From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V6 #233 Reply-To: precious-things@smoe.org Sender: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "precious-things-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. precious-things-digest Monday, November 26 2001 Volume 06 : Number 233 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Review of SLG from CultureDose.com ["black-winged roses" ] Re: precious-things-digest V6 #212 [RHPSshock@aol.com] Re: Greatest Hits ~ ["Mike Gray" ] Re: Greatest Hits ~ [Mysterilady2001@cs.com] re: Greatest Hits~ ["Mike Gray" ] Re: tori's contract news [JNe9027355@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 07:29:14 +0000 From: "black-winged roses" Subject: Review of SLG from CultureDose.com I can't remember this ever being posted, so I thought I'd volanteer. I know SLG is months old, but I thoughts this was pretty interesting:http://www.culturedose.com/review.php?rid=10002017 Creative Violence A Review By Jody Beth Rosen 11/13/2001 The name Tori Amos usually inspires violently negative reactions. It's so wild; I've actually heard extremely gory depictions of what people would do to her if they could inflict great pain upon her. I don't even think people have that much hatred towards Osama Bin Laden. What's more, people are falling all over themselves to point out what a stinking pile of shit the latest Amos album, Strange Little Girls, is. I don't get the severity of the criticism towards Amos. Once I graduated from high school, I was tired of her soft-rock faerie-dust Jesus-sex-neo-feminism shtick, and I never cared much for her attempts at industrial musicthey sound dated and disingenuous, like she's only doing it because Bjvrk and Polly are doing it too. And her vocal tics are annoying, to say the leastdo there have to be two Kate Bushes in the world? However, when Tori Amos is understated, she can be magical. When it's just her and her piano (or some other subtle keyboard instrument), singing without histrionics, and not needlessly meandering, it becomes apparent she does have talent. Lots of it. But she needs to stop producing her own material. And writing her own lyrics. Let's talk about why Strange Little Girls is a stinking pile of shit, and then let's talk about how good it is. There is no reason (no reason, hear me?) for another cover of "Happiness is a Warm Gun." I've never loved the original, but I like it better than the covers I've heard. Amos' is far and away the worst. It's 10 minutes long. It has those bothersome techno-loops and excerpts from speeches about John Lennon, gun control, et al. Unneccessary. It's embarrassingly unfocused, and does nothing to re-establish the credibility that Amos so glaringly lacks. "I'm Not in Love" (a hit for 10cc in the '70s) is the other major disaster. It fails for the same reason The Fugees' cover of "Killing Me Softly With His Song" failssinging a melody over a hip-hop beat and stripping away all the other components, well, that isn't so "hip" and "edgy," you know? It's lame and boring, and is one of the laziest things a musician can do. Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" gets a curious treatmentcurious in theory, because after the first 30 seconds, the arrangement becomes tedious. I can't think of a reason to funk up "Heart of Gold" and give it the same bass line as The Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog," and the lyrics' beauty gets lost among all the guitar and vocal embellishments. Some of Amos' experiments should have remained experiments, because that's what they sound like. Studio doodles. "Heart of Gold" almost works, but it doesn't. Aside from these screwups, I don't hate Strange Little Girls. I imagine some of the negative reactions are coming from people predisposed to despise Tori, and people who have issues with their favorite songs being covered by this evil virago of alternative rock. Luckily for me, there isn't a single original version of any of these tracks (not even Tom Waits' "Time") that I've ever been gung-ho over. Depeche Mode fans will throw a fit when they hear "Enjoy the Silence" reconstructed with nothing but piano and voice; they'll insist it's a sacrilege! Oh, grow up. Tori's version is stark and obsessive ("All I've ever wanted/All I've ever needed/Is here in my arms") and doesn't sound shoegazer-romantic, just creepy. Her voice doesn't flitter or flutter; she doesn't over- or under-enunciate, or swoop like a dying dove. Her piano is expressive but not floridit's mostly a spare series of intervals. The harmony part becomes a bit hard to take after a minute (or a hit of the repeat button), but "Enjoy the Silence" is one of the better inclusions on Strange Little Girls. The first single is "Strange Little Girl" (The Stranglers, 1982). I'm not a Stranglers enthusiast; their songs seem samey to me, particularly their later, New Romantic material. After hearing Tori's "Strange Little Girl," I went back to my Stranglers best-of and listened to the original. It's pleasant enough, but I prefer Tori's update (pleasant enough, but more so). Hard to say why, other than that it's catchy, punchy, and very well-mixed. The drums and drum programming are prominent but not a distraction; the guitars rock (considering) but don't try too hard to; and the vocals remind me of the best performances by Madonna (yes, Madonna) and Kate Bush (yeah, her too). Part "Beautiful Stranger," part "Runnin' Up That Hill." I don't think I'm too big on Lloyd Cole's "Rattlesnakes" (don't know his version), but Tori's works subtly, like Springsteen the VH-1 balladeer. There's a protagonist named Jody, and she wears hats when it's not raining and reads Simone de Beauvoir. She can't sleep at night. I like that I've become one of Tori's Strange Little Girls! Tom Waits' Rain Dogs is one of the most important, influential albums in my life, but "Time" never affected me as much as "Singapore" or "9th and Hennepin." The most famous song from Rain Dogs is Rod Stewart's abysmal version of "Downtown Train." I'm usually not too into the idea of people covering Waits. I wouldn't have thought Amos could pull it off. But she does. "Time" is another voice-and-piano arrangement; and it's the most no-bullshit cover on Strange Little Girls. Again, there are no strings, no swoops, no new-age melodrama. It's simply a quiet, unpretentiously emotional reading of a song that deserves one. If Tori's music was like this more often, I don't think people would hate her half as much. The two wild cards Tori throws us on Strange Little Girls: covers of Eminem and Slayer. The choice to do Eminem isn't that odd for Tori. When Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a Top-40 hit, she was right there covering it. She has pretty pedestrian tastes. Sometimes we get cheesy Beatles covers, and sometimes we get songs so obvious no one else would consider covering them, like Eminem's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde." She starts "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" off with an unintrusive orchestral trip-hop backdrop, and fades that in and out with a classical-horror motif of violin-and-piano quarter notes. Meanwhile, Tori delivers the sweetly psychotic lullaby to her baby in a near-whisper, with a combination of menace and fear, as the murder plot unfolds. It's sick shit. I wish there were more tracks like this one, to be honestI like that she tries to break up the balladry with a few rock and techno experiments, but they're too often the least compelling listening. "Raining Blood" is fucking incredible. I have no doubt most people hate this. But I'm turned on by Tori's dark, macabre Southern Gothic side (try Boys For Pele on for size), and her choice to cover Slayer as a slow-building bloodbath cabaret is genius. It's exquisitely executed, too, especially since she keeps holding back, never going over the top when she so easily could ("Awaiting reprisal," she sings, and it's like a deceptively gentle fog coming in to darken the sky and chill the air). She makes full use of the sustain pedal and the piano's bass notes. She doesn't whisper, but she sings so softly it's almost maddening that she doesn't lash out into a Grand Guignol god-of-hellfire yelp. It'sit'ssublime, man. And fuck you if you don't think so. Still, she closes on yet a darker note, a funereal take on Joe Jackson's "Real Men." Like "Time," the lyric itself is so powerful it doesn't even need much of a "performance"but Tori gives it a reading that neither ignores the song's emotional potency nor panders to it in search of a "Best Actress In a Pop Song About Homophobia" Oscar. If you're still listening by track 12, and you haven't ripped the CD out of the stereo and thrown it at a crying child in the street, don't let your attention wander away from "Real Men." Albums these days range from being unforgivably lousy to being very good and worthy of their critical praise. I don't expect albums to be "brilliant." No one should. Brilliance is so elusive and rare that no rating system of stars, bullets, or numbers can rightfully measure it. Strange Little Girls is not brilliant. At times, it's unforgivably lousy. But there are three, four, maybe five songs here that flirt with brilliance, and that makes the lousiness that much more tolerable, if not forgivable. That's why I'll rate Strange Little Girls highly and place it on my best-of list at the end of the year. I'm warning you now so you can come up with a creatively violent way for me to die. Listen to the record. It might give you some ideas. *************** http://www.geocities.com/sarahvox ICQ: 131558324 "I was reading about what was going on in Afghanistan--the way women were being oppressed, the destruction of religious statues. And when I heard that song, I just imagined a huge juicy vagina coming out of the sky, raining blood over all those racist, misogynist fuckers." [Tori Amos; Spin Magazine, Oct 2001] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 06:19:54 EST From: JNe9027355@aol.com Subject: what happened again to the lyric d.b? http://www.powerup.com.au/~evos/dan/tori/tald.html errrr not workin! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 07:23:42 EST From: Mysterilady2001@cs.com Subject: Greatest Hits ~ Hi ya EWF ~ The Nov 24, 2001 Billboard Magazine speaks of Tori leaving Atlantic & possibly moving on to Epic. The article mentions a greatest hits album that will be released by Atlantic sometime in the future. "Atlantic Group co-chairman/co-CEO Val Azzoli says it was a mutual decision for Amos to depart. "Her contract expired, and both Tori and I thought that it was better to try something new," he says. "It was a very happy divorce; we had a nice long run. We're getting a greatest-hits [record] out of it still." *Question 1. - What do you think will be put on the album? Twelve I think will make the cut, based on popularity among the general public: 1. Cornflake Girl - BIG Duh! Sadly some folks ONLY know T by this one. 2. God - Like #1 3. Silent All These Years 4. Me & A Gun 5. Caught A Lite Sneeze 6. Professional Widow 7. Talula 8. Hey Jupiter 9. Raspberry Swirl 10. Jackie's Strength 11. Bliss 12. 1000 Oceans **Question 2. - What WON'T make the cut but you wish would? My 3: 1. Tear In Your Hand 2. Sugar 3. Cool On Your Island So, how's everybody doin' ? Toodles ~ MysT *** ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 11:31:12 -0300 From: "cdrv" Subject: Re: Re: tori's contract news Hi Aj & Ewfs: I know a bit about Epic, because two of my favourite performers are in it; Cyndi Lauper :) and Fiona Apple. Back in the day, the way they let Cyndi on her own, was quite an scandal within the music world. She sold almost 4 millions with She4s so unusual, her 1st album. With True colours, her 2nd 1 million. Between 1987 and 1989 when she did not get any # 1 or any good sales, the took back support and even force her to co-write with commercial composers. She fighted back and managed to get the Artistic direction of her last 2 studio albums Hat Full of Stars and Sisters of Avalon (I suggest checking Sisters of Avalon, is worth the effort!). Epic apparently resented this fact and let her on her own, they gave her minimal financial support for the video clips and published only 3 samplers of the album worldwile. She ended up leaving the label sick of it in 1998. As far as Fiona goes, there were some comments on the fact that 1998s When The Pawn, was rushed by Epic, because she had been absent so many time of the musical scene. I live in Argentina, as most of you may know. And Epic in Latin America and some European Countries seen to act based on sucess. They do not publish albums of alternative or non-commercial artists until they prove to have a certain level of sucess within the states. HOWEVER Epic JAPAN, is known to have done a GREAT job for both Cyndi and Fiona in Asia, sticking with them and supporting them. Lately I have heard , BUT I DO NOT FOR SURE, that the Indigo Girls were having problems with the label; because their latest album did not have reached yet any Top 10 spot and Epic had already taken some support from them. As far as BFP era, I have read in the Dent, many interviews were Tori stated that some label executives through some stones on the way; because they though BFP was not worth the effort of any promoting and that was not radio-friendly material (whatever that might be!). I think you just have to keep your eyes open and you will hear info on labels and stuff. As far I know Tori did had a label, It was called IGLOO and had signed a girl-band called PET. But it closed later... I wonder what happened with her label. Sorry for bothering you all with this stories! Bye Daniel "May The Faeries Guide U"- Tori Amos - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, November 23, 2001 10:53 PM Subject: Re: Re: tori's contract news > How do you know so much about the business of Epic? where can i myself find > out the scoop on labels, besides allmusic.com? > Why doesn't tori just start her own label? Surely she has the money for it > no??? > AJ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 10:53:37 EST From: RHPSshock@aol.com Subject: Re: precious-things-digest V6 #212 Well, I didn't write the original message about Winter being dull musically, but I'd have to say that I pretty much agree with it. For me, I think that the lyrics are great, and the song is passionate and can stir plenty of emotion in me. However, the song has a lot of musical...starkness to it. The piano isn't very complex, and the vocal melody is sorta (I'm not trying to be mean at all) boring. I'm not saying that I could write a better song, I know I couldn't. Its just not one of my Tori favorites. When I hear a live version or see it live, I either end up getting completely pulled into the song, or getting very bored and not liking it. Angelina. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 20:27:22 -0000 From: "Mike Gray" Subject: Re: Greatest Hits ~ Hi MysT and all, I would assume that all the singles will make the cut (I imagine they'll all fit on a single CD) for any proposed Greatest Hits, and it would be nice perhaps to see a limited edition version with a B-Side from each of the singles (where applicable) which would at least make it worth buying for her main fanbase, rather than just a shoddy cash-in (am I being too cynical about this?) - and maybe they could release the forever delayed Complete Videos DVD while they're at it? My thought would be whether Atlantic will now re-release YKTR to make money out of it... I know it sounds like a silly thing to suggest, but I assume that it was a specific Tori request previously, whereas if she's not contracted to them anymore, then they're hardly likely to be worried about offending her, are they? Mike ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 17:40:30 EST From: Mysterilady2001@cs.com Subject: Re: Greatest Hits ~ Hi Mike & EWF ~ Cash-in ... YES. I always assume greatest hit albums are about the $$$. Take the new The Smashing Pumpkin's greatest hits CD & video ad's shown every 5 minutes on MTV. No more Pumpkins = no more new material to get bucks off of. It will make lotsa money. Like the Pink Floyd greatest hits released recently. Both Pink & Pumpkins have a catalogue of popular songs to create an album that would do well. Atlantic apparently feels the same will be true of Tori's. Great! RTA & I were wondering the same thing about YKTR. From what we know Atlantic owns distribution rights. The question is, as you stated, Would they do that to Tori - knowing how she feels about the album? Or do we really know how she feels? She's played both COYI & Etienne on past tours, maybe she is becoming more comfortable with her first work. I think from the biz's point of view - It's not show friends, it's show business. I can see them releasing it on the single premise of making $. Once Tori has moved on, possibly to Epic, it would be the time. Most of us have YKTR and - I'm assuming - listen to it. I know I do. This is part of Tori's work, why would we, as EWF, not? The real question lies in whether its worthwhile financially for them. Are their enough fans out there who would be interested? With the availability of boots, some better than others, would fans want the real deal re-released 14 years after the original? I don't listen to my real YKTR, I listen to an excellent boot. Real YKTR CD's are going for as much as $300. Atlantic makes ZERO off that. I can see it happening. We'll see. A CD of studio b-sides would be awesome Too! Toodles ~ MysT *Do you think we'll EVER see the video's DVD? **Will Jack ever figure out who the agencies mole is? Will his cell phone battery ever go dead? Will his daugh... (Oh wait! That's *24*! :-/ Sowwy!) *** In a message dated 11/25/01 12:27:39 PM Pacific Standard Time, mikegray@btinternet.com writes: << Hi MysT and all, I would assume that all the singles will make the cut (I imagine they'll all fit on a single CD) for any proposed Greatest Hits, and it would be nice perhaps to see a limited edition version with a B-Side from each of the singles (where applicable) which would at least make it worth buying for her main fanbase, rather than just a shoddy cash-in (am I being too cynical about this?) - and maybe they could release the forever delayed Complete Videos DVD while they're at it? My thought would be whether Atlantic will now re-release YKTR to make money out of it... I know it sounds like a silly thing to suggest, but I assume that it was a specific Tori request previously, whereas if she's not contracted to them anymore, then they're hardly likely to be worried about offending her, are they? Mike >> ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 22:56:38 -0000 From: "Mike Gray" Subject: re: Greatest Hits~ Hi MysT and all, > Cash-in ... YES. I always assume greatest hit albums are about > the $$$. Take the new The Smashing Pumpkin's greatest hits CD & > video ad's shown every 5 minutes on MTV. No more Pumpkins = no > more new material to get bucks off of. It will make lotsa money. Like > the Pink Floyd greatest hits released recently. Both Pink & Pumpkins > have a catalogue of popular songs to create an album that would do Actually, I would argue that the Pumpkins one represents decent value - for #12 over here in the UK, it's two CDs, one of which contains mostly unreleased stuff, and the other of which has at least a couple of unreleased tracks. The thing is that I don't see Atlantic having the material to do that with Tori's stuff - perhaps in the US where some B-Sides were never released, but in the UK I *think* bar a couple of mixes and a couple of Choirgirl Era B-Sides, we've had all the B-Sides (certainly up to Pele) - I just can't seem them caring enough to invest the time and do it, making each region's hypothetical "bonus disc" correspond to material not released in that area . :( Mike ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 23:06:27 EST From: JNe9027355@aol.com Subject: Re: tori's contract news In a message dated 11/25/2001 6:37:07 AM Pacific Standard Time, cdrv@arnet.com.ar writes: > As far I know Tori did had a label, It was called IGLOO and had signed a > girl-band called PET. But it closed later... I wonder what happened with her > label. > Sorry for bothering you all with this stories! > Bye > Daniel Bothering? Mate, you provided all the info i needed. Congrat yourself! So thats strange--what ever came of this IGLOO label??? why didnt tori use it to release her own music? It is so strange the relationship performers have with their middlemen (agencies, labels) They end up gettin enough $ to work things themselves..so why not cut out the middleman? Then i'll hear that while still being binded to labels, they'll go off and start their own label like it was a piece of cake --but never really use it! AJ ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V6 #233 *************************************