GangstaFam said:

I know... I love that album so much. It takes so much abuse.

NorthernLad said:

People are stupid.

NorthernLad said:

Now you know how I feel when folk rag on Invincible.

Cloudbuster said:

I do.

Scarlet's Walk is miles better than The Beekeeper!

MikeMatronik said:

Pfft!

GangstaFam said:

admit it...you love to sing Gold Dust!

MikeMatronik said:

I do, actually.

GangstaFam said:

Kate told me you did!

Cloudbuster said:

Ya know... You're right. I'm sorry for ragging on it. Musical taste is subjective and there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to what's good, and what sucks.

And I will admit to liking "Unbreakable"

MikeMatronik said:

They're close in my book, but I like The Beekeeper a smidge more

NorthernLad said:

Actually I'm more found of SW because of it's concept. It made me a fan.

MikeMatronik said:

SW does have my all-time favorite Tori song, "Taxi Ride". I made a post on my blog about it about a year ago, I'll see if I can find it and I'll post it here, cuz it kind of explains why i love it so much.

MikeMatronik said:

It wasn't an instant fit for me. In fact, I only made friends with it after Beekeeper came out.

At the time of its release, it was just a bit too samey for me. Now I like it for how unified it is.

GangstaFam said:

Yeah, but Vince gets ripped on more than any other album around here, tho'.

Still, thanks for the sympathy.

NorthernLad said:

If you don't like Butterflies you should kill yourself.

Cloudbuster said:

I don't know if I remember it - I'll give it a spin with an open mind

GangstaFam said:

I consider The Beekeeper a very bad continuation of Scarlet's Soundspace...

NorthernLad said:

My favorite song of the album must be Strange

GangstaFam said:

i'm right there with you...sort of.

when it first came out, in light of all the pro-american bullshit that was coming out from post 9/11 shock, i thought it was a great record. calling america on her own forms of terrorism against this land's own people, both native and current, was ballsy. and she did it with such subtlety that critics didn't really pick up on it.

not terribly long after the tour winded down, though, i kind of lost interest in the record. it was a timepiece and its time had come and gone, at least in my mind. however, i've mended that fence so to speak and listen to it frequently enough now. we needed our space to work things out.

MikeMatronik said:

oooh that's a good one too. Have you heard the re-recorded version that was planned as a single release, and then cancelled at the last minute? It's pretty cool as well.

Cloudbuster said:

Vince.

I liked a fair amount of tracks on there. "Break of Dawn" and "Heaven Can Wait" are the shit!

Cloudbuster said:

MikeMatronik said:

very bad?

NorthernLad said:

yes...the guitar intro. Gorgeous version!

GangstaFam said:

dreadful is the correct word!

sallysassalot said:

Scarlet's a fairweather friend.

MikeMatronik said:

MikeMatronik said:

aiiiight here's the blog entry I did on Taxi Ride last December when I did my 50 favorite songs of the decade so far (it ranked #1). Just cuz I love it and want to gush.

I love gushing about music I dig


----

Tori Amos completed “Taxi Ride” after the death of her close friend, the famed photographer, make-up artist and gay activist Kevyn Aucoin. Kevyn did the make-up for the multiple photographs and album covers for Tori’s 2001 album “Strange Little Girls” – 3 of which are framed and hanging in my living room. In October 2001 Kevyn was diagnosed with a rare pituitary tumor, to which he ultimately succumbed after a long painful battle on May 7, 2002 at only 40 years old. Tori said the following after Kevyn’s death: "For those like me who loved Kevyn the person, the heart now weeps as if made of water color. Earth has lost yet another light, but perhaps, he has joined the masters who paint our sunsets."

“Taxi Ride” is a song first and foremost about betrayal. Betrayal by those who were your friends, but that weren’t there when needed the most. Said Tori of “Taxi Ride” to Out Magazine in November, 2002: “"The odd thing about Taxi Ride was that this song was being written before he died, and he even heard that line, 'just another dead fag to you.' I was writing it as part of another song about a gay guy who was dying of AIDS. He miraculously recovered, and the song didn't get written. It started propelling itself again early this year, and Kevyn and I were having conversations, and I didn't know what was coming. But I knew he was in a lot of pain, and he felt betrayed by people who weren't there when he was in need. Then everybody who shows up in his death can give a statement, but they weren't there in the trenches. His death brought up a lot of things in people - some lovely and some despicable and disgusting. Taxi is for Kevyn."

To me, “Taxi Ride” conveys feelings of exhaustion and numbness from a long ordeal that is finally over – for those involved, but also for the person who has died. But there is also sorrow and incredible bitterness in the song… as well as relief, celebration and hope for the future. It’s all over, and the ones who were there, as Tori says, “in the trenches”, can finally get together, remember, let it all loose, cry and sleep and get on with their lives. But the anger they feel because of what they watched happen creeps through clearly in the song. “Taxi Ride” touches me deeply because I think at its core its about friendship, and dedication, and what that means in the bad times and not just the good. It’s something that everyone will be tested on at one time or another in their lives, from both sides of the coin - needing, or being needed.

“Taxi Ride” was the 2nd single from Tori's first album for Epic Records after a long and successful run with Atlantic. It did not match the commercial prowess of “A Sorta Fairytale”, but that wasn’t surprising. Any song with the line “Just another dead fag” is not likely to get a great deal of airplay. I fell in love with "Taxi Ride" as soon as I heard it, and it has become my favorite song by an artist that I admire a great deal. “Taxi Ride” is one of those rare songs that can give me chills when I hear it and if my frame of mind is right bring me close to tears; but it also reminds me that there are strong people in my life that I want around me when it matters most.

GangstaFam said:

Beekeeper is just a bad Regina Spektor album!