Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 1:48 pm
Bearing in mind people have only had the album for a few days, but the initial impression is that this album is winning back disillusioned fans in droves. The overall response on the boards has been extremely positive, which is quite a feat considering how much disappointment there's been the past couple of years, and how ready people were to put the boot into this record. There seems to be a feeling that she's back to some kind of form - not 90s form, I think people have accepted that's not coming back any time soon, but it's an obvious step up from where she's been lately. I don't think this is just a 'honeymoon' and people are going to decide the album is actually rubbish, the way they did with TBK - there's a genuinely positive feeling this time, people are really pleased with it.
I've had it on repeat for the past couple of days, because I'm actually enjoying most of it. I'm so surprised at how much I like a lot of these tracks, because from the clips I was expecting it to be dreadful. And it isn't - sure, it's not Pele or even Scarlet, but there's a lot of good stuff here and some tracks I can't stop playing. 'Beauty of Speed' and 'Dragon' are up there with her best work IMHO, and certain tracks are just growing and growing the more I play them, which is a classic characteristic of Tori's work - 'Girl Disappearing', 'Smokey Joe', 'Dark Side of the Sun', 'Almost Rosey', 'Roosterspur Bridge' and 'Father's Son' are fast becoming favourites. 'Teenage Hustling' and 'Body and Soul' are huge fun, 'Mr. Bad Man' is like something off a Jon Brion soundtrack, 'Programmable Soda' is old-style quirky Tori .... there's a lot here I really like. I can honestly say that out of 23 tracks, there are four I dislike/think are a waste of space - 'Fat Slut', 'Velvet Revolution', 'You Can Bring Your Dog' and 'Posse Bonus'. Of those, two are minute-long interludes, and one is a short improv to separate the main body of the album from the two 'bonus tracks'. Not bad going.
I had one big criticism of this record on first impression, which is how musically derivative it is. Almost every track is reminiscent of something else - there's Beatles, Led Zep, Bowie, Queen, The Doors .... I was shocked at first how obvious the connections are. However, even that criticism is tempered since it began to dawn on me that the influences are way TOO obvious to be anything other than deliberate. This was confirmed by Tori herself in an interview that appeared yesterday on the 'net, where she states that she has consciously referenced a lot of 60s/70s male guitar rock on this project. No doubt she'll spout some conceptual bullshit about 'why', that's what she does nowadays to deflect attention away from the personal element, but personally I think this record is a huge thank you to her older brother Michael. He died two years ago, just as The Beekeeper was about to be released. This is the first work Tori has done since. She's spoken often about how much of an influence Michael was when she was little - he was a teenager during the late 60s/early 70s and it was he who introduced Tori to all those male rock icons she's referencing on this record. Michael was a guitar player, and he loved all those guitar bands. He was the one sneaking The Doors and Led Zeppelin into the house when their father was busy at church. I really think that's what's behind this record - it's her 'thank you and goodbye' to Michael. She's trying to disguise it with all this 'five characters' concept and she's added a few tracks in there to reflect that bullshit, but she's not as good at hiding as she thinks.
I've had it on repeat for the past couple of days, because I'm actually enjoying most of it. I'm so surprised at how much I like a lot of these tracks, because from the clips I was expecting it to be dreadful. And it isn't - sure, it's not Pele or even Scarlet, but there's a lot of good stuff here and some tracks I can't stop playing. 'Beauty of Speed' and 'Dragon' are up there with her best work IMHO, and certain tracks are just growing and growing the more I play them, which is a classic characteristic of Tori's work - 'Girl Disappearing', 'Smokey Joe', 'Dark Side of the Sun', 'Almost Rosey', 'Roosterspur Bridge' and 'Father's Son' are fast becoming favourites. 'Teenage Hustling' and 'Body and Soul' are huge fun, 'Mr. Bad Man' is like something off a Jon Brion soundtrack, 'Programmable Soda' is old-style quirky Tori .... there's a lot here I really like. I can honestly say that out of 23 tracks, there are four I dislike/think are a waste of space - 'Fat Slut', 'Velvet Revolution', 'You Can Bring Your Dog' and 'Posse Bonus'. Of those, two are minute-long interludes, and one is a short improv to separate the main body of the album from the two 'bonus tracks'. Not bad going.
I had one big criticism of this record on first impression, which is how musically derivative it is. Almost every track is reminiscent of something else - there's Beatles, Led Zep, Bowie, Queen, The Doors .... I was shocked at first how obvious the connections are. However, even that criticism is tempered since it began to dawn on me that the influences are way TOO obvious to be anything other than deliberate. This was confirmed by Tori herself in an interview that appeared yesterday on the 'net, where she states that she has consciously referenced a lot of 60s/70s male guitar rock on this project. No doubt she'll spout some conceptual bullshit about 'why', that's what she does nowadays to deflect attention away from the personal element, but personally I think this record is a huge thank you to her older brother Michael. He died two years ago, just as The Beekeeper was about to be released. This is the first work Tori has done since. She's spoken often about how much of an influence Michael was when she was little - he was a teenager during the late 60s/early 70s and it was he who introduced Tori to all those male rock icons she's referencing on this record. Michael was a guitar player, and he loved all those guitar bands. He was the one sneaking The Doors and Led Zeppelin into the house when their father was busy at church. I really think that's what's behind this record - it's her 'thank you and goodbye' to Michael. She's trying to disguise it with all this 'five characters' concept and she's added a few tracks in there to reflect that bullshit, but she's not as good at hiding as she thinks.
), and I'm seriously wondering if the two are connected. 
