Of the twenty-three tracks on her ninth studio album, Tori Amos only takes credit for singing five of them. The others, liner notes indicate, are vocalized by alternate Amoses named Clyde, Isabel, Santa and Pip — four mythical beauties, each with her own blog! — intended to represent different parts of the female psyche. With the exception of “Big Wheel,” where Amos loses points for proclaiming herself a MILF, she saves American Doll Posse’s best material for her own damn self: the arena-rock ballad “Digital Ghost,” the chilly “Father’s Son,” which keeps all but Amos’ fairy-tale croon and agile piano-playing buried low in the mix, and “Code Red,” whose gothic stomp is classic Tori. Glam rave-ups like “You Can Bring Your Dog,” snowflake-perfect piano ballads elaborated with strings (“Girl Disappearing”) and even missteps like the Ashlee Simpson-meets-Mr. Bungle rocker “Teenage Hustling” live harmoniously amid the more typically Tori tunes. In typical Tori fashion, there’s way too much conceptual malarkey surrounding the songs, but if you can ignore her fake posse, you’ll find this is Amos’ best album in many years.

JENNY ELISCU
(Posted: May 14, 2007)

Rolling Stone finally put in their 2 cents:

Are you happy I love it?

sextonseven said:

Are they?! I looked to see if there was credit but I didn't see them. I guess I need to scrub the booklet a little harder then

Me likey this album a lot! Code Red, Smokey Joe, and Father Son seem to pop out at me. I'm still getting familiar.

My standouts:

Big Wheel (Tori)
Bouncing Off Clouds (Clyde)
Secret Spell (Santa)
Beauty of Speed (Clyde)
Almost Rosey (Isabel)

Why was this thread un-stickyfied and the one of the icelandic lab rat still is?

sextonseven said:

Those songs along with "Teenage Hustling" should all be singles.

I LOVE teenage Hustling

GangstaFam said:

I LOVE teenage Hustling

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

better than PJ!

MikeMatronik said:

No Way and Never But I still love the song and this album

better than PJ!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

just pullin' yer leg!

MikeMatronik said:

You aint pullin the right one!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

but the middle one is so....petit!

MikeMatronik said:

You aint foolin nobody with that bluff. I have nothing to be ashamed of!

sextonseven said:

Those songs along with "Teenage Hustling" should all be singles.

That one is growing on me. I may have to add it to the list. Then Pip will have a song too!

sextonseven said:

That song has just about my favorite line on the whole thing. The 'skankin' around with your talentless trash' part puts me over the edge!

GangstaFam said:

That one is growing on me. I may have to add it to the list. Then Pip will have a song too!

sextonseven said:

All right. Do you really buy this whole five characters scheme? I still think it's kinda silly.

heartbeatocean said:

Pip's songs are more rock-ish. They would make an interesting EP. The others I honestly can't tell the difference yet stylistically or thematically.

sextonseven said:

We should burn a couple variations of the album broken down by character to see if we come up with some insight.