TORI AMOS
''A PIANO: THE COLLECTION, DISC FIVE''
SEPTEMBER 26 2006
382:31
DISC ONE
1/Leather/3:12
2/Precious Things/4:30
3/Silent All These Years/4:12
4/Upside Down/4:22
5/Crucify/4:27
6/Happy Phantom/3:15
7/Me and a Gun/3:43
8/Flying Dutchman/6:29
9/Girl/4:08
10/Winter/5:43
11/Take to the Sky (Russia)/4:18
12/Tear in Your Hand/4:42
13/China/4:59
14/Sweet Dreams/3:28
15/Mother/7:01
16/Little Earthquakes/6:54
DISC TWO
1/Cornflake Girl/5:06
2/Honey/3:42
3/Take Me With You/4:40
4/Baker Baker/3:25
5/The Waitress/3:07
6/Pretty Good Year/3:20
7/God/3:54
8/Cloud on My Tongue/4:36
9/Past the Mission/4:06
10/Bells for Her/5:17
11/Yes, Anastasia/9:21
12/Blood Roses/3:55
13/Mr. Zebra/1:05
14/Caught a Lite Sneeze/4:24
15/Professional Widow/4:03
16/Beauty Queen/Horses/5:56
17/Father Lucifer/3:40
18/Marianne/4:09
DISC THREE
1/Walk to Dublin (Sucker Reprise)/5:25
2/Hey Jupiter/6:03
3/Professional Widow/3:47
4/Putting the Damage On/5:07
5/Bliss/3:41
6/Suede/4:58
7/Glory of the 80's/4:05
8/1,000 Oceans/4:18
9/Concertina/3:57
10/Lust/3:51
11/Datura/8:26
12/Sugar/5:10
13/The Waitress/9:49
14/Snow Cherries from France/2:55
15/Doughnut Song/4:21
DISC FOUR
1/A Sorta Fairytale/5:30
2/Not David Bowie/3:55
3/Amber Waves/3:40
4/Iieee/4:09
5/Playboy Mommy/4:07
6/The Beekeeper/6:51
7/Jackie's Strength/4:26
8/Zero Point/8:55
9/Sweet the Sting/4:17
10/Ode to My Clothes/2:04
11/Spark/4:14
12/Intro Jam /Marys of the Sea/8:55
13/Cruel/4:06
14/Dolphin Song/5:53
15/Gold Dust/5:53
DISC FIVE
1/The Pool
Tori Amos / Ian Stanley/2:52
2/Never Seen Blue/3:38
3/Daisy Dead Petals/3:03
4/Beulah Land/2:57
5/Sugar/4:27
6/Cooling/4:39
7/Bachelorette/3:34
8/Black Swan/4:01
9/Mary/4:42
10/Peeping Tommi/4:19
11/Toodles Mr. Jim/2:49
12/Fire-Eater's Wife/Beauty Queen/3:11
13/Playboy Mommy/1:34
14/A Sorta Fairytale/3:09
15/This Old Man
Traditional/1:44
16/Purple People/4:12
17/Here in My Head/3:52
18/Hungarian Wedding Song/1:01
19/Merman/3:46
20/Sister Janet/4:00
21/Home on the Range
Traditional/5:22
22/Frog on My Toe/3:42
Tracks By Amos, Except As Indicated
John Acevedo /Viola
Mac Aladdin /Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin
Tori Amos /Clavinet, Fender Rhodes, Harmonium, Harpsichord, Keyboards, Mellotron, Organ, Organ (Hammond), Piano, Piano
(Electric), Prepared Piano, Primary Artist, Producer, Synthesizer, Vocals, Vocals (Background), Vox Organ, Wurlitzer
Jon Astley /Vocals (Background)
Sammy Berfect /Choir/Chorus
Stewart Boyle /Guitar, Mandolin
Steve Caton /Bass, Guitar, Mandolin, Sound Effects, Vocals (Background)
John Chamberlain /Mandolin
Matt Chamberlain /Drums, Marimba, Percussion
Merry Clayton /Vocals (Background)
James Crawford Jr. /Choir/Chorus
Paulinho Da Costa /Percussion
Nick DeCaro /Conductor, Orchestral Arrangements
Alison Evans /Vocals (Background)
Jon Evans /Bass, Bass Pedals
David Firman /String Conductor
Alan Friedman /Drum Programming, Programming
Stuart Gordon /Violin
Gospel Singers Gospel Choir /Vocals (Background)
Andy Gray /Programming
Ed Greene /Drums
William Gregory /Oboe
Tina Gullickson /Vocals (Background)
Michael Allen Harrison /Violin
Melissa "Missy" Hasin /Cello
Wayne Hernandez /Arranger
Chris Hughes /Drums
Manu Katché /Drums
Ezra Killinger /Violin
Chelsea Laird /Vocals (Background)
Darryl Lewis /Choir/Chorus
Dane Little /Cello
London Sinfonia /Strings
David Lord /String Arrangements
Trevor Lowe /Chant
Gus McField Jr. /Choir/Chorus
Will McGregor /Bass
Robbie McIntosh /Guitar
Justin Meldal-Johnsen /Bass
Cynthia Morrow /Viola
Carlo Nuccio /Drums
Al Perkins /Pedal Steel
George Porter, Jr. /Bass
Willy Porter /Guitar, Mandolin
Chris Reutinger /Violin
Trent Reznor /Vocals (Background)
David Rhodes /Guitar
Goff Richards /Arranger
Jimbo Ross /Viola
Eric Rosse /Percussion, Programming, Vocals (Background)
Nancy Roth /Violin
Jef Scott /Bass, Guitar
Matthew Seligman /Bass
Nancy Shanks /Vocals (Background)
John Philip Shenale /Flute, Programming, String Arrangements
Scott Smalley /Conductor, String Conductor
Nancy Stein-Ross /Cello
Mark Sterling /Choir/Chorus
Jack Trimble /Choir/Chorus
Francine Walsh /Violin
James Gerard Watson /Conductor
Eric Williams /Dulcimer, Ukulele
John Wittenberg /Violin
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
A Piano: The Collection is a mammoth undertaking by Tori Amos and Rhino Records. This box set collects album cuts, B-sides, unedited and alternate versions, demos, and seven previously unissued cuts. Making one's way through it is to enter a labyrinth, a parallel but alternate universe that traces the development of the artist from her earliest recordings (with the exception of Y Kant Tori Read, of course) through her transformation as a conceptual songwriter, musician, and artisan who has moved tumultuously through the pop world without, it appears, ever losing her vision or sense of herself. Amos produced this set, and Rhino cross-licensed material from Epic as well. Amos annotates each track here in the handsome hardbound book that accompanies it, which also contains a boatload of photos and an essay by Lorraine Ali. The set comes packaged under a large plastic piano keyboard -- this aspect of it is simply irritating. The "piano as part of the package" has been done before -- and done better -- in other artists' retrospectives. It's cheesy.
The five discs here, however, cover virtually every part of Amos' iconic, often iconoclastic career. Virtually every part of Little Earthquakes is explored, which is why disc one is titled "Little Earthquakes Extended" (since basically three versions of the album were completed). These include the singles, such as the unedited 45 version of "Crucify," the alternate mix of "Flying Dutchman," and an alternate mix of "Mother." Even the unissued "Take Me With You" from the Little Earthquakes session is here, but it appears on disc two. With all the B-sides and alternates issued, Little Earthquakes is , in retrospect, a far more prophetic and ever wider ranging offering than the officially released original version. Much of Amos' restlessness as an artist is revealed even at this early stage. Beginning with disc two, the remainder of her recordings are picked from, rather than presented in their complete versions. From disc two on, Amos picks and chooses from her catalog, providing many alternate mixes -- perhaps she liked them better than the original versions. For instance, the presented mixes of "The Waitress" and "Baker Baker" are revelatory in their sense of drama and dynamic. A different version of "Caught a Sneeze" from Boys for Pele offers a sense of just how strange and beguiling this cut is. The B-sides include "Honey," which was the flip of "Pretty Good Year," and a live version of "Professional Widow," which came on the backside of "Hey Jupiter." Disc three is compiled from the rest of Pele, To Venus and Back, and Tales of a Librarian, and is simply loaded with remixes, including Armand Van Helden's badass take on "Professional Widow," the single remix of "Concertina," and "Sugar" from the soundcheck on the To Venus and Back tour. It's a dizzying and sometimes off-kilter and troubling disc, especially coming as it does smack in the middle of the package. However there is the "Walk to Dublin (Sucker Remix)" that has never been officially released.
Cutting through the fourth disc, you can't help but notice that it does feel rushed as it covers material from the Epic period, including selections from Scarlet's Walk, Beekeeper, and From the Choirgirl Hotel -- it's wildly arrayed in textures and colors that don't seem to fit together. Add into the mix four tracks that have never been released, from who knows what sessions, and you have a serious car crash. But then again, there's beauty in this kind of mashup, too, in that the sonic chaos is even violent at times as you juxtapose cuts such as a remix of "Jackie's Strength" with the unreleased "Zero Point" and then jump to "Sweet the Sting" from Beekeeper; this mishmash, though creates and contains a new symmetry and a new series of angles with no center except for the artist herself. Discs three and four are real challenges, but also far more rewarding given all the cracks in the sidewalk that Amos chose to step on rather than jump across. Here is where the tale of the artist is told, actually, in the continuing conflicts of style and how to weave substance that was ever more abstract into these new soundworlds she'd chosen. The last disc contains 11 B-sides that were featured as additional tracks on singles and EPs, and there is one more unreleased cut in "Peeping Tommi." The final 11 cuts contain more flipsides and a medley of demos, which make for another kind of insanity. These contain three unreleased demos of "Fire Eater's Wife/Beauty Queen," "Playboy Mommy," and "A Sorta Fairytale" before folding back into the otherwise issued recordings. It's as if they're folded in to the mix in order (so to speak) to sort something out -- to break up the disparate tracks but in the end only making them more so. It's not only curious but infuriating, seductive, engaging, and sometimes utterly puzzling.
After all is said and done, however, there is silence, and with that comes the sense and enormity of the sheer wonder of it all. Amos has pissed off everybody at one time or another, even her hardest core of fans who've stuck with her through thick and thin. Given that she's only been out there in the public ears and eyes for 16 years, she has gone through numerous phases and stages, and it reminds one of Bob Dylan, the true iconoclast who seems to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity in 2006. Amos' reach is long, and for all its beauty, there are knots, warts, cuts, and bruises. And that's what A Piano is, ultimately: an embarkation through a provocative and sometimes grotesque journey, through bruises and kisses which offer a new look through the past as it points toward the future -- which is exactly what a box set is supposed to do.
BIOGRAPHY
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos) was one of several female singer/songwriters who combined the stark lyrical attack of alternative rock with a distinctly '70s musical approach, creating music that fell between the orchestrated meditations of Kate Bush and the stripped-down poetics of Joni Mitchell. In addition, she revived the singer/songwriter traditions of the '70s while re-establishing the piano as a rock & roll instrument. With her 1992 album Little Earthquakes, Amos built a dedicated following that expanded with her second album, Under the Pink, before giving way to a decade-spanning legacy.
The daughter of a Methodist preacher, Amos was born in North Carolina but raised in Maryland. She began singing and playing piano in the church choir at the age of four, and songwriting followed shortly afterward. Amos proved to be a quick learner, and her instrumental prowess earned her a scholarship to the preparatory school at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory. While studying at Peabody, she became infatuated with rock & roll, particularly the music of Led Zeppelin. She lost her scholarship at the age of 11 -- quite possibly due to her interest in popular music -- but continued writing songs nevertheless, eventually moving to Los Angeles in her late teens to become a pop singer. Atlantic Records signed her in 1987, and Amos recorded an uninspired pop-metal album called Y Kant Tori Read the following year. The record was a complete failure, attracting no attention from radio or press and selling very few copies; nevertheless, she didn't lose her record contract. By 1990, Amos had adopted a new approach, singing spare, haunting, semi-confessional piano ballads that were arranged like Kate Bush but had the melodies and lyrical approach of Joni Mitchell. Atlantic sponsored a trip to England in 1991, where she played a series of concerts in support of an EP, Me and a Gun.
The harrowing "Me and a Gun" was an autobiographical song, telling the tale of Amos' own experience with rape. It gained positive reviews throughout the media, and both the EP and the supporting concerts sold well. Little Earthquakes, Amos' first album as a singer/songwriter, was released in 1992 and fared well in both the U.S. and the U.K. The same year, she released the Crucify EP, which featured cover songs like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Led Zeppelin's "Thank You." Delivered in early 1994, Under the Pink, the proper follow-up to Little Earthquakes, was an even bigger hit, selling over a million copies and launching the minor hit singles "God" and "Cornflake Girl." Two years later, Amos delivered her third album, Boys for Pele, her most ambitious and difficult record to date. The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum.
Amos spent much of 1997 dealing with personal matters, including a miscarriage and a marriage. She also worked on her fourth album, From the Choirgirl Hotel, which was released in the spring of 1998. The two-disc To Venus and Back followed in 1999 to coincide with a tour with Alanis Morissette. In 2001, Amos returned with the covers album Strange Little Girls, which also marked her last release for Atlantic.
The next year, she found a new label home with Epic and followed with Scarlet's Walk in October. Her eighth studio album, an autobiographical record titled The Beekeeper, was released in 2005. The massive five-disc Piano collection arrived in 2006, boasting a cornucopia of album cuts, B-sides, unedited and alternate versions, demos, and seven previously unissued tracks, followed by the typically eclectic and hard-rocking American Doll Posse in 2007, an all-new collection of songs that found the artist assuming five archetypal personalities, all of whom were based on feminine gods in Greek and Roman mythology.
As she toured in support of the album, Amos released live digital recordings of each concert as part of the Legs and Boots concert series, which grew to encompass 27 albums. Although each release was made available via iTunes and other online vendors, Amos also released a "best-of" Legs and Boots compilation in March 2009, having created its track list from various recordings during the tour. Meanwhile, she also focused on new material that had been written during the tour, which she soon compiled into her tenth studio album. Entitled Abnormally Attracted to Sin, the album was released in May 2009 by Universal Republic, Amos' new record label. A holiday album, Midwinter Graces, followed closely behind, appearing before the end of 2009 and garnering warm reviews.
In the summer of 2011, Amos began touring in advance of her next album, the classically based song cycle Night of Hunters. A conceptual work based on familiar motifs by composers Satie, Chopin, Schubert, and Bach, Amos' recording centers on a couple torn apart by life's difficulties and monotonies, and the female protagonist's journey to find wholeness within herself. Amos collaborated on the recording with the string quartet Apollon Musagete, arranger John Philip Shenale, and clarinetist Ernst Ottensamer. Night of Hunters was released by the classical label Deutsche Grammophone in September of 2011; it peaked at 24 on the Billboard 200. Amos' next move was to re-record some of her songs, newly arranged by John Philip Shenale, with the Metropole Orchestra. The resulting set, called Gold Dust, appeared almost exactly a year after Night of Hunters; it debuted at 63 on the Billboard 200.
DoWnLoAd
''A PIANO: THE COLLECTION, DISC FIVE''
SEPTEMBER 26 2006
382:31
DISC ONE
1/Leather/3:12
2/Precious Things/4:30
3/Silent All These Years/4:12
4/Upside Down/4:22
5/Crucify/4:27
6/Happy Phantom/3:15
7/Me and a Gun/3:43
8/Flying Dutchman/6:29
9/Girl/4:08
10/Winter/5:43
11/Take to the Sky (Russia)/4:18
12/Tear in Your Hand/4:42
13/China/4:59
14/Sweet Dreams/3:28
15/Mother/7:01
16/Little Earthquakes/6:54
DISC TWO
1/Cornflake Girl/5:06
2/Honey/3:42
3/Take Me With You/4:40
4/Baker Baker/3:25
5/The Waitress/3:07
6/Pretty Good Year/3:20
7/God/3:54
8/Cloud on My Tongue/4:36
9/Past the Mission/4:06
10/Bells for Her/5:17
11/Yes, Anastasia/9:21
12/Blood Roses/3:55
13/Mr. Zebra/1:05
14/Caught a Lite Sneeze/4:24
15/Professional Widow/4:03
16/Beauty Queen/Horses/5:56
17/Father Lucifer/3:40
18/Marianne/4:09
DISC THREE
1/Walk to Dublin (Sucker Reprise)/5:25
2/Hey Jupiter/6:03
3/Professional Widow/3:47
4/Putting the Damage On/5:07
5/Bliss/3:41
6/Suede/4:58
7/Glory of the 80's/4:05
8/1,000 Oceans/4:18
9/Concertina/3:57
10/Lust/3:51
11/Datura/8:26
12/Sugar/5:10
13/The Waitress/9:49
14/Snow Cherries from France/2:55
15/Doughnut Song/4:21
DISC FOUR
1/A Sorta Fairytale/5:30
2/Not David Bowie/3:55
3/Amber Waves/3:40
4/Iieee/4:09
5/Playboy Mommy/4:07
6/The Beekeeper/6:51
7/Jackie's Strength/4:26
8/Zero Point/8:55
9/Sweet the Sting/4:17
10/Ode to My Clothes/2:04
11/Spark/4:14
12/Intro Jam /Marys of the Sea/8:55
13/Cruel/4:06
14/Dolphin Song/5:53
15/Gold Dust/5:53
DISC FIVE
1/The Pool
Tori Amos / Ian Stanley/2:52
2/Never Seen Blue/3:38
3/Daisy Dead Petals/3:03
4/Beulah Land/2:57
5/Sugar/4:27
6/Cooling/4:39
7/Bachelorette/3:34
8/Black Swan/4:01
9/Mary/4:42
10/Peeping Tommi/4:19
11/Toodles Mr. Jim/2:49
12/Fire-Eater's Wife/Beauty Queen/3:11
13/Playboy Mommy/1:34
14/A Sorta Fairytale/3:09
15/This Old Man
Traditional/1:44
16/Purple People/4:12
17/Here in My Head/3:52
18/Hungarian Wedding Song/1:01
19/Merman/3:46
20/Sister Janet/4:00
21/Home on the Range
Traditional/5:22
22/Frog on My Toe/3:42
Tracks By Amos, Except As Indicated
John Acevedo /Viola
Mac Aladdin /Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin
Tori Amos /Clavinet, Fender Rhodes, Harmonium, Harpsichord, Keyboards, Mellotron, Organ, Organ (Hammond), Piano, Piano
(Electric), Prepared Piano, Primary Artist, Producer, Synthesizer, Vocals, Vocals (Background), Vox Organ, Wurlitzer
Jon Astley /Vocals (Background)
Sammy Berfect /Choir/Chorus
Stewart Boyle /Guitar, Mandolin
Steve Caton /Bass, Guitar, Mandolin, Sound Effects, Vocals (Background)
John Chamberlain /Mandolin
Matt Chamberlain /Drums, Marimba, Percussion
Merry Clayton /Vocals (Background)
James Crawford Jr. /Choir/Chorus
Paulinho Da Costa /Percussion
Nick DeCaro /Conductor, Orchestral Arrangements
Alison Evans /Vocals (Background)
Jon Evans /Bass, Bass Pedals
David Firman /String Conductor
Alan Friedman /Drum Programming, Programming
Stuart Gordon /Violin
Gospel Singers Gospel Choir /Vocals (Background)
Andy Gray /Programming
Ed Greene /Drums
William Gregory /Oboe
Tina Gullickson /Vocals (Background)
Michael Allen Harrison /Violin
Melissa "Missy" Hasin /Cello
Wayne Hernandez /Arranger
Chris Hughes /Drums
Manu Katché /Drums
Ezra Killinger /Violin
Chelsea Laird /Vocals (Background)
Darryl Lewis /Choir/Chorus
Dane Little /Cello
London Sinfonia /Strings
David Lord /String Arrangements
Trevor Lowe /Chant
Gus McField Jr. /Choir/Chorus
Will McGregor /Bass
Robbie McIntosh /Guitar
Justin Meldal-Johnsen /Bass
Cynthia Morrow /Viola
Carlo Nuccio /Drums
Al Perkins /Pedal Steel
George Porter, Jr. /Bass
Willy Porter /Guitar, Mandolin
Chris Reutinger /Violin
Trent Reznor /Vocals (Background)
David Rhodes /Guitar
Goff Richards /Arranger
Jimbo Ross /Viola
Eric Rosse /Percussion, Programming, Vocals (Background)
Nancy Roth /Violin
Jef Scott /Bass, Guitar
Matthew Seligman /Bass
Nancy Shanks /Vocals (Background)
John Philip Shenale /Flute, Programming, String Arrangements
Scott Smalley /Conductor, String Conductor
Nancy Stein-Ross /Cello
Mark Sterling /Choir/Chorus
Jack Trimble /Choir/Chorus
Francine Walsh /Violin
James Gerard Watson /Conductor
Eric Williams /Dulcimer, Ukulele
John Wittenberg /Violin
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
A Piano: The Collection is a mammoth undertaking by Tori Amos and Rhino Records. This box set collects album cuts, B-sides, unedited and alternate versions, demos, and seven previously unissued cuts. Making one's way through it is to enter a labyrinth, a parallel but alternate universe that traces the development of the artist from her earliest recordings (with the exception of Y Kant Tori Read, of course) through her transformation as a conceptual songwriter, musician, and artisan who has moved tumultuously through the pop world without, it appears, ever losing her vision or sense of herself. Amos produced this set, and Rhino cross-licensed material from Epic as well. Amos annotates each track here in the handsome hardbound book that accompanies it, which also contains a boatload of photos and an essay by Lorraine Ali. The set comes packaged under a large plastic piano keyboard -- this aspect of it is simply irritating. The "piano as part of the package" has been done before -- and done better -- in other artists' retrospectives. It's cheesy.
The five discs here, however, cover virtually every part of Amos' iconic, often iconoclastic career. Virtually every part of Little Earthquakes is explored, which is why disc one is titled "Little Earthquakes Extended" (since basically three versions of the album were completed). These include the singles, such as the unedited 45 version of "Crucify," the alternate mix of "Flying Dutchman," and an alternate mix of "Mother." Even the unissued "Take Me With You" from the Little Earthquakes session is here, but it appears on disc two. With all the B-sides and alternates issued, Little Earthquakes is , in retrospect, a far more prophetic and ever wider ranging offering than the officially released original version. Much of Amos' restlessness as an artist is revealed even at this early stage. Beginning with disc two, the remainder of her recordings are picked from, rather than presented in their complete versions. From disc two on, Amos picks and chooses from her catalog, providing many alternate mixes -- perhaps she liked them better than the original versions. For instance, the presented mixes of "The Waitress" and "Baker Baker" are revelatory in their sense of drama and dynamic. A different version of "Caught a Sneeze" from Boys for Pele offers a sense of just how strange and beguiling this cut is. The B-sides include "Honey," which was the flip of "Pretty Good Year," and a live version of "Professional Widow," which came on the backside of "Hey Jupiter." Disc three is compiled from the rest of Pele, To Venus and Back, and Tales of a Librarian, and is simply loaded with remixes, including Armand Van Helden's badass take on "Professional Widow," the single remix of "Concertina," and "Sugar" from the soundcheck on the To Venus and Back tour. It's a dizzying and sometimes off-kilter and troubling disc, especially coming as it does smack in the middle of the package. However there is the "Walk to Dublin (Sucker Remix)" that has never been officially released.
Cutting through the fourth disc, you can't help but notice that it does feel rushed as it covers material from the Epic period, including selections from Scarlet's Walk, Beekeeper, and From the Choirgirl Hotel -- it's wildly arrayed in textures and colors that don't seem to fit together. Add into the mix four tracks that have never been released, from who knows what sessions, and you have a serious car crash. But then again, there's beauty in this kind of mashup, too, in that the sonic chaos is even violent at times as you juxtapose cuts such as a remix of "Jackie's Strength" with the unreleased "Zero Point" and then jump to "Sweet the Sting" from Beekeeper; this mishmash, though creates and contains a new symmetry and a new series of angles with no center except for the artist herself. Discs three and four are real challenges, but also far more rewarding given all the cracks in the sidewalk that Amos chose to step on rather than jump across. Here is where the tale of the artist is told, actually, in the continuing conflicts of style and how to weave substance that was ever more abstract into these new soundworlds she'd chosen. The last disc contains 11 B-sides that were featured as additional tracks on singles and EPs, and there is one more unreleased cut in "Peeping Tommi." The final 11 cuts contain more flipsides and a medley of demos, which make for another kind of insanity. These contain three unreleased demos of "Fire Eater's Wife/Beauty Queen," "Playboy Mommy," and "A Sorta Fairytale" before folding back into the otherwise issued recordings. It's as if they're folded in to the mix in order (so to speak) to sort something out -- to break up the disparate tracks but in the end only making them more so. It's not only curious but infuriating, seductive, engaging, and sometimes utterly puzzling.
After all is said and done, however, there is silence, and with that comes the sense and enormity of the sheer wonder of it all. Amos has pissed off everybody at one time or another, even her hardest core of fans who've stuck with her through thick and thin. Given that she's only been out there in the public ears and eyes for 16 years, she has gone through numerous phases and stages, and it reminds one of Bob Dylan, the true iconoclast who seems to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity in 2006. Amos' reach is long, and for all its beauty, there are knots, warts, cuts, and bruises. And that's what A Piano is, ultimately: an embarkation through a provocative and sometimes grotesque journey, through bruises and kisses which offer a new look through the past as it points toward the future -- which is exactly what a box set is supposed to do.
BIOGRAPHY
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos) was one of several female singer/songwriters who combined the stark lyrical attack of alternative rock with a distinctly '70s musical approach, creating music that fell between the orchestrated meditations of Kate Bush and the stripped-down poetics of Joni Mitchell. In addition, she revived the singer/songwriter traditions of the '70s while re-establishing the piano as a rock & roll instrument. With her 1992 album Little Earthquakes, Amos built a dedicated following that expanded with her second album, Under the Pink, before giving way to a decade-spanning legacy.
The daughter of a Methodist preacher, Amos was born in North Carolina but raised in Maryland. She began singing and playing piano in the church choir at the age of four, and songwriting followed shortly afterward. Amos proved to be a quick learner, and her instrumental prowess earned her a scholarship to the preparatory school at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory. While studying at Peabody, she became infatuated with rock & roll, particularly the music of Led Zeppelin. She lost her scholarship at the age of 11 -- quite possibly due to her interest in popular music -- but continued writing songs nevertheless, eventually moving to Los Angeles in her late teens to become a pop singer. Atlantic Records signed her in 1987, and Amos recorded an uninspired pop-metal album called Y Kant Tori Read the following year. The record was a complete failure, attracting no attention from radio or press and selling very few copies; nevertheless, she didn't lose her record contract. By 1990, Amos had adopted a new approach, singing spare, haunting, semi-confessional piano ballads that were arranged like Kate Bush but had the melodies and lyrical approach of Joni Mitchell. Atlantic sponsored a trip to England in 1991, where she played a series of concerts in support of an EP, Me and a Gun.
The harrowing "Me and a Gun" was an autobiographical song, telling the tale of Amos' own experience with rape. It gained positive reviews throughout the media, and both the EP and the supporting concerts sold well. Little Earthquakes, Amos' first album as a singer/songwriter, was released in 1992 and fared well in both the U.S. and the U.K. The same year, she released the Crucify EP, which featured cover songs like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Led Zeppelin's "Thank You." Delivered in early 1994, Under the Pink, the proper follow-up to Little Earthquakes, was an even bigger hit, selling over a million copies and launching the minor hit singles "God" and "Cornflake Girl." Two years later, Amos delivered her third album, Boys for Pele, her most ambitious and difficult record to date. The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum.
Amos spent much of 1997 dealing with personal matters, including a miscarriage and a marriage. She also worked on her fourth album, From the Choirgirl Hotel, which was released in the spring of 1998. The two-disc To Venus and Back followed in 1999 to coincide with a tour with Alanis Morissette. In 2001, Amos returned with the covers album Strange Little Girls, which also marked her last release for Atlantic.
The next year, she found a new label home with Epic and followed with Scarlet's Walk in October. Her eighth studio album, an autobiographical record titled The Beekeeper, was released in 2005. The massive five-disc Piano collection arrived in 2006, boasting a cornucopia of album cuts, B-sides, unedited and alternate versions, demos, and seven previously unissued tracks, followed by the typically eclectic and hard-rocking American Doll Posse in 2007, an all-new collection of songs that found the artist assuming five archetypal personalities, all of whom were based on feminine gods in Greek and Roman mythology.
As she toured in support of the album, Amos released live digital recordings of each concert as part of the Legs and Boots concert series, which grew to encompass 27 albums. Although each release was made available via iTunes and other online vendors, Amos also released a "best-of" Legs and Boots compilation in March 2009, having created its track list from various recordings during the tour. Meanwhile, she also focused on new material that had been written during the tour, which she soon compiled into her tenth studio album. Entitled Abnormally Attracted to Sin, the album was released in May 2009 by Universal Republic, Amos' new record label. A holiday album, Midwinter Graces, followed closely behind, appearing before the end of 2009 and garnering warm reviews.
In the summer of 2011, Amos began touring in advance of her next album, the classically based song cycle Night of Hunters. A conceptual work based on familiar motifs by composers Satie, Chopin, Schubert, and Bach, Amos' recording centers on a couple torn apart by life's difficulties and monotonies, and the female protagonist's journey to find wholeness within herself. Amos collaborated on the recording with the string quartet Apollon Musagete, arranger John Philip Shenale, and clarinetist Ernst Ottensamer. Night of Hunters was released by the classical label Deutsche Grammophone in September of 2011; it peaked at 24 on the Billboard 200. Amos' next move was to re-record some of her songs, newly arranged by John Philip Shenale, with the Metropole Orchestra. The resulting set, called Gold Dust, appeared almost exactly a year after Night of Hunters; it debuted at 63 on the Billboard 200.
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