The Tori Thread

[paul-pgss]

Good to hear you so enthousiatic about Tori, Beth. I really hope that she'll be able to live up to your expectations.... even with a future album.

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I had my doubts initially about this box set, but I think it's going to be really cool. I'm particularly looking forward to the first disc which is basically a remastered and extended 'Little Earthquakes', I must be on about my fifth copy of that album now and it needs replacing again anyway. Also completely delighted to learn that the unreleased track 'Take Me With You' is actually that amazing song she performed at the Victor and Rolf fashion show in Paris last year, I was hoping against hope we'd get it on cd one day and here it is already.

As for the next album, well I'd hoped it might be a really stripped down, solo piano type thing, but from reports on Matty Chamberlain's website and myspace it looks as if it'll be an all-out electronica/rock thing. One of the pictures he put up showed him with what the fans call the 'Raspberry Swirl' drum.

I just hope it's good. She needs to kick ass again.

[aermancer]

you can preview clips of ALL SONGS : http://www.buecher.de/verteiler.asp?Pub ... rtikel.asp


and she said yes said yes

does anyone else notice that there is almost no difference in any of the Alternate Mixes or Remixes?

The only difference i heard was some delay on her voice in Jackie's Strength.

[blue]

Oh, that's interesting - over on MTF there are reams of people saying the mixes are a vast improvement on the originals, for the most part. I can't judge yet myself because I can't hear the clips.

I've pre-ordered it on Amazon, and am trying not to think about how much it's costing.

[aermancer]

During the summer tour and in several recent interviews while promoting "A Piano", Amos has revealed cryptic details about her upcoming album. She has hinted that at the release date of April 2007. It has also been confirmed that Tori is returning to the harpsichord for the first time since 1996's Boys for Pele, along with the piano and Wurlitzer.



"I have a Warrior Woman inside of me that will come out on the next record."



* Matt Chamberlain's blog
"Hello - just finished tracking the new Tori Amos record out in Cornwall England. It was a really fun and intense 3 weeks of non-stop playing, eating, playing, sleeping and playing. All I can say is that it rocks! I was really excited to put my new Ludwig drums to the test and they definitely sounded really focused, subsonic, full with a nice woody tone. I tracked a few songs with some 60s era Ludwigs, some random Slingerland Radio Kings and the old trusty roundbadge Gretsch kit from the 40s really helped on a few tracks. I also got really into using Ableton Live software quite a bit, which I think is probably one of the most innovative and intuitive things out there for making long-form audio/electronic loops and phrases."

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I really couldn't believe it when I read that harpsi's back. This is such wonderful news, I'm actually starting to think the next album might be a return to form.
She's mentioned in a few bits of the promotion for A Piano that she's been talking to guitar players recently too, now there's something I never thought we'd see again!

[paul-pgss]

Do you already have the A Piano collection then Elizabeth?

[aermancer]

omg it's October already. i missed that release date

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Yes I have the box Paul, I took the plunge and put off paying the electricity bill for another week! I feel terribly guilty about paying out so much for a box set (just under fifty quid through Amazon UK), but it's a real one-off and it is absolutely gorgeous, well worth every penny. The remastered and extended 'Little Earthquakes' disc alone is wonderful, the sound is a big improvement on the originals and we finally get to hear Tori's original running order. You may remember that Atlantic made her kick off various tracks that became b-sides on the early singles.

There's so much to find your way through, some of the songs are remixed a bit so there are little moments you keep noticing, things that make you hear the song as if it were new again. I particularly like 'iieee' and 'cruel' from FTCH, it's interesting the way she's reshaped them sonically. 'Spark' is a big improvement on the mix she made for TOAL, by the way.

Of the previously unreleased tracks, I'm still getting used to Zero Point. It's nothing like I imagined it would be, I think she made the right choice to leave it off TVAB and include Datura instead. It's a fascinating curio, not something you can take in quickly. My favourites are Peeping Tommi, which was written around UTP era, and Walk To Dublin from the Pele sessions. Not too keen on Dolphin Song and Not David Bowie - those are more recent, from the Beekeeper era. I was a bit disappointed to find that 'Take Me With You' is not in fact the amazing solo piano song she played at the Victor and Rolf show in Paris last year. What she did was take a section of this very old song and do a long improv around it in Paris, as a one-off exclusive for V+R, apparently she has an agreement with them not to release it officially.

Other than that, I love this box. It's big, beautiful and full of goodness.

[paul-pgss]

Yes I have the box Paul, I took the plunge and put off paying the electricity bill for another week!

Sometimes you need to reward yourself with a gift. So the electricity bill will have to wait.

The remastered and extended 'Little Earthquakes' disc alone is wonderful, the sound is a big improvement on the originals and we finally get to hear Tori's original running order. You may remember that Atlantic made her kick off various tracks that became b-sides on the early singles.

I remember that there where a lot of tracks recorded for Little Earthquakes that never made it to the album. Can you give the running order that Tori made?

Of course it seems that it is sometimes better to let the recordcompany do the selection. Look at Boys For Pele Scarlet's Walk and The Beekeeper. They're too long and therefore not as perfect as they might have been if only a few tracks where deleted.

There's so much to find your way through, some of the songs are remixed a bit so there are little moments you keep noticing, things that make you hear the song as if it were new again. I particularly like 'iieee' and 'cruel' from FTCH, it's interesting the way she's reshaped them sonically. 'Spark' is a big improvement on the mix she made for TOAL, by the way.

I suspected that the box would be a sellout with yet another remixed version of existing songs. But I guess that if a hardcore fan says it's worth every penny, these versions really must be alternate to the originals.

Of the previously unreleased tracks, I'm still getting used to Zero Point. It's nothing like I imagined it would be, I think she made the right choice to leave it off TVAB and include Datura instead. It's a fascinating curio, not something you can take in quickly.

TVAB is my favourite so I'm specially curious for this one

My favourites are Peeping Tommi, which was written around UTP era, and Walk To Dublin from the Pele sessions. Not too keen on Dolphin Song and Not David Bowie - those are more recent, from the Beekeeper era.

Hmmm, shame. I really hope the new album will bring her back to form. She needs to sell a bit more records. I heard the last release didn't even become gold (in sales) in most countries. Where are the days of Tori goes platinum?

I was a bit disappointed to find that 'Take Me With You' is not in fact the amazing solo piano song she played at the Victor and Rolf show in Paris last year. What she did was take a section of this very old song and do a long improv around it in Paris, as a one-off exclusive for V+R, apparently she has an agreement with them not to release it officially.

Not too smart then if she mades these legal agreements.... the song has become quite popular at the fanboards. So it deserved a decent release in the liveversion.

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For Aermancer or anyone else who's thinking of buying the collection:

http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/3229...o/Product.html


This is the same five-disc set in 'normal' packaging, at a somewhat cheaper price as well. To be released on 20th November. I love my big old piano box but I think it makes sense to have a version in conventional cd packaging as well, I'm sure more people will buy that.

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Paul, this is the extended Little Earthquakes as it appears in the collection:

1. Leather
2. Precious Things
3. Silent All These Years
4. Upside Down
5. Crucify
6. Happy Phantom
7. Me And A Gun
8. Flying Dutchman
9. Girl
10. Winter
11. Take To The Sky (Russia)
12. Tear In Your Hand
13. China
14. Sweet Dreams
15. Mother
16. Little Earthquakes


I'm sure I remember reading something about Tori originally wanting the album to end with 'Flying Dutchman'. Which would have been awesome.

The tracks labelled as 'alternate mixes' on the collection date from the original recording sessions. Apparently when Tori set about collecting all the master tapes - which were owned by Atlantic - she discovered that some of them had been so badly stored that the analogue tape had degraded to the point where it wasn't possible to use it. Those original versions are now gone forever. She then pulled together ALL the tapes from the sessions, which included slightly different mixes made on the same days, and chose the best to put on the collection. So the differences are small, but give a slightly different slant to the songs. For instance, in 'Flying Dutchman' and 'Yes Anastasia' the strings are more subdued, 'Baker Baker' has a little string intro, some tracks have more or less prominent backing vocals etc. But they all date from the original sessions.

I know Atlantic considered Tori a major pain in the ass, but I can't believe they let her master tapes rot. She says she felt 'numb' when she found out.

[paul-pgss]

Wikipedia has a page with all quotes about the upcoming Tori album:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tori_Amos' ... udio_album

[aermancer]

I know Atlantic considered Tori a major pain in the ass, but I can't believe they let her master tapes rot. She says she felt 'numb' when she found out.

that's awful!

why would they do that? especially if there was money to be made for this kind of thing...

[blue]

I haven't read T's book 'Piece by Piece' yet, but apparently she talks a lot in there about the shit that went down with Atlantic. The relationship really seems to have soured just after the release of FTCH. Tori had a miscarriage and wanted to take a few days out from the promotional schedule. Atlantic told her that if she did, they wouldn't promote her future records at all and wouldn't allow her out of her contract until she was 'TOO OLD' for any other record company to be interested in her. [censor]

This is why Tori formed her own company, The Bridge Group, to oversee promotion for her records, and refused to give Atlantic any more original material after TVAB. The live half of that record, and the covers album 'Strange Little Girls', fulfilled her contract with them and allowed her to leave.