Albums: In Times Of Dragons

Tori Amos' "In Times Of Dragons" is the US singer and pianist 18th., studio album, which has been described by Amos herself as a "metaphorical story about the fight for Democracy over Tyranny, reflecting the current abhorrent non accidental burning down of democracy in real time by the 'Dictator believing Lizard Demons' in their usurpation of America". The album has released three singles so fr "Strong Together", "Shush" & "Gasoline Girls." 

So, the expectatios were high for her new album, described as a conceptual album about the current dangerous times we are in - where democracy itself is on the line. Amos added: As I'm fleeing from the character that is my sadistic billionaire Lizard Demon husband, I came across people I had not been allowed to see in years, and they had not wanted to see me because of the relationship I found myself in. To avoid being captured and dragged back to the Lizard Demon's penthouse, I run to the deep south of the US to throw him and his henchman off my trail. One of the many characters I meet on the journey is The Daughter. 

A remarkable record in where he music is slow and somber. Her piano is deep and sonorous. Her voice impassioned. The strings luscious and sweeping, it's the sound of someone at the top of their game singing from their heart. “Song of Sorrow” is just beautiful. The production feels intense with  piano, voice, strings, that produced a certain effect on every listener, in which the more you listen the deeper things are. 

The synths underpin a lot of the emotion, the electronic bleeps appear for punctuation."Stronger Together" is the culmination of our relationship as it is transformed with The Daughter choosing to stand by me no matter what challenges lay ahead. Whatever we will face in the future, we make a vow to each other that we're Stronger Together, in "Pyrite" we have an upbeat banger, the drums are pulsating and bass driving. The most pop song here is "Gasoline Girls" taht turn it into the standout of the set, and with "Strawberry Moon" which features Amos' daughter and their interaction at the beginning is a delight, "23 Peaks" is a huge achievement unlike anything the artist has ever recorded, and of course "Provincetown" a return to form on her career and the quite remarkable "Blue Lotus". 

Perhaps the only complain is that the record it's too long about 17 tracks at 76 minutes, there are certain moments in which you can easily lose the touch, but then at the end of the album, things seemed to hook all over again, however, the album captures the mood and manages to replicate all over, the somber atmosphere is great, low key songs that shows a performer anger against the system or everything, this is an emotionally heavy, often devastating set but a one of a kind in her interesting career so far. 

 

In Times Of Dragons Track List: 

 

1. Shush 

2. In Times Of Dragons

3. Provincetown

4. St. Teresa 

5. Gasoline Girls

6. Ode To Minnesota

7. Fanny Faudrey

8. Veins 

9. Strawberry Moon

10. Song Of Sorrow

11. Flood

12. Pyrite

13. Tempest

14. Angelshark

15. Blue Lotus

16. Stronger Together

17. 23 Peaks 

New Music: Gasoline Girls

           

Amos' new album In Times Of Dragons comes out in a couple of weeks, and after shared the early tracks "Stronger Together" and "Shush." She's got another one today Amos' florid, majestic new track "Gasoline Girls" hits right in that Tori Amos zone, as she meets a lesbian motorcycle gang while escaping her corrupt "lizard demon" billionaire husband.  . In a press release, Amos says, "This is a metaphor for many different transformations — from a teenage girl becoming a woman, to shifts in gender identity or fundamental belief systems, to the life changes that come with pregnancy, motherhood, and eventually menopause. The song explores the emotions that come with leaving one version of yourself behind and stepping into another.

New Music: Shush

           

The acclaimed singer-songwriter, pianist and composer Tori Amos recently shared a new single, "Shush," from her upcoming new album In Times Of Dragons. "Shush" follows "Stronger Together," the lead single from the album that featured supporting vocals from Amos' daughter. The new single expands the mythic landscape of In Times of Dragons, with a battle-hardened "lizard demon" billionaire standing at its center. "He represents what we're dealing with right now," Amos explained. "He sees congressmen, senators, and even probably presidents, as people who answer to him and other billionaires, who don't think you and I should vote. He's trying to develop the kind of feudal system we had hundreds of years ago." "But it doesn't look like it once did," she continued. "We don't look like we're in the trenches, in the muck. We have all the cool, digital devices now. So, it looks different. But it has the same philosophy." In Times of Dragons arrives on May 1st via Universal/Fontana 

New Music: Stronger Together

           

Tori Amos has shared "Stronger Together" the first single from her new album "In Times Of Dragons" altogether with her daugther "Tash" who sings backup on the track. Amos describes the song's role in the album narrative thus: "In Times of Dragons is a story that parables the current dangerous times we are in—where democracy itself is on the line. As I'm fleeing from the character that is my sadistic billionaire Lizard Demon husband, I came across people I had not been allowed to see in years, and they had not wanted to see me because of the relationship I found myself in. To avoid being captured and dragged back to the Lizard Demon’s penthouse, I run to the deep south of the US to throw him and his henchman off my trail. One of the many characters I meet on the journey is The Daughter. We spend time and sing together."

Rocktrospectiva: The Mystifying "Boys For Pele" Turns 30

Released on 22 January 1996 "Boys For Pele" was the 3rd., studio album by US singer and songwriter Tori Amos, the album spawned the singles "Caught A Little Sneeze", "Talula", "Professional Widow", "Hey Jupiter", & "In The Springtime Of His Voodoo". Despite the album being Amos's least radio friendly material to date. Boys for Pele debuted at number two on both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, making it her biggest simultaneous transatlantic debut, her first Billboard top 10 debut, and the highest-charting US debut of her career to date.

Boys for Pele was recorded in rural Ireland and Louisiana and features 18 songs that incorporate harpsichord, clavichord, harmonium, gospel choirs, brass bands and full orchestras. Amos wrote all of the tracks, and for the first time, she served as sole producer for her own album. For Amos, the album was a step into a different direction, in terms of singing, songwriting, and recording, and is experimental in comparison to her previous work.

During the recording of her previous album, Under the Pink (1994), Amos's longtime professional and romantic relationship with Eric Rosse, who co-produced a considerable amount of her pre-Pele work, disintegrated. That loss, combined with a few subsequent encounters with men during the Under the Pink promotional tour, forced Amos to re-evaluate her relationship with men and masculinity. Amos explained, "In my relationships with men, I was always musician enough, but not woman enough, I always met men in my life as a musician, and there would be magic, adoration. But then it would wear off. All of us want to be adored, even for five minutes a day, and nothing these men gave me was ever enough."

The songs began appearing in fragments, often while on stage during the Under the Pink tour. After a trip to Hawaii during which Amos learned about legendary volcano goddess Pele, the album began taking shape; Amos conceived of the songs as representing stealing fire from the men in her life as well as a journey to finding her own fire as a woman.  From there, Amos explained, the songs just came. "Sometimes the fury of it would make me step back, I began to live these songs as we separated. The vampire in me came out. You're an emotional vampire, with blood in the corner of your mouth, and you put on matching lipstick so no one knows."

During this time, Amos, who has openly discussed her experiences with psychedelic drugs, particularly in relation to Boys for Pele, did ceremonies with a South American shaman and experienced meeting the devil, leading her to write the track "Father Lucifer."

The album would ultimately consisted of 15 full-length songs and four short "interludes". As Amos was finding "parts and pieces of myself that I had never claimed" on this journey, the 14 primary songs represent the number of body parts of the Egyptian god Osiris that his wife, the goddess Isis, had to find to put his body back together in Egyptian mythology. 

Boys for Pele was Amos' first self-produced album; she would continue producing her own albums ever since. Given that the album deals with the role of women in religion and relationships, and particularly in light of her breakup with Rosse, who had served as producer for her previous two albums, Amos felt that it was appropriate to take complete control over producing Boys for Pele, as a "bid for independence". Of producing the album herself, Amos said, "I was at the point I could not answer to anybody. I'd been answering my whole life to some patriarchal figure."

Two underlying currents run through Boys for Pele: exploring the role of women in both patriarchal religion and relationships, her viewpoint takes a particularly feminist slant on this album. "The feminine part of God has been circumcised out of all religions ... God is a patriarchal force, a very masculine energy, with the feminine having been subservient, either being the mother, the lover, the virgin, but never the equal, never to have the whole." "Muhammad My Friend", the eighth track on the album, best represents this aspect of the album's theme with the line, "It's time to tell the world/We both know it was a girl back in Bethlehem."

Amos derived the album's title from the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Pele, with the "boys" representing the men in her life. "First I wanted to sacrifice all these guys to the volcano goddess and roast them like marshmallows, then I decided they gave me a really wonderful gift," Amos said of the title. Amos herself has described the album as a novel, as a "story of the descent of a woman to gain her passion and gain her compassion," chronicling a woman's self-discovery in a male-dominated world, looking for fragments of herself and being suppressed. Songs such as "Blood Roses", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Hey Jupiter", "Doughnut Song" and "Putting the Damage On" deal directly with the aftermath of a break-up and a woman's reflection on the failed relationship.

"Blood Roses", which Amos had initially intended to serve as the opening track to the album, found the singer scorned over a failed relationship, belting out lines such as, "can't forget the things you never said" and "I've shaved every place where you've been boy". Regarding "Caught a Lite Sneeze", Amos says, "the whole current is doing anything so that you don't have to face yourself. Nothing is enough"; her previous relationships with men being the song's backbone with lines like, "boys on my left side, boys on my right side, boys in the middle and you're not here, I need a big loan from the girl zone."

Critics overall praised the album's expanded instrumentation, and the acoustics that recording the album in a church afforded, but otherwise reaction to the album was polarized, particularly with regard to the lyrics. Boys for Pele is more lyrically dense than Amos's two previous albums, taking poetic obscurity to new heights, others praised its ultra-personal lyrics while others panned what they called its overt and excessive self-indulgence. 

 

Boys For Pele Track List: 

 

1. Beauty Queen/Horses

2. Blood Roses

3. Father Lucifer

4. Professional Widow

5. Mr. Zebra

6. Marianne

7. Caught A Little Sneeze

8. Muhammad My Friend

9. Hey Jupiter

10. Way Down

11. Little Amsterdam

12. Talula

13. Not The Red Baron

14. Agent Orange

15. Doughnut Song

16. In The Springtime Of His Voodoo

17. Putting The Damage On

18. Twinkle

Rocktrospectiva: El Brillante "Under The Pink" Cumple 30 Años

 

Lanzado el 01 de Febrero de 1994 "Under The Pink" uno de los discos más exitosos de la Estadounidense Tori Amos, el cual llego al No. 1 en el Reino Unido y el No. 12 en los Estados Unidos, votado como uno de los discos más vibrantes de los 90's., se trata de un disco completo en donde la temática eran temas rock acompañadas por el piano y que usaban temas como la religión, el género, y la sexualidad, aunque también se notaban ciertas influencias reggae en temas como la famosa "Cornflake Girl", y un piano más fino en "Bells For Her" y otro que se basó en unas líneas de un tema de Debussy que era en "Yes Anastasia". 

 

Del disco se lanzaron cuatro singles, "Cornflake Girl", seguido de "God" y que sería el primer tema que entro al Billboard Hot 100 para ella, "Pretty Good Year" y finalmente "Past The Mission" que tenía la colaboración de Trent Reznor. El álbum es considerado a menudo como un disco transitorio, surgido de las cenizas que fue "Little Earthquakes", aunque esta vez tenía la posibilidad de poder llegar a un público más masivo, puso uno de sus discos más fuertes en su carrera, combinando fuertes y potentes melodías con letras especializadas con arreglos embrujantes y poderosos para crear un fino y artístico éxito, y de ahí es que "Cornflake Girl" y "God" son dos de los mejores temas de este disco gracias a los arreglos y el potente gancho vocal de la artista, pero habían otros temas como "The Waitress" que era un raro tema vibrante "Yes, Anastasia" era de los más originales del repertorio, o la nostálgica y dramática "Pretty Good Year" que era la abría el set, otros eran más sublimes y con mucha orquestación como "Bells For Her" y "Icicle" demostrando lo que la Amos podía hacer con el piano, y la gran colaboración con Trent Reznor en "Past The Mission", y "Baker Baker" solo Amos y su piano detallando la historia de un amor apartado. 

Se podría decir que fue el disco que consagro a la cantante, fue bien recibido por la crítica y el público gracias a su complejidad en cuanto a sonido y letras, y es por eso, que el disco es considerado uno de los discos más sobresalientes no solo en su carrera sino en ese 1994 y por ende de la década de los 90's.

 

Under The Pink Track List: 

 

1. Pretty Good Year

2. God

3. Bells For Her

4. Past The Mission

5. Baker Baker

6. The Wrong Band

7. The Waitress

8. Cornflake Girl

9. Icicle

10. Cloud On My Tongue

11. Space Dog

12. Yes, Anastasia

Rocktrospectiva: El Raro Y Conceptual "From The Choirgirl Hotel" Cumple 25 Años

Lanzado el 5 de Mayo de 1998 "From The Choirgirl Hotel" fue el cuarto álbum de estudio de la Estadounidense Tori Amos, un disco raro y contrastante con lo que venía ofreciendo la chica, en este disco se hizo enfasis a los grandes arreglos, además que integra elementos de electrónica, trip hop y dance. El disco fue un éxito de crítica y ventas, llegó al No. 5 en los Estados Unidos y No. 6 en el Reino Unido, y el single "Spark" tuvo alta rotación en la MTV y llegó al No. 49 en el Billboard 100, los otros singles "Jackie's Strength" y "Raspberry Swirl" / "Cruel" alcanzaron posiciones altas en el US Hot Dance Club Play Chart.

 

El disco se puede decir que lleva una temática conceptual, el título de hecho se refiere a un lugar imaginario, en donde las canciones viven, estas se pueden moldear de cualquier formar, y por eso es que es considerado un disco raro, técnicamente suena muy bien tanto en la composición como en la producción, y emocionalmente resuena, superando a los anteriores discos que habían entregado la Amos, y es que en este disco ella encuentra la manera para entregar un sonido único para encajar su voz y sus letras lo cual no siempre se puede hacer, además de encapsular muchas de sus fortalezas y mostrar apenas una que otra debilidad. 

 

Abría con la brillante "Spark" en donde establece los elementos claves del disco, le sigue "Cruel" notable porque es la primera acapella que la artista entrega desde "Me And A Gun", las letras y la paleta electrónica contrastan en ambas, "Black Dove (January) basada alrededor de pianos acústicos y electrónicos, conjura una atmósfera única por su melodía y captura la atención del oyente por lo inusual que era el tema, hay dos momentos bastante accesible para el oyente promedio con los tracks "Jackie's Strenght" y "Northern Land" con letras fantasiosas y un sonido adecuado, la primera es pura maestría evocando nostalgía en este caso hacía Jackie Kennedy, otras son más simples como "Playboy Mommy", pero nos entrega letras desgarradoras, y así se pueden calificar otros tres temas que llevan la misma sintonía dentro del álbum, otras como "Raspberry Swirl" es adecuada para las pistas, mientras que Liquid Diamonds" es un poco más siniestra, y encuentra su alivio con "Pandora's Aquarium" y aún con la más flojita del set que podría ser "She's Your Cocaine" pero que de igual manera no desvirtúa el disco. 

El disco estableció a la Amos como una de las artistas más interesantes a seguir y el disco plasmó su talento y capacidad para entregarnos melodías hermosas y raras para arropar desgarradoras e interesantes letras de su propia autoría.

 

From The Choirgirl Hotel Track List:

 

1. Spark

2. Cruel

3. Black-Dove (January)

4. Raspberry Swirl

5. Jackie's Strength

6. iieee

7. Liquid Diamonss

8. She's Your Cocaine

9. Northern Lad

10. Hotel

11. Playboy Mommy

12. Pandora's Aquarium

13. Purple People

Rocktrospectiva: El Franco E Inquietante "Little Earthquakes" Cumple 30 Años

Lanzado originalmente el 6 de Enero en el Reino Unido y un mes después en los Estados Unidos "Little Earthquakes" fue el álbum debut de la Estadounidense Tori Amos, cuya primera versión fue rechazada por Atlantic Records, obligandola a trabajar con su novio de aquel entonces, Eric Rosse, en una nueva versión del disco, del cual se extrajeron los singles "Silent All These Years", "China", "Winter" y "Crucify".  

 

El disco fue bien recibido tanto por la crítica como por el público, alcanzando el No. 14 en el Reino Unido y el No. 60 en el Billboard 200. Amos tenía una naturaleza peculiar, de madre cherokee y padre metodista, esta pelirroja llegó a redefir el estilo de las cantante femeninas a principios de los 90's., mudándose a Londres para trabajar con Ian Stanley, el teclista de Tears For Fears, bajo el auspicio del sello Atlantic, la jugada era que lanzará primera el disco en el Reino Unido, ya que pensaron que seria mucho más fácil conseguir éxito allá, por la fama en Inglaterra de apreciar artistas raros y excéntricos, de esas sesiones salieron temas como "Me And A Gun", y "China" que fueron incluidos en un segundo intento que finalmente gustó al sello.

 

En el disco se pueden apreciar el dolor, la intensidad, y la franqueza de una mujer que sin tapujos cantaba sobre todo lo que le había pasado, como por ejemplo, la brillante "Crucify" y la búsqueda de un salvador y con un curioso video que tuvo rotación en la MTV, la íntima y a la vez conmovedora "Me And A Gun" en donde describe la violación que sufrió en el Reino Unido, pese a todo, el disco tiene su contraparte poética y catártica, si bien destacaban las guitarras y las baterías, Amos se encargaba de complementar todo con piano para suavizar un poco las asperezas.

 

"Silent All These Years" junto " Little Earthwaukes" tiene una originalidad bastante inusual con unos arreglos muy complejos, mostrando la calidad y versatilidad de la pelirroja valiendola una crítica positiva al respecto, comparándola con artistas de la clase de Kate Bush, destacaban temas raros como "Leather" o "China" aunque algunos la consideraron muy negativa y extraña para ser disfrutable, destacando unicamente la profunda "Me And A Gun" relegando el resto del disco a una mera versión de baja calidad de Kate Bush.

 

Pero nunca se puede complacer a todos, pese a ello, su disco fue considerado un material pionero que explorando fronteras no trilladas lo que le valió una gran cantidad de seguidores que la consideraron una de las artistas con una de las voces más privilegiadas y destacadas de la primer mitad de los años 90's.

 

Little Earthquakes Track List: 

 

1. Crucify

2. Girl

3. Silent All These Years

4. Precious Things

5. Winter

6. Happy Phantom

7. China

8. Leather

9. Mother

10. Tear In Your Hand

11. Me And A Gun

12. Little Earthquakes