From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V9 #11 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, January 21 2004 Volume 09 : Number 011 Today's Subjects: ----------------- what live version of CFG is this [JNe9027355@aol.com] the star toal review [fingerpuppets ] Re: what live version of CFG is this [fingerpuppets ] Re: the star toal review [Richard Handal ] Re: The Star TOAL Article [ToriVolta@aol.com] (no subject) [BHappyer@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 04:09:02 EST From: JNe9027355@aol.com Subject: what live version of CFG is this the one listed below "Let the world know what you think, before the world lets you know what to think." Care About What You Consume? Know This Before You Buy Anything Credible Answers for a Cruelty-Free World >To: jne9027355@aol.com >From: "Amazon.com" >Subject: Save 22% on "OH! From the Girls" by Various Artists > >Dear Amazon.com Customer, > > Based on your recent purchases, you might like to know that "OH! From the >Girls" is now available. > >OH! From the Girls > Various Artists > List Price : $17.98 > Price : $13.99 > You Save : $3.99 (22%) > >To learn more about OH! From the Girls, please visit the following page at >Amazon.com: >http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B0000TNJHW/ref=pe_snp_JHW ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 09:21:29 -0500 From: fingerpuppets Subject: the star toal review from the malaysian newspaper, the star, a positive and surprisingly lengthy review for a collection...and a damn ugly url! Tales of a Librarian Artist: Tori Amos (Epic/Sony) Reviewer: CHUA CHERN TOONG TORI Amos well and truly embodies that onerous, slightly amorphous confrontational-cum-confessional aesthetic that millions of earnest singer-songwriters the world over perpetually aspire to. Over the course of her seven studio albums so far, Amos has granted the record-buying public intriguing (and oftentimes highly disturbing) peeks into her askew world of religious doubt, sexual abuse, emotional breakdowns and chronic psychosis, not exactly regular lyrical matter for the usual chart countdown. Her elliptical, sometimes brutally descriptive observations are highly perceptive and incisive, almost to a fault, making her one of the most discrete and astute artists operating today. And thanks to that singular, quirky musical acumen (similar to that of her obvious artistic godmother Kate Bush), Amos has found herself in the role of the queen (unwanted or otherwise) of a fiercely devoted cult whose members are rabidly fanatical, almost to the point of willing to commit bloody murder to protect the flame-maned goddess's good name. How's that for perverse yet ardent devoutness? So how will those devotees react to the appearance of this compilation, featuring a staggering 20 tracks crammed into a single disc (no doubt done to max out the storage space of a standard audio CD)? Will they be incensed at what appears at first to be a purely commercial, filthy lucre-concerned exercise to cash in on the everlasting loyalty of these Toriphiles? Or will they brush aside whatever's left of their common sense and plump for it anyway, trying to convince themselves that their consecrated Tori altar will not be complete without this latest inclusion? Well, noting the reactions of Toriphiles everywhere so far, the undisputed consensus seems to be that Tales of a Librarian is the veritable icing on the cake of a wholly fascinating back catalogue, and one album that should be gotten by any means possible, with some even happily giving their eye-tooth in exchange for this. A sizeable majority will even get the regular edition, play it to death, and then get the costly imported limited edition with the DVD containing more remixes and live tunes, just the thing for them to put themselves in a trance in while performing their daily Tori worship rituals. The faithful devotion of Toriphiles knows no boundaries, indeed. Meanwhile, the rest of us will consider this a handy primer to Amos' rich body of work, although like all retrospectives, Tales of a Librarian isn't completely faultless. The usual bait of two previously unreleased songs is sneakily included here to entice any hesitating Amos diehard, although the "remixing and reconstruction" that the other 18 songs have been subjected to makes this a different sort of career re-examination, almost to the point that this can be regarded as a kind of "new" studio album. Trust the ever-mercurial Amos to do things differently. However, even with this uniquely fresh approach, nitpickers will spot a few microscopic, if not so glaring faults. For one, there is an over-reliance on debut album Little Earthquakes, with an abundant six tracks included here. While that album remains her most rounded and accessible work, the purpose of a real retrospective is to provide a comprehensive picture of a particular career, and the selection of merely two or three tracks from other albums does not do this compilation any justice at all. There is also the puzzling exclusion of key singles like Pretty Good Year, Caught a Lite Sneeze and A Thousand Oceans, plus the complete omissions of any songs from Amos' last two impressive albums, the all-covers Strange Little Girls and the widescreen travelogue Scarlet's Walk. Funny sense of priorities on the compilers' part, one might say. But anyway, it is worth having a cursory look at what's on this deceptively generous collection. The resonant Precious Things provides for a great start, with its measured piano tinklings and a thumping, echoing drum undertow. The certified standard Cornflake Girl is also here, a whimsical gem marked by capering piano lines and a whistling synth figure, along with the fervent Crucify, a more conventional mid-tempo rocker where Amos does one of her most impressive vocal performances. The other vital hits covered here are the ethereal Spark, all reverberating guitar twangs and lurching drum underpinning, the lavish string-enhanced Winter, carried along on Amos' tranquil Bosendorfer-piano chords; the gentle but lyrically cutting Silent All These Years ("Boy you best pray that I bleed real soon"); and the absorbing, instrumentally fertile God, with its infamous, slightly irreverent line "God, sometimes you just don't come through, do you need a woman to look after you?". Elsewhere, there is the gospel choir-enhanced meditation Way Down; the stately, stop-start Bliss (with its startling opening line "Father, I killed my monkey, I let it out to taste the sweet of spring"); the inflective atmospherics of Playboy Mommy, sweetened by some tasty pedal-steel guitar riffs; and the veritable highlight here, the harrowing Me and a Gun, a brutally frank a-cappella account of Amos' true-life rape experience, one of the most chilling numbers ever written by any rock-era artist. There are also a few curiosities that should pique the interest of even the most hardcore Amos disciple, most notably the out-of-character street-level house reworking of the otherwise musically complex Professional Widow, which completely excises the intricate musical structure of the original for a basic club-beat framework, making for a number that remains one of the unlikeliest anomalies in Amos' oeuvre. Updated re-recordings of the 1992 B-sides Mary and Sweet Dreams are also tacked on here. The two new ditties are archetypal Amos: Angels, a flowing, if somewhat obtuse piece enriched by some wah-wah guitar; and Snow Cherries from France, a waltz-timed ballad that provides for an apt ending to the collection. If you overlook the minor foibles that Tales of a Librarian has, this prcis does make for a convenient, if not exactly thorough summary of Amos' remarkable works thus far. The songs here might not possess the innate commercial clout that the majority of today's chart fodder has, but they are consistently intelligent (and kooky enough) to engage the more discerning modern-rock listener's attention. The constantly profound subject matter on display here also confirms Amos' place within that fine community of present-day intellectual female singer-songwriters, which also includes luminaries like Suzanne Vega and Sarah McLachlan. And if anything, this might even have the effect of converting a mildly curious neophyte into a full-blown, card-carrying, lyric-quoting Toriphile, ferociously defending her resplendent honour against the infidel unbelievers (i.e. the rest of the world). Long live Tori, death to the heretics. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 09:42:57 -0500 From: fingerpuppets Subject: Re: what live version of CFG is this the version of "cornflake girl" on the oh! from the girls compilation is the live version from last year's oxygen custom concert on the oxygen channel. more details at the dent . woj ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:57:58 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Handal Subject: Re: the star toal review woj told us about: > from the malaysian newspaper, the star, a positive and surprisingly > lengthy review for a collection... Always nice to see a reviewer saying positive things about the music. I found some of the obvious factual errors and misunderstandings to be curious, such as not understanding that an Atlantic Records compilation wouldn't include recordings from Epic, and that it makes good sense that Tori isn't going to give away publishing revenue by including covers if she doesn't have to. (She was, in fact, the "compiler" of this collection.) Of course, the article claims Tales to be an Epic release. I just looked at mine and the label says Atlantic. I suppose the concept of changing labels while continuing to owe a compilation album which includes a couple new songs went over the head of Chua Chern Toong, as it must have eluded the production team of "Live! with Regis and Kelly" when they had Tori on a couple months back to promote Tales; in the closing credits they thanked Atlantic Records for the video of Epic's release, Fairytale, from which they'd shown clips. "Fact checking? We don't need no stinking fact checking!" As for there supposedly being a Boesendorfer on the 1990 [sic] recording of Winter--only in Tori's wet dream! That wasn't happening until the post- Little Earthquakes-recorded Crucify EP songs. It still strikes me as odd that a reviewer would spend any time focusing on fans when reviewing studio recordings, although it could make sense when reviewing a live recording or concert. This writer built the very structure of the review around doing it. And, ignoring the typo, I have to wonder about the fantasy life of Toong after reading this: ". . . just the thing for them to put themselves in a trance in while performing their daily Tori worship rituals"? That's reminiscent of the idiotic November 1999 Spin article which claimed Tori fans would pay $100 for a squeezable bear-shaped bottle of honey if Tori had supposedly touched it, and that "savvy entrepreneurs are stealing Tori Amos' used tissues out of backstage garbage cans and auctioning them on the Web." Basic respect seems too much to hope for these days in which some find their entertainment by laughing while watching others eat writhing worms. I suppose we're all doomed. Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 16:04:32 EST From: ToriVolta@aol.com Subject: Re: The Star TOAL Article In the Star TOAL Article CHUA CHERN TOONG noticeably focuses on Toriphiles (as Richard Handal noted). I was wondering when and why this became such a big deal to include in Tori interviews,articles,etc. I'm flattered that we are given respect as loyal and such, but why is it such a big deal? More articles than not, the writer mentions us EWF and how rabid we can be. Also, who is another artist or group that boasts a huge, loyal, rabid fanbase like we are for Tori? Is there any? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining (or trying to)- just curious. Peace Out, Amanda ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 18:21:49 EST From: BHappyer@aol.com Subject: (no subject) I would say that Metallica has a pretty large, and loyal fanbase. ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V9 #11 ************************************