions.

heartbeatocean said:

It's not out yet, hon. Not until next week. We're just going on about some of the songs that have leaked.

A Piano: The Collection is a mammoth undertaking by Tori Amos and Rhino Records. This box set collects album cuts, B-sides, unedited and alternate versions, demos, and seven previously unissued cuts. Making one's way through it is to enter a labyrinth, a parallel but alternate universe that traces the development of the artist from her earliest recordings (with the exception of Y Kant Tori Read, of course) through her transformation as a conceptual songwriter, musician, and artisan who has moved tumultuously through the pop world without, it appears, ever losing her vision or sense of herself. Amos produced this set, and Rhino cross-licensed material from Epic as well. Amos annotates each track here in the handsome hardbound book that accompanies it, which also contains a boatload of photos and an essay by Lorraine Ali. The set comes packaged under a large plastic piano keyboard — this aspect of it is simply irritating. The "piano as part of the package" has been done before — and done better — in other artists' retrospectives. It's cheesy.The five discs here, however, cover virtually every part of Amos' iconic, often iconoclastic career. Virtually every part of Little Earthquakes is explored, which is why disc one is titled "Little Earthquakes Extended" (since basically three versions of the album were completed). These include the singles, such as the unedited 45 version of "Crucify," the alternate mix of "Flying Dutchman," and an alternate mix of "Mother." Even the unissued "Take Me With You," from the Little Earthquakes session is here, but it appears on disc two. With all the B-sides and alternates issued, Little Earthquakes, in retrospect, is a far more prophetic and ever wider ranging offering than the officially released original version. Much of Amos' restlessness as an artist is revealed even at this early stage. Beginning with disc two, the remainder of her recordings are picked from, rather than presented in their complete versions. From disc two on, Amos picks and chooses from her catalog, providing many alternate mixes — perhaps she liked them better than the original versions. For instance, the presented mixes of "The Waitress" and "Baker Baker" are revelatory in their sense of drama and dynamic. A different version of "Caught a Sneeze" from Boys for Pele offers a sense of just how strange and beguiling this cut is. The B-sides include "Honey," which was the flip of "Pretty Good Year," and a live version of "Professional Widow," which came on the backside of "Hey Jupiter." Disc three is compiled from the rest of Pele, To Venus and Back, and Tales of a Librarian, and is simply loaded with remixes, including Armand Van Helden's badass take on "Professional Widow," the single remix of "Concertina," and "Sugar" from the soundcheck on the To Venus and Back tour. It's a dizzying and sometimes off-kilter and troubling disc, especially coming as it does smack in the middle of the package. However there is the "Walk to Dublin (Sucker Remix)" that has never been officially released.

Cutting through the fourth disc, you can't help but notice that it does feel rushed as it covers material from the Epic period, including selections from Scarlet's Walk, Beekeeper, and From the Choirgirl Hotel — it's wildly arrayed in textures and colors that don't seem to fit together. Add into the mix four tracks that have never been released, from who knows what sessions, and you have a serious car crash. But then again, there's beauty in this kind of mashup, too, in that the sonic chaos is even violent at times as you juxtapose cuts such as a remix of "Jackie's Strength" with the unreleased "Zero Point" and then jump to "Sweet the Sting" from Beekeeper; this mishmash, though creates and contains a new symmetry and a new series of angles with no center except for the artist herself. Discs three and four are real challenges, but also far more rewarding given all the cracks in the sidewalk that Amos chose to step on rather than jump across. Here is where the tale of the artist is told, actually, in the continuing conflicts of style and how to weave substance that was ever more abstract into these new soundworlds she'd chosen. The last disc contains 11 B-sides that were featured as additional tracks on singles and EPs, and there is one more unreleased cut in "Peeping Tommi." The final 11 cuts contain more flipsides and a medley of demos, which make for another kind of insanity. These contain three unreleased demos of "Fire Eater's Wife/Beauty Queen," "Playboy Mommy," and "A Sorta Fairytale" before folding back into the otherwise issued recordings. It's as if they're folded in to the mix in order (so to speak) to sort something out — to break up the disparate tracks but in end only making them more so. It's not only curious but infuriating, seductive, engaging, and sometimes utterly puzzling. After all is said and done, however, there is silence, and with that comes the sense and enormity of the sheer wonder of it all. Amos has pissed off everybody at one time or another, even her hardest core of fans who've stuck with her through thick and thin. Given that she's only been out there in the public ears and eyes for 16 years, she has gone through numerous phases and stages, and it reminds one of Bob Dylan, the true iconoclast who seems to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity in 2006. Amos' reach is long, and it for all its beauty, there are knots, warts, cuts, and bruises. And that's what A Piano is, ultimately: an embarkation through a provocative and sometimes grotesque journey, through bruises and kisses which offer a new look through the past as it points toward the future — which is exactly what a box set is supposed to do.

I must have this!

IstenSzek said:

For me, I instantly connected with The Beekeeper. It fit perfectly with my mood that Spring.

And there are a bunch of gems on there - the title track, Martha's, Pisces, Marys, Knickers, Sweet the Sting, Jamaica Inn, Mother Revolution.

I really love most of the songs.

But I know that it's the album that most Tori fans struggle with. Folks are brutal about it on her message boards.

But I know that it's the album that most Tori fans struggle with. Folks are brutal about it on her message boards.

More than 'Strange Little Girls'?

The bashing of TBK has always pained me, because I adore that album, and it really touches me.

sextonseven said:

Seems to be. But perhaps that's because TBK is the most recent.

With SLG people are somewhat forgiving since it was to get out of her contract and they aren't her songs.

I had trouble with Choirgirl for the longest time. Now it competes for my favorite. I'm kinda surprised that it's your trouble spot.