From: owner-oztori-digest@smoe.org (oztori-digest) To: oztori-digest@smoe.org Subject: oztori-digest V3 #302 Reply-To: oztori@smoe.org Sender: owner-oztori-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-oztori-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk oztori-digest Tuesday, December 23 2003 Volume 03 : Number 302 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [oztori] tori article. [] Re: [oztori] tori article. [Nathan "®" ] Re: [oztori] tori article. [Nadyne Mielke ] Re: [oztori] tori article. [Nathan "®" ] Re: [oztori] tori article. [Nadyne Mielke ] Re: [oztori] tori article. [Nathan "®" ] Re: [oztori] tori article. [Nadyne Mielke ] Re: [oztori] tori article. [Nathan "®" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 19:37:54 +1000 From: Subject: [oztori] tori article. from salon.com: Songs of the flesh As Tori Amos' new greatest-hits collection demonstrates, the ultimate tortured '90s alt-girl has always used her solipsistic body-obsessions as a way to find the world. By Laura Sinagra Dec. 22, 2003 | When I read the track list for Tori Amos' new greatest-hits collection, "Tales of a Librarian," I was almost glad to see that "Little Earthquakes," from her debut of the same name, wasn't included. It would be a solid choice, but whenever I hear it, the years collapse and I'm jerked back to 1991. It's Tuesday. The guy I think I love just told me he's skipping the country ... oh, and he's seeing somebody else. I'm lying on a hardwood floor, staring up at tear-blurred nothing. I call in sick to work. I am sick. But I'm just well enough to reach up and rewind a linty, distorting Maxell tape of "Little Earthquakes" about 40 times -- fading out into its crashing piano paroxysms, floodgate-busting changes, Kate Bush-meets-"Carrie" vocals, and histrionic observation: "Doesn't take much/ to rip us/ into pieces." Like the protagonist in French director Marina de Van's recent film "In My Skin," Tori Amos is obsessed with her body, with the smeared line between healthy and hurt. De Van's movie, which has a poker-faced blast injecting Cronenbergian horror with French feminist theory, concerns a young female marketing exec who, once injured, begins to push the limits of her sovereignty over her own flesh. Her physical self becomes a science project, a source of raw material for craft, a source of food. Her nerve endings are just land mines lacing a rich, plunderable country. Since Amos sforzandoed onto the nascent alt-rock scene at the apex of grunge with her bench-humping cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," she's written about the physical effects of love and hate, about spirituality playing out on the body's battlefield. Earthquake as bad-love orgasm. Bad love as laceration. Shame as crucifixion. Menstruation, sex, rape, miscarriage, pregnancy -- as, well, as themselves. For many girls coming of age in the '90s who weren't in conversation with the equally graphic punk rock riot-grrrl scene (and some who were), Amos' candid acknowledgments -- set to swoopingly infectious Andrew Lloyd Webber-ish melodies -- were galvanizing. "Earthquakes'" powerful "Winter" locates fearsome change in graying hair, "Silent All These Years" imagines the protagonist's body, trapped in her boyfriend's jeans, as suddenly piscene. "Precious Things" starts with a twisted ankle and ends with "Nine Inch Nails and little fascist panties tucked inside the heart of every nice girl." "Crucify" translates stigma as stigmata. And the rape novena "Me and a Gun" involves the arresting image of a bent, breaking girl, stomach down on a Cadillac Seville. Amos' religion-flouting inquisition of the female corpus continued with 1993's "Under the Pink." The associative hopscotcher in her denial-tailspin hit "Cornflake Girl" escapes to "sleepy-time" just as "things are getting kind of gross." The bad-father fuck-off "God" alerts the big guy to the fact that "a few witches burning gets a little toasty here." The title of Amos' 1996 album "Boys for Pele" refers to a fantasy of cad-like ex-boyfriends being fed to a Hawaiian volcano goddess. In 1997, "From the Choirgirl Hotel" offered the miscarriage lament "Spark," which found the exhausted Amos, who has spoken frankly about losing touch with her sexuality during her pregnancy struggles, "doubting if there's a woman in there somewhere." The residual moralism of the singer's Methodist upbringing pops up on that record's weirdly guilty "Playboy Mommy," an apology to an unborn child for mom's libertine choices. Listening to the new 20-song "Tales of a Librarian," which collects these and other fan faves from Amos' years at Atlantic Records (the bonus DVD contains only a few live soundchecks, snapshots of Amos playing dress-up, and what counts as cheesecake for the famously modest diva: a couple of still-shot bra-with-jeans flashes), it seems more like a series of audio snapshots from the collective bildungsroman of alt-girlhood than an essential listening experience for the as-yet-uninitiated. It's hard to imagine what a teenaged Avril Lavigne fan or devotee of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' intact hipster bravado might make of Amos' body-rending catharses, her Jackie Kennedy odes, her New Age quirk. Along with the aforementioned selections, "Tales of a Librarian" also includes "Mr. Zebra" and "Way Down" (from "Boys for Pele") as well as the Camelot script-flip "Jackie's Strength" (from "Choirgirl") along with rarities "Mary" (virgin-whore issues, martyrdom and lots of bleeding) and the George H.W. Bush-bashing "Sweet Dreams." I'm not sure if the pretty new song "Snow Cherries from France" is allegorical or just decorative diary lore, but another new ditty, "Angels," is a moment of cuckoo genius, casting Florida's hanging chads from the 2000 presidential election as struggling seraphim "trapped" by earthly evildoers. This foray into politics continues the direction mapped in her last record -- not excerpted here, since it wasn't released by Atlantic. That album, "Scarlet's Walk" (Epic), was a moving and expansive road-trip travelogue in which Amos uncharacteristically stepped outside herself to commune with post-9/11 America, mixing essences with the likes of Navajo spiritualists and Hollywood strippers, and of course, the title's tragic Southern belle. It was a device that served Amos well, allowing her to traverse the land as an extension of traversing the body. The expanded scope of most of "Scarlet's Walk" -- the reach beyond the self -- evidences a sociological curiosity and political bravery grown out of personal contentment. New material documenting bliss with cats, gardens, husband and child is predictably less interesting than her outward-looking observations, but it functions almost as a dispatch from a formerly crazy friend who figured out a way, albeit a bourgeois one, to survive. It's somehow appropriate that Amos shows up in the feel-weird holiday movie "Mona Lisa Smile," the Julia Roberts vehicle that on the one hand means to plug radical feminism but also ends up validating here-and-now post-feminist backlash. Our redhead fronts Wellesley College's 1953 Spring Fling swing band, crooning torchily for girls who seek men and marriage as a shelter, or perhaps even a safe base of operation for their newly-minted Ivy-esque intellects. Amos' startling presence commands the camera's attention -- she's the idiosyncratic, brash, sometimes itch-inducing avatar of this very paradox. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 01:58:46 -0800 (PST) From: Nathan "®" Subject: Re: [oztori] tori article. maier@tpg.com.au wrote: > Dec. 22, 2003 | When I read the track list for > Tori Amos' new > greatest-hits collection, "Tales of a Librarian," I > was almost glad to see > that "Little Earthquakes," from her debut of the > same name, wasn't included. > It would be a solid choice, but whenever I hear it, > the years collapse and > I'm jerked back to 1991. I ********REALLY******** HATE how ppl write this!! KNOW YOU HISTORY/RELEASE DATES FOLKS! Little Earthquakes was not released anywhere until January 6th 1992 in the UK... and February 25th 1992 in the US! So it can hardly take her 'back to 1991'... unless say she got a promo copy of it beforehand, or attended one of those gigs in Tori's flat. > Earthquake as bad-love orgasm. Bad love as > laceration. Shame as crucifixion. > Menstruation, sex, rape, miscarriage, pregnancy -- > as, well, as themselves. Um I don't recall there being any 'miscarriage' on LE. > Amos' religion-flouting inquisition of the female > corpus continued with > 1993's "Under the Pink." MADE in 1993, yes, but again not released until Jan 31 (UK)/Feb 1 1994 (US). The CD says "1994" on the back. > In 1997, "From the Choirgirl Hotel" Correction - 1998. This time MAY even. Although yes, was generally written/recorded in 1997. > Listening to the new 20-song "Tales of a Librarian," > which collects these > and other fan faves from Amos' years at Atlantic > Records Yes, 'fan faves' such as Way Down & Mr Zebra. > along with > rarities "Mary" (virgin-whore issues, martyrdom and > lots of bleeding) and > the George H.W. Bush-bashing "Sweet Dreams." SD was never a 'rarity'. Nathan. ===== "You are so friggin intelligent, I wish you would use it sometimes to educate others!!!!" - Jarrod, 22/12/03. "So what are your 'feelings' re last night? Wonder how Lal is feeling about it all? I went to Dr this morning for tetanus booster." - Jarrod, 15/3/03. "I pity your dry, obsessed, over-ANALytical treatement [sic] of Tori and music in general Nathan." - Andrew R, 14/12/03. I wonder if I could make a career out of being a video operator of "adult movies". - Jawn Lacey, 22/12/03. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 10:12:02 -0800 From: Nadyne Mielke Subject: Re: [oztori] tori article. On Monday, December 22, 2003, at 01:58 AM, Nathan . wrote: > I ********REALLY******** HATE how ppl write this!! > KNOW YOU HISTORY/RELEASE DATES FOLKS! Little > Earthquakes was not released anywhere until January > 6th 1992 in the UK... and February 25th 1992 in the > US! So it can hardly take her 'back to 1991'... > unless say she got a promo copy of it beforehand, or > attended one of those gigs in Tori's flat. Your never-ending histrionics on this subject (in which you get to show off, yet again, that you've memorised the release dates of the albums) aside, perhaps you've heard of this nifty little invention called 'radio' or the even-more-esoteric 'media critic'. You see, record companies send out promos to radio stations and various media outlets. The radio stations can, in turn, play tracks from the promo on the album for the listening public. Media critics may review the album. This is often done before the release of the album, enabling hundreds (nay, thousands) of people to have heard it before the release date! Who knew that something like that could happen? :o /nm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 13:56:49 -0800 (PST) From: Nathan "®" Subject: Re: [oztori] tori article. Nadyne Mielke wrote: > Your never-ending histrionics on this subject (in > which you get to show > off, yet again, that you've memorised the release > dates of the albums) > aside, perhaps you've heard of this nifty little > invention called > 'radio' or the even-more-esoteric 'media critic'. > > You see, record companies send out promos to radio > stations and various > media outlets. The radio stations can, in turn, > play tracks from the > promo on the album for the listening public. Media > critics may review > the album. This is often done before the release of > the album, > enabling hundreds (nay, thousands) of people to have > heard it before > the release date! Who knew that something like that > could happen? :o But alas, the LE promo tapes are dated 12-7-91 (which is actually 7th DECEMBER 1991 - NOT 12th JULY 1991 as the Collectibiles book seems to think - see Tori had not WRITTEN MAAG by this stage - so I don't see how it could have been July)... and so... can something you could have discovered on the 7th of December of a year really 'take you back to that year' as if it was the year's central point? I pose this scenario to you, Nadyne... Let's say you hear the best-album-you-have-heard-in-your-life for the first time on the afternoon of Dec 31 this year.... Will you comment in 12 years' time from now that hearing the album again 'takes you back to 2003'?! I mean, given that the album effectively made up less than 1/365th of the year?! N. ===== "You are so friggin intelligent, I wish you would use it sometimes to educate others!!!!" - Jarrod, 22/12/03. "So what are your 'feelings' re last night? Wonder how Lal is feeling about it all? I went to Dr this morning for tetanus booster." - Jarrod, 15/3/03. "I pity your dry, obsessed, over-ANALytical treatement [sic] of Tori and music in general Nathan." - Andrew R, 14/12/03. I wonder if I could make a career out of being a video operator of "adult movies". - Jawn Lacey, 22/12/03. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 15:13:10 -0800 From: Nadyne Mielke Subject: Re: [oztori] tori article. On Monday, December 22, 2003, at 01:56 PM, Nathan . wrote: > But alas, the LE promo tapes are dated 12-7-91 (which > is actually 7th DECEMBER 1991 - NOT 12th JULY 1991 as > the Collectibiles book seems to think - see Tori had > not WRITTEN MAAG by this stage - so I don't see how it > could have been July)... and so... can something you > could have discovered on the 7th of December of a year > really 'take you back to that year' as if it was the > year's central point? In fact, yes. The writer was rather clear that hearing LE reminded her of the breakup of a relationship. Assuming that the relationship lasted more than a week, being reminded of the breakup likely means being reminded of the whole relationship as well, which probably encompassed [most of] the year. But realistically, I'm just saying that I don't get your endless histrionics on this point. You've already proven to all and sundry that you've memorised (or, at least, can quickly look up) the release dates of the albums. Good on you. Really. /nm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 15:23:02 -0800 (PST) From: Nathan "®" Subject: Re: [oztori] tori article. Nadyne Mielke wrote: > > could have discovered on the 7th of December of a > year > > really 'take you back to that year' as if it was > the > > year's central point? > > In fact, yes. The writer was rather clear that > hearing LE reminded her > of the breakup of a relationship. Assuming that the > relationship > lasted more than a week, Well let's see... Assuming she even GOT the tape the-day-it-was-pressed (highly unlikely), 7th of December 1991 leaves 24 days left to 'absorb' it which = 3 weeks, 3 days. Some relationship to last that 'long' them.. *rollz bloodshot eyez* > being reminded of the > breakup likely means > being reminded of the whole relationship as well, > which probably > encompassed [most of] the year. All 3.428571-repeating weeks of it. > But realistically, I'm just saying that I don't get > your endless > histrionics on this point. You've already proven to > all and sundry > that you've memorised (or, at least, can quickly > look up) the release > dates of the albums. Good on you. Really. Um thanks but that's not the point dear. I just have little tolerance for journalists who act as if they are experts on an artist's work, yet can't even get their release years right. I hate sloppiness. That's all. And good luck to you, Nadyne. Nathan. ===== "You are so friggin intelligent, I wish you would use it sometimes to educate others!!!!" - Jarrod, 22/12/03. "So what are your 'feelings' re last night? Wonder how Lal is feeling about it all? I went to Dr this morning for tetanus booster." - Jarrod, 15/3/03. "I pity your dry, obsessed, over-ANALytical treatement [sic] of Tori and music in general Nathan." - Andrew R, 14/12/03. I wonder if I could make a career out of being a video operator of "adult movies". - Jawn Lacey, 22/12/03. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 17:49:46 -0800 From: Nadyne Mielke Subject: Re: [oztori] tori article. On Monday, December 22, 2003, at 03:23 PM, Nathan . wrote: > Well let's see... Assuming she even GOT the tape > the-day-it-was-pressed (highly unlikely), 7th of > December 1991 leaves 24 days left to 'absorb' it which > = 3 weeks, 3 days. Some relationship to last that > 'long' them.. *rollz bloodshot eyez* You're missing the point. I'm saying that she was probably in the relationship for some non-zero period of time before she got her hands on the album. During the breakup, she heard the song. The song doesn't epitoimise the entire relationship, but it encapsulates the breakup. So now when she hears the song, she thinks of both the breakup (which, for the benefit of the doubt, we can say happened in Dec 91) and the relationship itself (which started sometime before Dec 91, but ended sometime around then). > Um thanks but that's not the point dear. I just have > little tolerance for journalists who act as if they > are experts on an artist's work, yet can't even get > their release years right. I hate sloppiness. That's > all. Yes, and you've gone on at length about it. /nm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 18:04:49 -0800 (PST) From: Nathan "®" Subject: Re: [oztori] tori article. Nadyne Mielke wrote: > > Well let's see... Assuming she even GOT the tape > > the-day-it-was-pressed (highly unlikely), 7th of > > December 1991 leaves 24 days left to 'absorb' it > which > > = 3 weeks, 3 days. Some relationship to last that > > 'long' them.. *rollz bloodshot eyez* > > You're missing the point. I'm saying that she was > probably in the > relationship for some non-zero period of time before > she got her hands > on the album. During the breakup, she heard the > song. The song > doesn't epitoimise the entire relationship, but it > encapsulates the > breakup. OK. So let's say the relationship ended in December 1991... Was she 'over it' that quickly that hearing the song ONLY 'brought her back to 1991' and not extending also into January/beyond of 1992? If so, one could then legitimately question the 'impact' this break-up had on her. > So now when she hears the song, she thinks > of both the > breakup (which, for the benefit of the doubt, we can > say happened in > Dec 91) and the relationship itself (which started > sometime before Dec > 91, but ended sometime around then). If the relationship was *that* significant, and she can't even get the break-up date in the right year... then.. is that not nearly as bad as forgetting which year you got married in?! If she & her partner, again for 'argument's sake', had tied the not when Little Earthquakes was out in early 1992... and she said to her now spouse, "Hearing this song takes me back to 1991 just after we got married," would he not have ample reason to be pissed with her?! > > Um thanks but that's not the point dear. I just > have > > little tolerance for journalists who act as if > they > > are experts on an artist's work, yet can't even > get > > their release years right. I hate sloppiness. > That's > > all. > > Yes, and you've gone on at length about it. "A pedant's work is never done." nathan. ===== "You are so friggin intelligent, I wish you would use it sometimes to educate others!!!!" - Jarrod, 22/12/03. "So what are your 'feelings' re last night? Wonder how Lal is feeling about it all? I went to Dr this morning for tetanus booster." - Jarrod, 15/3/03. "I pity your dry, obsessed, over-ANALytical treatement [sic] of Tori and music in general Nathan." - Andrew R, 14/12/03. I wonder if I could make a career out of being a video operator of "adult movies". - Jawn Lacey, 22/12/03. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of oztori-digest V3 #302 ****************************