I've been wanting to do an artist specific blog for a while now but was unsure who. I was also wanting to get around to another B-sides & rarities mix so I thought I may as well kill two birds with one stone and combine the two themes.
I've been a massive
Tori Amos fan for 25 years now and she's also probably the most prolific non-album track releaserer I know, which makes her perfect for this kind of thing.
I've whittled this list down from easily over 150 tracks that's she's released over the last 25/30 years, and that's not including live stuff or remixes. I've tried to take songs from as wide a spectrum as possible and, in doing so, I've passed over quite a lot fantastic songs in favour of merely good ones. Them's the breaks I guess.
Tracklisting
Baltimore
Take Me With You
Not David Bowie
Sugar
Honey
White Telephone To God
Never Seen Blue
Violet's Eyes
Miracle
Merman
Siren
Forest Of Glass
Mountain
Murder, He Says
A Case Of You
Darkest Hour
Mary
You'll Be Taken Care Of
That's What I Like, Mick
Here, In My Head
You can download the mix
HERE if you like.
As is the norm, I've written a fascinating little anecdote for each track that you can pore over intently below.
Cheers,
Luke
x
Baltimore
Taken from the 1980 single
Baltimore
I guess the beginning is as good as any place to start. The beginning being, in this case, her debut single, released way back in 1980 when she was just 16 and not yet called Tori. She entered a local songwriting competition and won with this song, a theme for the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. While she was obviously talented at that age, the song hasn't aged that well and is pretty cheesy. Still, it's an interesting curio and a glimpse into her past.
Take Me With You
Taken from the 2006 album
A Piano: The Collection
While not released until 2006, Take Me With You was actually (mostly) recorded as part of the Little Earthquake sessions around 1990/1991. It has the classic Tori sound; piano heavy with some subtle strings. On the face of it, it's a love song about eloping to a better place but I think it's more metaphorical than that and is more about getting through depression and anxiety.
Not David Bowie
Taken from the 2006 album
A Piano: The Collection
It's never been officially confirmed but it's widely regarded that this song is about Tori's former bandmate Steve Caton and how he resented the fact that if he hadn't been Tori's hired hand for so long then he could have concentrated on his own music and been famous. It's got a great 'Hoo Ha!' beat running through it and the repeated refrain of 'It is what it is' is memorable and I've had it stuck in my head quite a bit while doing this blog.
Sugar
Taken from the 1992 single
China
China on cassette single was the first thing I ever owned of Tori's. This was the B-Side. It's different to a lot of what she was doing at the time as it's got an almost Trip Hop feel to it. There are several different ideas of what it's about, Tori herself says it's about having a crush she had on a boy wane because he could never remember how many sugars she had in her tea. Another, more likely, rumour is that it's about cocaine and another says it's about someone hiding the fact he's gay. Whatever it's about, I like it a lot.
Honey
Taken from the 1994 single
Cornflake Girl
See how I linked this to the previous song? I'm clever like that, me. Keep an eye/ear out for other such ingenious pairings. This is a slower song about a relationship gone stale. The wife is tired of being underappreciated and constantly trying to please her husband though she still loves him. For his part, he appears to have slept with someone else. Time to knock it on the head, I'd say.
White Telephone To God
Taken from the 2014 album
Unrepentant Geraldines
This is one of her more irreverent songs and was a bonus track on her last album, Unrepentant Geraldines. It's about IBS and is essentially a list of all the things she can't eat anymore without suffering the consequences. The title comes from a British saying, more commonly associated with too much booze, the white telephone being a toilet bowl and God being what you moan down it in between vomiting.
Never Seen Blue
Taken from the 1998 single
Jackie's Strength
Never Seen Blue is a stripped back song, that's just Tori and her piano. It's a subtle, unassuming song and takes a few listens to sink in. It's another song about depression with some self-harm thrown in for good measure. I'm still undecided as to whether it's seen from the viewpoint of a sufferer or from someone who knows one.
Violet's Eyes
Unreleased demo from 1998
This is an unreleased demo song from around the time of From The Choirgirl Hotel and it regards a miscarriage she had back then. Despite the fact it's about such a personal, traumatic incident and is again just Tori and a piano it's surprisingly forceful and reasonably fast paced. I mean, it's no boogaloo or anything but it's by no means a tender ballad either. Being a work in progress, it's a rough production and some of the lyrics need some tweaking but it's pretty much a complete song, one that'll bring a lump to your throat if you're a parent or have been through something similar. Almost ten years later it became two separate songs on her album American Doll Posse, Almost Rosey and, the bonus track, Miracle. Speaking of which....
Miracle
Taken from the 2007 album
American Doll Posse
You can hear both the similarities and the differences between the two songs, listening to them side by side. Miracle is understandably much more polished and rounded out with a full band along with a cool little guitar line. I really liked this song when I first heard it but now I don't know which version I prefer, this sounds better but lacks the poignancy of Violet's Eyes. Listen and decide for yourself if you want.
Merman
Taken from the 1999
No Boundaries: A Benefit for The Kosovar Refugees
Originally released a pre-release bonus download for From The Choirgirl Hotel, it was then released on the above charity album and then remastered for the A Piano compilation. It's a pretty song with, as is usual with Tori, several possible themes. Live, she regularly dedicated it to Matthew Shepard and the lyrics do seem to fit with that poor young man, particularly as Mermaid is used as a gay slur in some countries, Tori herself says it's about a man with a lot of integrity, a man she later apparently married. To me, I think it's just about being secure in who you are, how you live your life and not letting others dictate that to you.
Siren
Taken from the 1997 Album
Great Expectations OST
How awful is that album cover? I know it was the 90's but still, I could do better than that and I do everything in MS Paint. Tori says she wrote the song while picturing two of the male cast members fishing on a lake. Somehow that equates to polyrhythms and a woman who's prissy, almost pregnant and has her own phone, I'm not sure how. Anyway, it gradually builds in intensity as it progresses (aided by them there polyrythming drums) until it just peters out at the end. There should have been a crescendo or something.
Forest Of Glass
Taken from the 2014 album
Unrepentant Geraldines
Another bonus track from her last album and it's much longer and haunting than White Telephone To God. It's unclear what it's actually about but I interpret it as seen from the viewpoint of a mythical woodland creature, a Wood Nymph or Dryad maybe. One who has fallen in love with a human and has to decide whether or not to stay in the forest that's all she's ever known or go with him to live in a city, the "forest of glass".
Mountain
Taken from the limited access website
Scarlet's Web
If you bought a copy of her seventh album, Scarlet's Walk you could use the disc to access an otherwise locked website that features photos, blogs and several bonus tracks, unheard elsewhere. They were later released as the mini-album Scarlet's Hidden Treasures. All of them that is, apart from one. Mountain was left off for some reason and has never been officially released. It's an odd song with a repeated/looped verse and it's almost dancey in its execution with prominent tribal drums. There are better songs from this session, I had included Ruby Through The Looking Glass originally, but it's an interesting song and rarer than the others so it wins.
Murder, He Says
Taken from the 2003 album
Mona Lisa Smile OST
I haven't seen this film, though I think I might have it, but apparently, there's a scene in it with Tori singing this song. It's a cover of an old Jazz standard, it's quite upbeat and silly. It's not actually about anything sinister but more the fuming of a woman fed up with her boyfriend's continual use of slang.
'He says " Chick chick, you torture me. Zoom, are we livin'?"
I'm thinking of leaving him flat.
He says "Dig, dig the jumps, the old ticker is giving"
He can talk plainer than that.
A Case Of You
Taken from the 1994 single
Cornflake Girl
This is another cover of an old classic, this time it's a well known Joni Mitchell song. It's a beautiful, bittersweet (ha!) song about breaking up with someone you still love and trying to drink away the sorry. The title coming from the fact that, if their ex was a type of alcohol, they could keep drinking and never have too much. Life's shit sometimes.
Darkest Hour
Taken from the 2015 album
The Light Princess
The Light Princess is a musical co-written by Tori. It's a romantic fantasy about a Princess who floats instead of grieving for her dead mother and falls for a Prince from an enemy nation. This is one of a couple of the numbers Tori recorded herself. I think it's from the scene when Althea (the Princess) finds out the invading armies of Sealand have slaughtered the soldiers from Lagobel (where her dad is King) might be wrong though co I haven't seen it. s you can imagine it's a mournful but theatrical, lament and it's easy to picture someone on stage, wafting their arms around in woe.
Mary
Taken from the 1992 single
Crucify
Mary is one of my favourite Tori B-sides. It's about female independence and being the woman you want and can be rather than what people expect of you. Something I can appreciate if not identify with. I particularly like the line "Butterflies don't belong in nets".
There's another line, it's in the chorus, that goes "like Jimi said, even the wind cries your name" It references The Wind Cries Mary by Jimi Hendrix. That song is obviously along a similar theme as Mary, though it's more about a bored housewife, stuck at home while her husband is out drinking with his mates all the time.
You'll Be Taken Care Of
Taken from the 2013 album
Here Lies Love OST
Another song from a musical, this time it's one co-written by the odd collaboration of David Byrne (from Talking Heads) and Fatboy Slim (from Fatboy Slim) It tells the tale of Imelda Marcos, former First lady of the Philippines. The song itself seems to be a speech to the nation, much like Don't Cry For Me, Argentina and the slow, funky Samba beat to it really reminds me of that Santana song, Smooth. It's an alright song, though I included it more for variety than any great love of it.
That's What I Like, Mick
Taken from the 1998 single
Caught A Lite Sneeze
Hey, wanna hear Tori Amos cover a Chas n' Dave song? Here you go. It's even more absurd than her famous version of Smells Like Teen Spirit. It's basically a long list of all the things that Chas and, indeed, Dave like. It's so bizarre hearing her sing about very British things like jumble sales, Beano, Dandy, Cannon And Ball and Glenn Hoddle among other things. Along with Mary, this is another of my all time favourite Tori B-sides.
Here, In My Head
Taken from the 1992 single
Crucify
Actually, add this one to that list as well. It's about a woman who's in a relationship with a married man. She falls in love with him knowing she won't ever be more than the bit on the side. This makes her sad.
Tori wrote it in between the albums Little Earthquakes and Under The Pink and she bumped it from the latter and used as a B-side for this instead. It's a decision she's since come to regret as it's become one of her fans most beloved songs. That's fans plural, not just some lonely gimp frothing on about it being the best song, like, ever!
No comments:
Post a Comment