Happy Birthday to the inimitable Tori Amos on this fine Tuesday morning. Tori's star has dimmed somewhat but her legion of fans remain passionate. I myself was a late blooming fan. I was caught somewhere in the 90s between loathing her for stealing Kate Bush's faerie princess art song mantle and loving her once I realized how freaking brilliant she was. My favorite Tori Songs of all time:Best Album: Under the Pink (runner up: Boys for Pele)
Best Song: Today I'd argue for either Caught a Light Sneeze, Precious Things or Playboy Mommy. Ask me tomorrow and I'll list three different ones.
Best Lyric: "I believe in peace bitch" (from The Waitress)
Feel free to celebrate her birthday by declaring your devotion in the comments --what's your favorite Tori song? Have you ever seen her in concert. A-MA-ZING. Even better than on CD.
For reasons that shall remain unclear, even to myself, I felt it neccessary to make a photo collage of 9 actresses starring as Tori Amos in the imaginary biopic Strange Little Girls.
I apologize.
Posts
22 comments:
LOL@ the collage at the end. They better do a I'm Not There-esque thing for Tori and call it Strange Little Boys. If they don't I'm boycotting (okay, not really. They won't even make a movie about her).
My favourite Tori album is Little Earthquakes but my favourite song is probably "1000 Oceans" (from To Venus and Back). Although I do also LOVE "Bliss", "Cornflake Girl" and "Winter". I haven't heard all her albums all the way through though. I have the best of and a few albums but not her whole catelogue.
Oh boy, am I gonna fag out talking about my love for Tori.
Best album, for me, will always be Boys For Pele, though the two before it are perfect perfect records as well. But Boys For Pele was when I decided I loved her.
I miss that angry, scary Tori! You still get to see that side in concerts, when she rapes her piano bench, and I've heard she's bringing back her "warrior self," as she calls it, for her next album.
Favorite song... man that's tough. First that popped to mind is "Cooling". Yeah, that's my favorite. Followed probably by "Winter" or "Not The Red Baron."
Boys for Pele, definitely. No one does angry harpsicord like Tori!
I concur with the others, Boys for Pele is certainly her best album. I saw her in concert several years ago with Alanis Morrissette. Best angry chick night ever.
Boys for Pele means the most to me lifewise but I find that as a collection of songs in their entirety I tend to go for Under the Pink.
does this make any sense?
Album: Under the Pink (Nat, you're exactly right)
Song: "Tear in Your Hand"
Concerts: 4 (including the time she toured with Alanis)
Oh, Tori. My high school years wouldn't have been the same without her.
I've seen her 10 times in concert; religious each time.
Odd that Tori herself called 'Boys for Pele' her worst album, yet people love it.
I'd say 'Scarlet's Walk' is her best, most complete journey as a songwriter and as a person.
But heck, I just think she rules in general.
Fave songs:
Crucify
Girl
Space Dog
Could go on...
Best album, Pele. im on my third copy actually.
Favorite songs? hmmm,
Cooling
Caught a Light Sneeze
mermen
Best lyric? the part in father lucifer thats starts "every days my wedding day"
holy crap i love tori
Favorite album: From the Choirgirl Hotel
Song: Northern Lad (best use of "fucking" ever) or Professional Widow (give me peace, love, and a hard cock).
Scarlet's Walk is a tad underrated, I think, also.
I need to get. on. it. with Tori Amos. People have been recommending her for years, and the few songs I know, which are the ones everybody knows (Crucify, Me and a Gun, Silent All These Years, Talula, the Eminem cover) are all terrific.
I finally got into Kate Bush this year, so maybe Tori'll be next?
I'm pleased as punch you chose to recognize this high holy day - despite Tori's infrequent appeareance in film.
Choirgirl gets my vote as her best album. I loves me some "Spark", "Cruel", "Cooling"...I could go on. And will: "Tear in Your Hand", "Rattlesnakes", "Sugar", "Take to the Sky"...
I'm pleased as punch you chose to recognize this high holy day - despite Tori's unstable appeareance in film.
Choirgirl gets my vote as her best album. I loves me some "Spark", "Cruel", "Cooling"...I could go on. And will: "Tear in Your Hand", "Rattlesnakes", "Sugar", "Take to the Sky"...
Favourite Tori Song: Winter
Favourite Tori Album: Little Earthquakes (Under The Pink a not-very-close-but-still-excellent 2nd)
Stunned by the Boys For Pele love; I had no idea. It's the only Tori album I'm ambivalent about. But I'm respecting the love for it and will check it out again... er... now!
Rob
And Nick: Welcome to Kate Bush land. It's not a land that I ever want to leave.
Rob
Tori Amos is the love of my life. My passion for her just...I LOVE HER!
Thank you SO much for posting on her!! I love her music sooo much. She is my hero, and her music got me through so many hard times. :) :) :)
Best Album: I agree with you that Under the Pink is the best album as a whole, but Boys for Pele really gets me every time: it's so raw and so punch-in-the-face powerful. However, I also dig From the Choirgirl Hotel and Little Earthquakes quite a bit, and I love the rest, too, in spite of their imperfections (I just love her, ok, I'm obsessed).
Best Songs: "Pretty Good Year" and "Mother" will always be number 1 for me. I also love "Black Swan," "Cooling," "Yes, Anastasia," "Space Dog" in concert from the To Venus and Back album, "Crazy," "Gold Dust," "Hotel," "Marianne," "Northern Lad," "Not the Red Baron," "Cornflake Girl," "Original Sinsuality," her cover of "Smells like Teen Spirit," "Spring Haze," "Datura," "Take to the Sky," "Talula," "Tear in Your Hand," her cover of "Real Men," and "I Can't See New York."
What's sad is that I could still go on.
I saw her in concert last year in San Francisco: just her, a piano, and three different organs. It's still the best live concert I've seen. Her performance of "Mother" was heartbreaking, and I loved that seeing her live made me appreciate new songs like "Marys of the Sea" and "Goodbye, Pisces."
Best lyric: Either "He said, 'first let's just unzip you religion down'" from "Crazy" or.."This is cooling faster than I can" from "Cooling." I'm sure there are millions of others, though.
David, just you quoting that line from "Cooling" gave me goosebumps.
that's a really funny collage.
--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
I'm a long-term Kate Bush fan, but the boyf has finally turned me on to Tori. Choirgirl Hotel would be my fave album. A smattering of fave tracks: Hotel, Silent All These Years, Pretty Good Year, Bliss, Spark...
Saw her in concert in Sydney last year at the Opera House. In the piano bar segment, she did an awesome, growly cover of AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long (!) as well as Like A Virgin. My respect for her increased about 1000% after seeing her in concert.
Favourite album: From the choirgirl hotel
Fav. song: Putting the damage on
Concerts: None, I live in Mexico, grrr
I love Tori. I go through phases with albums: I think the most fun is To Venus and Back, the most accomplished is Boys from Pele, and the first two, Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink, are emotionally the most accessible/moving.
As to the singles: I think the one I come back and back to is her cover of Happiness is a Warm Gun. Of her original material, especial love goes to "Upside Down", "China", "Cornflake Girl", "Blood Roses", "not the red baron", "Glory of the 80s", "Josephine", "Datura", and her covers of "Time" and "Rattlesnakes".
For a knockout live cover, track down her take on Neil Young's "Needle and the Damage Done". Wow.
How is it that she is so great at covers but strange little girls is such a weak album?
Post a Comment