From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V3 #262 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 Wednesday, July 22 1998 Volume 03 : Number 262 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Tori Amos in Q Magazine [RasinGirrl@aol.com] Re: little earthquakes tape ? [Bobdel123@aol.com] Past the Mission single: anyone got a pic? [PoetGrrlAC@aol.com] Madison Square Garden Ticket [Roses269@aol.com] Re: little earthquakes tape ? [Lil3rthqks@aol.com] Cincinnati set list [Yessaid@aol.com] My new site [Magadeline@aol.com] Tori video on M2 [cypresj@compsys.com] Tori Amos Cornish Diary and Discography [brainbir@postoffice.utas.edu.au ] Re: Tori on the radio [JoeyMtSac@aol.com] Tori in Newsweek [kerry white ] Tori in Chicago--OH MY GOD [Richard Handal ] Tori in Chicago--OH MY GOD [Richard Handal ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 00:07:25 EDT From: RasinGirrl@aol.com Subject: Re: Tori Amos in Q Magazine If you would like to see pictures from the article, I have them at my site. http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/studio/2826 Danielle ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 03:25:32 EDT From: Bobdel123@aol.com Subject: Re: little earthquakes tape ? tori is saying something but i can't make it out its on my cd so i guess its naturaly in the song. if anyone figures out what she's saying i'd love to know also. bob stinky soul get a little lost in my own ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 08:38:02 EDT From: PoetGrrlAC@aol.com Subject: Past the Mission single: anyone got a pic? hiya peoples, i am considering getting a poster from someone on here of the past the mission single cover. i have been trying to find this pic of the web, anyone know where a pic is? even if it is not the actual pic, maybe like a web page uses the pic for a logo of soemthing, fine. i just need to find a pic of this. anyone know where one is? peace, manda c ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 15:44:26 EDT From: Roses269@aol.com Subject: Madison Square Garden Ticket Hey there everybody, would anyone like to buy a Tori Amos ticket? I can't go to the show because my plans got all messed up so I'm selling my ticket for $35(the amount I payed) It's up in section 304. I'm not trying to make any profit or anything I just want to be able to let someone else go in my place who really loves Tori's music. If you're interested please e-mail me. :) Laura Selkirk ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 15:58:18 EDT From: Lil3rthqks@aol.com Subject: Re: little earthquakes tape ? When you mentioned that, I listened to my tape, and I think I know what you're talking about. I think we might be hearing "China", the song on the other side at that point in the tape, backwards. In a message dated 98-07-21 23:57:48 EDT, FireSpyrit@aol.com writes: << does anyone own LE on tape? just wondering because right after Happy Phantom there is this long break, and i turned my stereo WAY up and you can hear Tori singing in the background. It's very hard to make out. A hidden song maybe?? >> ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 02:09:22 EDT From: Yessaid@aol.com Subject: Cincinnati set list Hi all, i just got back from the Cincinnati show, and i must say it was AMAZING. A wonderful set list, lots of different songs than the phenomenal Chicago show sunday night. so, here it is: Cincinnati, Ohio 7-21-98 Precious Things Spark Cornflake Girl Pretty Good Year Caught a Lite Sneeze Playboy Mommy Liquid Diamonds Take to the Sky (solo) Leather (solo) Honey iieee The Waitress Encore 1: Black-Dove (January) Raspberry Swirl Encore 2: She's Your Cocaine Horses The show was excellent. Not as loud as Chicago, though, but still pretty loud. The band is fantastic. blah blah i'm not gonna write a review i'm soooo tired. i can't wait till august :) j'ason ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 08:54:42 EDT From: Magadeline@aol.com Subject: My new site Well, hello all. I am terribly sorry to be telling you this, but it must be said to save us all trouble. My dad had to change his account name last night, thus I had to change mine. Well really I am hopelsdrmr. So this is my new screen name. I also had to transfer the website information. Everything is there, butif you did happen to try to post something, I did not receive it. Please change your bookmarks, I am really sorry to clutter your mail box with this crap. To go to my website noTORIous Amos To join the mailing list Mailing List To see the latest auction items Auction To post a message Hall To submit your favorite quote quotes To learn about faeries Faerie World To see my boot list Discography to be the fan of the week week ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 13:52:11 -0400 From: cypresj@compsys.com Subject: Tori video on M2 Fabulous! I was flipping channels and on our "Sneak Prevue" cable channel that shows a new channel for about a week (here in Knoxville, TN), teasing customers with the chance to pick it up with the normal cable programming, was previewing M2. It caught my eye because it was showing the Cure's "Friday, I'm in Love". So I watched the channel only 10 minutes or so before the DJ comes on and starts to introduce the next video... by Tori Amos!!! She recounted a story about how once when Tori was in church, she threw a fit when a visiting bishop accidentally sat on her purple invisible friend (could the Purple People song reference this?). Then the DJ said Tori was a big fan of Masburbation, etc., etc. Lots of sound bytes, making Tori sound outrageous the way they were putting it. Anyway, then they played "Winter". I was really hoping to see Spark because I still haven't seen the darn thing yet, but it was nice to see a music channel actually playing her stuff that's not currently popular. M2 is obviously a step above MTV, with quality music.. AND NO COMMERCIALS! That's all I have to say about that. - -jen ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 14:58:21 +1000 (EST) From: brainbir@postoffice.utas.edu.au (Ben) Subject: Tori Amos Cornish Diary and Discography OK I've returned. There were two little supplements to the Q Mag interview (ie. they were in the article but not part of the interview). The first was Q magazine look at the Tori Amos albums. A Woman's Work A brief Tori Amos discography Y Kant Tori Read Atlantic Import, 1988 Rare one-off outing with Amos fronting glam-pop-metal collective. Flopped immediately. Big hair, mammary revealing bustier, Samurai sword and Scary Pat Benatar impression quickly disowned. Tori Nuts now pay top dollar for any unburned copies. 2 Stars (Out of Five). Little Earthquakes East West, 1992 Effortless melody, dynamic piano bashing, a whiff of health food and, for the most, the first exposure to that challenging whoop and purr of a voice. "So you can make me come/That doesn't make you Jesus," she sneered. Menace and seduction in one hit. 4 Stars Under the Pink East West, 1994 Sirens struggle to capitalise on their breakthroughs, but Amos survived a second album that retrod on the first, mostly on the strength of her piercing dissection of woman to woman attitudes (The towering Cornflake Girl) and the richer arrangements. Still Fine. 3 Stars Boys For Pele East West, 1996 The "pure being/hot pussy" dilemma resolved against a sparse, self produced sonic landscape comparable to Joni Mitchell's Blue. Harmonium, bagpipes, church bells, poetic babble and the suggestion that Jesus was a woman. Weird and Wonderful. Four Stars. Just to break in here am I alone in actually liking Y Kant Tori Read? I like her solo stuff better and maybe it's just my dorky side but I really like "The Big Picture" and I would have given her solo stuff 5 stars but that's just me. Anyway enough from me, this is "Tori Amos's Cornish Diary" October 2 OK, so small noises at first. Like not so terribly irritating for before the suns up noise. But by 7am every drill, saw, hammer and pounding utensil that there ever was is welcoming me. We have one week till the musicians come - we have 1/2 a roof. October 3 George is my favourite builder. He swears that there are Germans that will be doing a rear dorsal attack at 13 hundred hours, so maybe I'd like to bring over plenty of sandwiches and a thermos of hot tea before the siege. October 9 Drummer arrives today, we have a sort of roof. It looks like thousands of bin bags superglued. October 23 I'm having flashbacks of a hospital emergency room. There's bed upon bed with not a Chelsea blue for the sheet colour but kinda a more faded color. All I really want is a little nap. The nurse - there's only one - says she needs the beds and I can't nap and I say this place is empty except for hundreds and hundreds of beds and she said if I can find a bed without chopped pieces of hair on it I can lay down, and sure enough I go from bed to bed finding clumps strands split ends of every colour and kind of hair possible. I don't know if it's worth trying to make sense of this but the boys were dyeing their hair this week to look like Debbie Harry and Marcel had an accident. November 5 The Butchers League of North Cornwall knocked on the studio door and said "We'd like to record our Christmas album here. We normally record down at Gile's in Strawhaven but we thought since you're new...you'd give us a deal." The engineer said "How much do you pay at Strawhaven? "Well, " said the butcher, "we normally get it for free." November 18 Fire engine fridge with magnets of Marilyn: one of us changes her outfit each day. There is now law other than she *must* be changed. December 7 Fish bottoms, Teletubbies heads. We did our own choreography to "Children's it's alright to pass gas song." December 23 Christmas shopping for the boys - got Marcel a porno star belt buckle. The surf shops are as good as Zuma beach in Cali. This one surfer genuinely invited me to go surfing in the North Cornish sea on Christmas Day. "It's for charity" he said. It would have to be. January 5 Taking a little Cornish walk, a hand reaches out - I don't even know this woman - she gives me some sherry. I don't even like sherry. I feel like I was being anaesthetised - Beene calls this true happiness. What's her plan - - I'm not sure but after the second or third glass of sherry I promised her my house, backstage passes to all the shows, free transport to and from the gigs, a place in the band for her grandson, if she'll just let me go. She grabs my arm and says "So then, will you bring around that tall dark intriguing Dutchman sometime?" (Rob) Gulp, whew. Does this mean I get to keep my house? January 10 Shocking cold. The piano is dropping quickly. Scalextrics isn't affected. I put on a pair of shorts and whipped up Sea Breezes for the boys. Checking into...um, Betty Boop. January 27 Mixing - still - mixing. I've written Nurofen into my will. Bless those people. February 1 The night the builders and the crew go out story. It was suggested to me that everybody needed a night out so the builders came to rescue the crew. It was suggested to me that I should grab my boyfriend and have a night in. So I get all these scented candles, a bottle of warm-on-the-throat red and everything's going really well for the girl. I'm off in the never land and from very far away I hear my boyfriend say "Hey Tor I think all your candles are really beautiful but do you smell something funny?" Wouldn't you know the duvet was burning. Next Day I'm up early. Marcel's walking in the door. "Jeez, " I said "What happened to you then?" He had just walked all night nine miles - the other boys had some luck with some teachers while he was prancing completely naked in the kebab shop and somehow missed his ride. And that's it! Weird huh? That's probably the last thing I ever type cos me fingers have gone numb! Now can I put in a request? Can someone send me the Rolling Stone article? It would be highly appreciated! Ben ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 00:13:48 EDT From: JoeyMtSac@aol.com Subject: Re: Tori on the radio In a message dated 7/21/98 8:56:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time, velvet@khazad- dum.ccsi.com writes: > Just wanted to pass along that Tori got a mention on the radio > this morning. I *think* it's 94.7 (the one w/JB&Sandy in the morning) in > Austin TX (it's whatever my clock radio is set at), and they were doing > their morning news update, and it was mentioned about Tori liking shoes, > and how men walk on the cuddly side of the street cus our shoes are so > much cuter than theirs; that shoes are an important piece of architecture, > and she's got shoes that haven't ever left her bedroom. > I think this is in reference to the Newsweek article that came out this week. For aol members, here's a link: 7/27/98 Two for the Road , and for the rest, I copied the transcript: Another day, another city on a summer rock tour. When Dave Matthews and Tori Amos hit the same town, they sat down and talked shop. At a recent rock festival in Brussels, Tori Amos and Dave Matthews met for the first time. They seem an unlikely pair: she is a classically trained pianist who became famous for "Me and a Gun," a song about how she survived a brutal rape; he is the South African-born front man for a band that blends progressive rock, pop and jazz. But both have a huge, obsessively loyal fan base (Matthews's fans follow him with the trip-happy devotion of Deadheads). Both have achieved mainstream success with unusual blends of music. And both are on tour this summer, promoting albums they released in the past few months-Matthews's "Before These Crowded Streets" is funky, thoughtful and danceable; On "From the Choirgirl Hotel" Amos returns to her rock roots and plays with a full band for the first time. Between sets at the festival, Amos and Matthews met over french fries and coffee to talk with NEWSWEEK's Veronica Chambers about the music business, their fans and why neither of them thinks they will age as well as Keith Richards. NEWSWEEK: Let's talk about touring. Dave, how did it feel to sell out Giants Stadium in two hours? DAVE MATTHEWS: It was incredible. When I heard, I had a 24-hour anxiety attack even though it was months prior to the show. I just kept thinking, "How the hell are we going to satisfy the back row?" TORI AMOS: You could leave Twinkies on every seat like Rosie O'Donnell does. Or is it yo-yos? DM: Put out 60,000 yo-yos? TA: Yeah, why not? Tell the promoter. Tori, how do you project to an arena full of people when you're alone on the stage? TA: It's the high heels. It gives you that stance on the piano. I've got to hit all these notes, so I anchor it with my right foot. DM: Left foot on the pedals. You got a little bit of that Yanni thing going on. TA: Exactly. Touring alone was really important to me because I needed to understand what the piano meant to me. I've been playing since I was 2i, or so my mother says. Were those tours lonely? TA: It got that way eventually. The first time, it was daunting, but people were open to it. They hadn't really seen that too much before--a girl and her piano, singing to all these people for an hour and a half with nothing else. Dave talks about the family being the band; my family was the crew. It was me and a 35-person crew. They're the most interesting people. Like my monitor guy; he's a nudist physicist. He dropped out of college. DM: A nudist physicist! So when he's off the road, he goes and studies physics and takes his clothes off? TA: Well, he takes his clothes off as much as he can. Even when he's behind the monitor. DM: I'm sure that's a nice thing. How much do you see of a city when you're on tour? DM: You get to hang out a little bit. I spend a lot of the time at the bars. TA: I wish I could hang out at the bloody gym. I'm trying. First thing in the morning, before I do anything, I get up and do my abs. I just sit there and do 200 sit-ups. Otherwise I don't have the strength to play. Another thing that happens is so much energy is running through your body after a show. I know why a lot of performers, they do start doing stuff to bring them down. You've got to come down, but there are ways to come down. And I mean, everybody can't be Keith Richards. DM: Yeah, at this point in my life, I've got a fairly smooth contract with alcohol. It's not necessarily healthy. I've been comfortable with alcohol for a long time, long before I was playing onstage, since I was 15 or 16. It's been a daily thing. I'm one of those happy alcoholics that's doomed to a long existence as a smiley drunk. I'm the kind of drunk that no one will ever complain about. What do you eat on the road? TA: I'm trying to do a lot of vegetables, fish, no red meat. No wheat. Bad for the voice. DM: Really? Wheat is bad for the voice? I always find out these things. You know, smoking is bad for the voice, too. TA: [laughs] Yeah, but in Amsterdam, you have to have the grass. It's the only place where you don't get someone hauling your ass away. Tori, why didn't you do Lilith Fair? TA: Let's be brutally honest here. If you can do your own tour, it's your vision, your light, your sound. I think Sarah [McLachlan] has done an amazing job. Sarah owns Lilith. So you're really doing Sarah's tour. Which is fantastic, especially for a lot of women who can't do their own tour or don't want to. It's tough to keep 35 beings on the road and feed and clothe them, maintain the trucks and everything. It's an unbelievable responsibility. I happen to love that side of it. To be able to do your own tour is the most incredible thing. A lot of acts have had to cancel dates because they weren't selling enough tickets. How about your relationship with your fans? DM: I'm very endeared to the fans. I feel like serving them. It's almost like old minstrels wandering or the court players that are playing for the king and queen. But your frat-boy fans take a lot of flak. Do critics dislike you or them? DM: They were the people that gave us a job when the industry wouldn't. We wanted to play, but we needed to make money, because we had families and we needed to pay our rent. So you can either go and play to five people in a bar and be a "real artist," or you can go and play at a frat party for a thousand kids for $1,000, which makes more sense. The music industry is in a slump. There's not as much commitment to artists over the long term. But both of you have built a loyal, steady following. TA: This industry will devour you. They want the new thing. They want to taste it, smell it, crawl inside of it, just devour it. DM: It's comparable to the sacrifice of a lamb. Here's this 19-year-old or 21-year-old pasted all over the country. Every word that comes out of their mouth is posted and twisted. It's a hell of a thing for a kid. Let's talk about songwriting. Tori, how does the muse visit you? TA: You can begin to feel a presence when she comes. I call it a she, like it's a bath product. I would start to know when she's coming. And when that happens, I know I have to remember it. I'll write on my hand or something. DM: I get similar visitations often when I'm having a crap. [Amos giggles.] Or driving, or something like that. I have these ideas and they come in and I'm, oh, very excited about them. But then they vanish. Dave, I hear you love potty humor. DM: I do. I am potty. I am potty. TA: I admire that so much. I can't go there. I can't. DM: You can't even look at me while I'm thinking about potty. TA: I can't. But you both can talk about sex. TA: Oh no, no. I'll turn red. Not while he's sitting here. I'm not going to talk about sex. DM: Sex is, it's, it's like a thing, right? That people do. I'm going to have some coffee so I don't say some things I'm going to regret. TA: You're charming, I'm telling you. Do you have a woman? DM: Yes, I do. She's here with me. TA: That's fantastic. She's very lucky. I'm sure you're lucky, too. DM: I am very lucky. TA: But you're such a gentleman. That's a wonderful quality. I just like all that. DM: I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to let you glow. TA: I'm the type of woman that I don't need to open the door for myself. You know what I mean? I can negotiate my own deal, but it's nice to have the door opened for me or the wine poured. I just love chivalry. DM: I have to walk on the puddley side of the pavement. TA: Because our shoes are so much cuter than yours. Of course you should be on the puddley side. Do you realize that I have shoes that have never left the bedroom? DM: Oh really? TA: Oh yeah. Shoes, to me, they're just little pieces of architecture. I just adore shoes. [John Witherspoon, Amos's tour manager, enters the room.] TA: John, I've made a new friend. JOHN WITHERSPOON: You have? DM: We have. TA: Yes, we're going to see each other on tour and have... uh, french fries. DM: Oh, I didn't know what was coming, but french fries sound good. Newsweek 7/27/98 The Arts/Two for the Road Hope everyone enjoyed this ! =) Peace and Tori, Joey (aka Joey MtSac) Tori Amos: Ripples In A Pond ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 17:42:24 -0500 (CDT) From: kerry white Subject: Tori in Newsweek Get the July 27th Nesweek for 3 pages on Tori. KrW "Yes, it left a great gaping hole in the water!" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 18:59:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Richard Handal Subject: Tori in Chicago--OH MY GOD Hi, All: I can't begin to express how thrilled I was by this Chicago show! I haven't posted a proper concert review since nearly two years and 20 shows ago, but I am so ecstatic about this one I'm going to try. So many of my experiences at the concerts are personal, and it's difficult to discuss the shows without getting into some of that, but the shows are not about me, and I'll do what I can to keep this to a minimum. That said, I can't eliminate all of me from a review. This was the kind of show that I felt Tori was working towards on this year's circuit, and although plenty of room to grow remains, it seemed to me to largely embody the sensibilities and the feel of the shows as she's going to continue to develop them on this tour. And it's a wonderful thing. Almost all the songs were slowed down from the last time I had seen them, which was either live in England in May, or on the ABC Independence Day Concert which contained two songs from Glastonbury. Some were only slightly, even barely perceptibly slowed down, and some were slowed down more blatantly. This seemed to be a good move, as it allowed for more expressiveness and room to "work" the songs, and for all the members of the band to more readily interact with one another. It also served to provide a better platform from which the band could focus its power, which was indeed considerable. But before I get too far ahead of myself, let's cover the songs in the order they were performed. The show opened at 8:55pm with Precious Things. To me this is--still--the quintessential Tori Amos composition. On the Dew Drop Inn tour in '96 it made an appearance at a good 75 - 80% of all the shows--at *every* show until well into the summer when she seemed to tire of doing it every single night. It always showed up in the same place during those concerts. It was being performed dead center--during the fifty-minute mark of what were typically hundred-minute shows. It was one of the touchstone songs on that tour. (The others being Beauty Queen/Horses which started every show, Me and a Gun, which ended every first set of all the '96 shows save one, and Hey Jupiter, which, in the first portion of that tour was the final song every night.) Since early on in the club tour, it was clear that Precious Things had made a fabulous transition to being performed live with the band. In this newest version, the level of intensity and pure rage during it would continue to get jacked up higher...and higher...and higher during the course of the song. The newly reformed opening with its inverted piano figures which I first saw on the ABC-taped Glastonbury version is still being left pretty much intact, but it has also been allowed to open up slightly and breathe. I'd come to be quite used to seeing Black-Dove (January) open the shows, but it appears that Tori has decided to start off these recent shows with the full in-your-face brutality of Precious Things. I very much look forward to hearing Black-Dove again at future shows, but starting off the proceedings with Precious is a decision I can't find fault with. It definitely gets everyone's attention from the beginning. Actually, I found the sometime opening pairing of Black-Dove followed by iieee to be a bit like beginning a meal with a hot fudge sundae--since both of those songs are so deeply textured, it was too rich a way to start off. iieee in this Chicago show was slightly slowed from the last time I'd seen it in England in May. I love this song a whole lot when played live. Tori really gets some voodoo going. Good stuff. Cornflake Girl at this Chicago show was preceeded by a bit of something unrecognizable that Tori was singing, to which she accompanied herself on the piano. I have no idea what that was about. This night's version was just barely slowed down from earlier versions, and found Steve Caton wandering over to the rear of the Bosey and actively interacting with Tori both musically, and with him and her both bobbing their heads up and down in tandem--this, while he did a sideways shuffle dance. Steve had played some of the earlier portions of this show with sunglasses on, which was amusing, and something I hadn't recalled seeing before. He's always a standout in these shows. He adds interest continuously. The only time I'd seen Crucify performed with the band before this show was on the ABC concert footage from Glastonbury. I'll go back and check it again, but I have to say it didn't do that much for me. (Whereas, Precious Things from that same show had me welling up with tears and gave me chills.) This version was quite different from Glastonbury's, however, and it was fabulous. The whole song had been much slowed down, and it was quite trippy even, with Tori calling on the fly for a repeat of the "please save me" section, which allowed for more development and expansion of ideas, and for increased interaction with the band. This was *exactly* the kind of thing I'd hoped she was going for on this tour, but it was so long in really coming together that I'd started to wonder if I had misunderstood her intentions. This is one of the main ways the songs can be enriched and opportunities for interaction between the players can be increased. It also allows her to be able to stretch out sections when she wants to build and soar vocally, and that's a beautiful thing. I can't say how happy I am to see this kind of development in the songs. Thrilled, actually. This is being done with multiple songs, and is one of the main reasons to attend as many shows as one possibly can. :-) The anticipation of knowing that doors will be flung open at various points during the concert and that nearly anything could come flying out is an exciting feeling. That such glory regularly *does* show itself is even better. I respect Tori's musical decisions more than anyone else's I can think of. I'm so proud of her I could burst. Spark was slightly slowed from previous versions I'd seen. If you've only seen the televised U.S. talk show versions you'll be impressed by how much further along this song has come. I'd heard that the band had performed Sugar at an earlier U.S. show, and I couldn't imagine what that might be like. I was more than pleasantly surprised to find it to be the standout song of the show. As my notes say, "transcendental, wonderful." No metronome here; dynamics and rubato--yes! A good ride. Tear In Your Hand has developed into the moving song it deserves to be when rendered with the band. Slightly slowed from before and movingly expressive. Just fabulous. I realize I'm in a tiny minority on this, but Winter never really did much for me on a musical level. It reminds me of French piano lessons. It was good seeing this well-rendered version on the full concert grand, though. I had missed that piano on the solo pieces during the prior legs of touring this year. Glad to see it back. Just another detail that sets Tori apart from other players. I have yet to really get my head to Cooling, but it's beautiful, and I'll welcome her anytime she wants to show up. Jackie's Strength just isn't gonna sound as overwhelmingly gut-wrenching as the album version because the strings are so integral to the composition reaching its peak level of emotion (which for me is considerable, as I feel it's the most emotional recording Tori has ever released), but this was the best version I've heard in concert, and it was a welcome addition to the show. Cruel was completely overpowering, and gooey gobs of fun. Jon's bass was producing these huge, volcanic waves of sound which made for an experience like riding down a lava flow with a surfboard. Astonishingly powerful. In case Mark was doing his best to eliminate the standing waves I say he should have just left them alone and let the roof fall in. At least we'd all have died happy. :-) I'd not heard Space Dog on this tour, but as it always was on tours before the band was around, it stands out by being a "different" song in its very nature. I love the relentlessness of its beat. Waitress has developed into the true showstopper on this tour, and seems to have appeared at the end of the main set a lot of times recently. If you haven't heard Waitress on this tour yet you have quite an experience in store for you when you do. This was clearly such an amazing, subtly reworked show in comparison to the previous ones I'd seen on the club tour and in the U.K. that as soon as I recognized it by the quiet, vamping guitar lines and easy piano chording, I knew this was going to be the most intense version I'd ever experienced, and that proved to be accurate. There's no way I could begin to describe this. Its elongated, quiet opening serves the same function as an alap movement does in Indian Karnatik classical music--it helps bring one's head down to a place such that later in the piece, one is more open to being musically swept away further and further as swirls of ideas fly all around, and the listener is drawn in, and taken to new heights. This was clearly the idea behind Tori having opened up the Dew Drop Inn shows with Beauty Queen/Horses--one is more open to an experience after one's head is cleared out and relaxed enough to accept stimuli. This is an idea which has its basis in the so-called "relaxation response"--the same idea used in hypnotic induction, forms of meditation, having candles in a church service, when religious leaders speak in a monotone, etc. Or, as Jim Morrison would say, "We were seated and then darkened." And that this show's volume ranges from so quiet to such deep thunder makes it all the more interesting. So, at 10:17pm, the main set of this intense show came to a stunning conclusion. The audience leapt to its feet and applauded with great enthusiasm, and many folks held lighters high to show their appreciation. As someone recently said on one of the lists, Tori's a rock star now. And I'm more than comfortable with that. I'm as proud of her as I can be. If she doesn't deserve every possible bit of success then who does? The first encore set began with She's Your Cocaine. I know a number of people have said that this is their least favorite song on choirgirl, but if those people end up hearing this song in concert I'm sure a lot of them will have a different take on it. It doesn't get any better than this, in terms of having fun with one's clothes on. What a feeling to experience this performed live! Whenever you see Jon strapping on his Fender bass get ready for him to soon be banging the crap out of the thing with ringing power chords. Just one big long smile from start to finish. Great stuff. Raspberry Swirl is also a hell of a lot of fun live, but if I have any complaints about the sound from this show it would be that the percussion Matt plays on this song wasn't as prominent in the mix as it should have been. This may be unavoidable due to the need to prevent feedback, and is only a minor nitpick. As always, the sound was excellent overall, and my experienced Tori concert veteran-seatmate told me after the show that he didn't really care *where* he sat after seeing this show. He knew he'd be able to hear just fine from anywhere, and if he wanted to see Tori's face more closely he could bring binoculars. I've been telling people this for more than two years. Some people agree with me. Is there anything like being in the center of the front row and having Tori stare into your eyes throughout the concert, and then grab your hands from the stage after the show? No. Of course not. Is it realistic to make the chance for this kind of an experience a requisite for seeing a show? I don't think so. Northern Lad and Horses in the second encore set brought the concert to a close at 10:40pm. Northern Lad was beautiful, and although it seemed to make sense with some of the U.K. shows that they be brought to a close by a solo piano piece, this Twilight mix-based Horses is an appropriate alternative. There's no set decoration on this tour--all the extraneous visual interest being generated by the lights, and in one song, by a shower of bubbles. This is as it should be. Keep an eye on Tori and on the other players to see how much fun they're having and how they interact while they play. Tori kissed each of them when they came out for their final bows, which I'd never seen happen before. All of them are fabulous players, and she's blessed to have them with her. So are we. Initially, I hadn't been planning to go to Chicago for this show, but the day after I got back from England at the end of May I found myself buying a ticket from my travel agent for a flight out of the Baltimore airport. The main reason was the amount of pleasure I'd gotten from experiences I'd had hanging out with folks at the U.K. shows. I was expecting to have met a lot of folks at this Chicago show who I'd known for years over the internet, and through many hours spent talking to some of them on the phone. It meant a lot to me to have finally met so many such folks at this show, and to have met a number of others I hadn't known very well. That was the reason that caused me to come out for this show, but it was truly inspiring to have seen this most powerful of all the shows by *anyone* that I'd ever seen in all of my 42 years. I sure am one lucky bastard. And I'm proud to be so engaged by and dedicated to Tori's music, and to have met so many lovely people as a result. To borrow a bumper sticker phrase from another band which some of you will recognize from long ago, "There is nothing like a Tori Amos concert." Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 18:59:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Richard Handal Subject: Tori in Chicago--OH MY GOD Hi, All: I can't begin to express how thrilled I was by this Chicago show! I haven't posted a proper concert review since nearly two years and 20 shows ago, but I am so ecstatic about this one I'm going to try. So many of my experiences at the concerts are personal, and it's difficult to discuss the shows without getting into some of that, but the shows are not about me, and I'll do what I can to keep this to a minimum. That said, I can't eliminate all of me from a review. This was the kind of show that I felt Tori was working towards on this year's circuit, and although plenty of room to grow remains, it seemed to me to largely embody the sensibilities and the feel of the shows as she's going to continue to develop them on this tour. And it's a wonderful thing. Almost all the songs were slowed down from the last time I had seen them, which was either live in England in May, or on the ABC Independence Day Concert which contained two songs from Glastonbury. Some were only slightly, even barely perceptibly slowed down, and some were slowed down more blatantly. This seemed to be a good move, as it allowed for more expressiveness and room to "work" the songs, and for all the members of the band to more readily interact with one another. It also served to provide a better platform from which the band could focus its power, which was indeed considerable. But before I get too far ahead of myself, let's cover the songs in the order they were performed. The show opened at 8:55pm with Precious Things. To me this is--still--the quintessential Tori Amos composition. On the Dew Drop Inn tour in '96 it made an appearance at a good 75 - 80% of all the shows--at *every* show until well into the summer when she seemed to tire of doing it every single night. It always showed up in the same place during those concerts. It was being performed dead center--during the fifty-minute mark of what were typically hundred-minute shows. It was one of the touchstone songs on that tour. (The others being Beauty Queen/Horses which started every show, Me and a Gun, which ended every first set of all the '96 shows save one, and Hey Jupiter, which, in the first portion of that tour was the final song every night.) Since early on in the club tour, it was clear that Precious Things had made a fabulous transition to being performed live with the band. In this newest version, the level of intensity and pure rage during it would continue to get jacked up higher...and higher...and higher during the course of the song. The newly reformed opening with its inverted piano figures which I first saw on the ABC-taped Glastonbury version is still being left pretty much intact, but it has also been allowed to open up slightly and breathe. I'd come to be quite used to seeing Black-Dove (January) open the shows, but it appears that Tori has decided to start off these recent shows with the full in-your-face brutality of Precious Things. I very much look forward to hearing Black-Dove again at future shows, but starting off the proceedings with Precious is a decision I can't find fault with. It definitely gets everyone's attention from the beginning. Actually, I found the sometime opening pairing of Black-Dove followed by iieee to be a bit like beginning a meal with a hot fudge sundae--since both of those songs are so deeply textured, it was too rich a way to start off. iieee in this Chicago show was slightly slowed from the last time I'd seen it in England in May. I love this song a whole lot when played live. Tori really gets some voodoo going. Good stuff. Cornflake Girl at this Chicago show was preceeded by a bit of something unrecognizable that Tori was singing, to which she accompanied herself on the piano. I have no idea what that was about. This night's version was just barely slowed down from earlier versions, and found Steve Caton wandering over to the rear of the Bosey and actively interacting with Tori both musically, and with him and her both bobbing their heads up and down in tandem--this, while he did a sideways shuffle dance. Steve had played some of the earlier portions of this show with sunglasses on, which was amusing, and something I hadn't recalled seeing before. He's always a standout in these shows. He adds interest continuously. The only time I'd seen Crucify performed with the band before this show was on the ABC concert footage from Glastonbury. I'll go back and check it again, but I have to say it didn't do that much for me. (Whereas, Precious Things from that same show had me welling up with tears and gave me chills.) This version was quite different from Glastonbury's, however, and it was fabulous. The whole song had been much slowed down, and it was quite trippy even, with Tori calling on the fly for a repeat of the "please save me" section, which allowed for more development and expansion of ideas, and for increased interaction with the band. This was *exactly* the kind of thing I'd hoped she was going for on this tour, but it was so long in really coming together that I'd started to wonder if I had misunderstood her intentions. This is one of the main ways the songs can be enriched and opportunities for interaction between the players can be increased. It also allows her to be able to stretch out sections when she wants to build and soar vocally, and that's a beautiful thing. I can't say how happy I am to see this kind of development in the songs. Thrilled, actually. This is being done with multiple songs, and is one of the main reasons to attend as many shows as one possibly can. :-) The anticipation of knowing that doors will be flung open at various points during the concert and that nearly anything could come flying out is an exciting feeling. That such glory regularly *does* show itself is even better. I respect Tori's musical decisions more than anyone else's I can think of. I'm so proud of her I could burst. Spark was slightly slowed from previous versions I'd seen. If you've only seen the televised U.S. talk show versions you'll be impressed by how much further along this song has come. I'd heard that the band had performed Sugar at an earlier U.S. show, and I couldn't imagine what that might be like. I was more than pleasantly surprised to find it to be the standout song of the show. As my notes say, "transcendental, wonderful." No metronome here; dynamics and rubato--yes! A good ride. Tear In Your Hand has developed into the moving song it deserves to be when rendered with the band. Slightly slowed from before and movingly expressive. Just fabulous. I realize I'm in a tiny minority on this, but Winter never really did much for me on a musical level. It reminds me of French piano lessons. It was good seeing this well-rendered version on the full concert grand, though. I had missed that piano on the solo pieces during the prior legs of touring this year. Glad to see it back. Just another detail that sets Tori apart from other players. I have yet to really get my head to Cooling, but it's beautiful, and I'll welcome her anytime she wants to show up. Jackie's Strength just isn't gonna sound as overwhelmingly gut-wrenching as the album version because the strings are so integral to the composition reaching its peak level of emotion (which for me is considerable, as I feel it's the most emotional recording Tori has ever released), but this was the best version I've heard in concert, and it was a welcome addition to the show. Cruel was completely overpowering, and gooey gobs of fun. Jon's bass was producing these huge, volcanic waves of sound which made for an experience like riding down a lava flow with a surfboard. Astonishingly powerful. In case Mark was doing his best to eliminate the standing waves I say he should have just left them alone and let the roof fall in. At least we'd all have died happy. :-) I'd not heard Space Dog on this tour, but as it always was on tours before the band was around, it stands out by being a "different" song in its very nature. I love the relentlessness of its beat. Waitress has developed into the true showstopper on this tour, and seems to have appeared at the end of the main set a lot of times recently. If you haven't heard Waitress on this tour yet you have quite an experience in store for you when you do. This was clearly such an amazing, subtly reworked show in comparison to the previous ones I'd seen on the club tour and in the U.K. that as soon as I recognized it by the quiet, vamping guitar lines and easy piano chording, I knew this was going to be the most intense version I'd ever experienced, and that proved to be accurate. There's no way I could begin to describe this. Its elongated, quiet opening serves the same function as an alap movement does in Indian Karnatik classical music--it helps bring one's head down to a place such that later in the piece, one is more open to being musically swept away further and further as swirls of ideas fly all around, and the listener is drawn in, and taken to new heights. This was clearly the idea behind Tori having opened up the Dew Drop Inn shows with Beauty Queen/Horses--one is more open to an experience after one's head is cleared out and relaxed enough to accept stimuli. This is an idea which has its basis in the so-called "relaxation response"--the same idea used in hypnotic induction, forms of meditation, having candles in a church service, when religious leaders speak in a monotone, etc. Or, as Jim Morrison would say, "We were seated and then darkened." And that this show's volume ranges from so quiet to such deep thunder makes it all the more interesting. So, at 10:17pm, the main set of this intense show came to a stunning conclusion. The audience leapt to its feet and applauded with great enthusiasm, and many folks held lighters high to show their appreciation. As someone recently said on one of the lists, Tori's a rock star now. And I'm more than comfortable with that. I'm as proud of her as I can be. If she doesn't deserve every possible bit of success then who does? The first encore set began with She's Your Cocaine. I know a number of people have said that this is their least favorite song on choirgirl, but if those people end up hearing this song in concert I'm sure a lot of them will have a different take on it. It doesn't get any better than this, in terms of having fun with one's clothes on. What a feeling to experience this performed live! Whenever you see Jon strapping on his Fender bass get ready for him to soon be banging the crap out of the thing with ringing power chords. Just one big long smile from start to finish. Great stuff. Raspberry Swirl is also a hell of a lot of fun live, but if I have any complaints about the sound from this show it would be that the percussion Matt plays on this song wasn't as prominent in the mix as it should have been. This may be unavoidable due to the need to prevent feedback, and is only a minor nitpick. As always, the sound was excellent overall, and my experienced Tori concert veteran-seatmate told me after the show that he didn't really care *where* he sat after seeing this show. He knew he'd be able to hear just fine from anywhere, and if he wanted to see Tori's face more closely he could bring binoculars. I've been telling people this for more than two years. Some people agree with me. Is there anything like being in the center of the front row and having Tori stare into your eyes throughout the concert, and then grab your hands from the stage after the show? No. Of course not. Is it realistic to make the chance for this kind of an experience a requisite for seeing a show? I don't think so. Northern Lad and Horses in the second encore set brought the concert to a close at 10:40pm. Northern Lad was beautiful, and although it seemed to make sense with some of the U.K. shows that they be brought to a close by a solo piano piece, this Twilight mix-based Horses is an appropriate alternative. There's no set decoration on this tour--all the extraneous visual interest being generated by the lights, and in one song, by a shower of bubbles. This is as it should be. Keep an eye on Tori and on the other players to see how much fun they're having and how they interact while they play. Tori kissed each of them when they came out for their final bows, which I'd never seen happen before. All of them are fabulous players, and she's blessed to have them with her. So are we. Initially, I hadn't been planning to go to Chicago for this show, but the day after I got back from England at the end of May I found myself buying a ticket from my travel agent for a flight out of the Baltimore airport. The main reason was the amount of pleasure I'd gotten from experiences I'd had hanging out with folks at the U.K. shows. I was expecting to have met a lot of folks at this Chicago show who I'd known for years over the internet, and through many hours spent talking to some of them on the phone. It meant a lot to me to have finally met so many such folks at this show, and to have met a number of others I hadn't known very well. That was the reason that caused me to come out for this show, but it was truly inspiring to have seen this most powerful of all the shows by *anyone* that I'd ever seen in all of my 42 years. I sure am one lucky bastard. And I'm proud to be so engaged by and dedicated to Tori's music, and to have met so many lovely people as a result. To borrow a bumper sticker phrase from another band which some of you will recognize from long ago, "There is nothing like a Tori Amos concert." Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V3 #262 *************************************