Tori Amos - Tales of a Librarian: A Tori Amos Collection (Bonus DVD)
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Free Music Notes for Tales of a Librarian: A Tori Amos Collection (Bonus DVD)
Free Music Review: Harvesting the Inner Librarian
Hit: 5 Stars
After six successful albums, an intelligent album covering landmark songs by male singers and over ten years of dazzling cult followings, Tori Amos deserves a greatest hits album. "Tales of a Librarian" serves its purpose well, compiling twenty powerful songs, including new release material, that charts Tori's transformation as an artist, performer and a human being. The collection consists of orignial favorites that should attract a whole new generation of loyal listeners. However for veteran fans, like myself, Tori has rerecordered her old tracks, with an experienced voice. Essentially, Tori's voice has transformed from the young naive woman of her debut album "Little Earthquakes" into that of an experienced emotionally charged woman. Though the changes are subtle, each song has been given more texture and composition as Tori's own voice reflects her history as a musical historian, dabbling in the arts of sexuality, sociology, religion and rock. Her new tracks also show that Tori's history does not stop here and we can expect even more in the future.
The bonus dvd is short and sweet and captures more obscure songs from her previous works. It is a shame that classic songs such as "Leather", "Caught a Lite Sneeze" and some of the works from the album "Scarlet's Walk" were not included, but the compilation is still strong on its own. Tori's presentation of this album includes a short bibliography, so newcomers can get a taste of her different albums. This makes a great starting point for those who wish get introduced to Tori's mass amount of material.
"Tales of a Librarian" is one of the best compilations I have heard in a long time. The songs cleverly fit together, with great diversity. Tori has an incredible range of styles and techniques that everyone can find appreciation for. Investing in her stories is a reward in itself.
Free Music Review: GOOD LORD!
Hit: 5 Stars
She has to be one of the creepiest, darkest, strangest, most unique singer/songwriters/piano players on the planet today but YOU CAN'T STOP LOOKING AT HER OR LISTENING TO HER!When I listen to Tori I sometimes feel such danger, wondering where she is going to take me next in some psychotic dream-like state. I keep asking myself if she is sane, or insane, or a bit of both? WHO CARES?! SHE'S FABULOUS!
Tori is like Leonardo DaVinci, she is so much more than what our contemporary or pop/rock music scene can wrap around her, she's one of those artists who inspires other artists and she will be spoken of generations from now, because that's just how she is!
This cd is an insane spicy letter from her to her fans, taking us all back through time with dark tales and mixed up ambiguity all set to a rhythm that lures you in like some thread and at the end is this amazingly beautiful woman greeting you, a woman with a mind, a woman with an imagination and a story to tell, a woman who seems half here, half "there", wherever "there" is.
This cd is a must have for any Tori fan, or any listener for that matter who just wants to step back to the time of Leonardo or run through the imaginary hallways of the musical version of the Louvre`. If you get the chance to see her live, take it, and watch her eyes... she literally goes into this diassociated trance when she sings, unable to really look at anyone or any one thing as she pulls from her head and heart these songs that are so shrilling you just know you're watching a woman who is part vampire and part poet! EEK! SHE'S AMAZING!
Fear, alluring, fear, she's singing to me, fear, who is she?, fear, she's so strange, fear, she owns me!
That's what Tori does!
Free Music Review: Meet me in the stacks...
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a superb collection of what has made Tori so incredible after all these years. I have to note that I listened to a Stan Ridgway album awhile back with Tori's name all over it(I don't know why I have to note that, but all you zillions of fans out there should check out a great artist who influenced Tori that you may not remember or have heard of-he is still a presence around the periphery of commercial music-as he produced a few tunes on the new Frank Black CD-Show Me Your Tears)The song selection on Librarian is just right, I think. Precious Things as an opening song is, of course, awesome and appropriate. Personally, I took Professional Widow out of my car mix, as I just don't understand the dance mix thing with artists anyway. It seems more a commercial fill than an artistic one. And it just doesn't fit the atmosphere of her work for me either. I also didn't put Me and a Gun on my car mix either. The song is real and potent and perhaps brilliant, but I don't like bobbing my head, singing along, and tapping my foot to the topic. Not the case with my favorite song, Playboy Mama. I'm sorry, regardless of what Tori states the song is really about, her lyrics and voice always amuse me on this song. Didn't help my brain none...I still laugh. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Zebra but it is a good fit in this mix. The new song, Snow Cherries from France, is so beautiful and shows her maturity and grace as an artist. Lets just hope she doesn't settle into too much beauty and maturity-I don't listen to Scarlet's Walk much-it doesn't have much of the edgy, rough, discomforting dissonance and musical innovation that is clearly evident in her back catalog of music over the years.
Free Music Review: Real Close to the Definitive Tori Collection
Hit: 5 Stars
Most hardcore Tori Amos fans have probably been with her forever, and have all the original albums, making a compilation rather un-essential for many of us. Though it is nice to have Tori's most classic tracks in one easily portable collection for maximum impact and listening pleasure. People who have all of an artist's original albums, then complain about their favorite tracks being left off a compilation, just really get on my nerves so I will try not to do the same here, with some caveats. Not that I'm necessarily complaining, but there really are a couple of minor issues with song selection here. Note that we can't expect anything from Scarlet's Walk because that album is from a different record company, and I personally have no dispute with the absence of any of the problematic covers from Strange Little Girls. On the other hand, there is only one track from the under-appreciated To Venus and Back (my second favorite album), while there is essentially no real representation from Boys for Pele. Only the one-minute snippets "Mr. Zebra" and "Way Down" are included here, while we are stuck with the highly unfortunate dance remix of "Professional Widow" rather than the far stronger original.
On the good side, the lost B-sides and new tracks are all solid Tori pieces, my favorites being "Angels" which would fit perfectly on Scarlet's Walk, and "Sweet Dreams" which is a sly indictment of the Bush administration with a surprising semi-military drumbeat. Watch for the special edition of this package with the bonus DVD, because I shouldn't have to tell you how important it is for fans to have the visual Tori too. [~doomsdayer520~]
Free Music Review: remastering=new life with a new listen
Hit: 5 Stars
From a catalogue spanning everything from soft, aching piano ballads to obscure mergers of drum machines and electric guitars chords looped backwards and harmonies purposely off-key, singer-songwriter Tori Amos has gathered songs from all of her original albums produced for Atlantic records (essentially that means everything from <i>Little Earthquakes</i> until <i>To Venus And Back</i>), re-recorded a few songs, remastered the rest, and collected them to form <i>Tales Of A Librarian: A Tori Amos Collection</i>. Compiled in a format true to the title, the 25 songs presented throughout one audio disc and one DVD are assigned places in the Dewey Decimal system, providing a slightly clearer picture of the meaning behind obtuse compositions like "Mr. Zebra". Even clearer, however, is the sound on every single song presented within: it's like crystal. While it could possibly be a feat only longtime Toriphiles could appreciate, subtleties in every song are brought to the forefront through a painstakingly loving remastering, revealing that there's a slight and brief percussion on the self-discovery ballad "Silent All These Years", new backing vocals to the refreshingly Alt-rock chestnut "Cornflake Girl", and the minimal, tech-y backing to "Bliss" becomes more prevalent. The real gem here, though, is the CD's final track, a long-lost outtake "Snow Cherries From France", written during the Pele days, which brings the audio disc to a close with Tori softly intoning "Oh, then he let me go....." as her voice drifts into the distance. If this is what we have to remember the Atlantic records days by, it's a fantastic compilation.