Two years after the release of Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos came back with her sophomore album Under the Pink released in January 1994. Tori continued with her piano-driven songs dealing with relationships, gender, growing up, religion and sexuality. Lyrics became a bit more cryptic than on her debut, and the songs maybe more experimental.

 

The album did very well in the charts, especially in the UK, where it debuted at #1 (her only #1)

But also made the top 5 in Australia, #12 in the US and top 20 in most EU countries. To date the album is certified Platinum in the UK and 2xPlatinum (2 million) in the US.

 

The first single from the album was the classic Cornflake Girl. Super catchy song, total ear-worm, very cryptic lyrics . The song was a huge success, debuting at #7 in the UK charts and peaking at #4 in week 2, her biggest UK hit at the time. “Cornflake girl” and “raisin girl” are terms that Amos invented to describe two types of women that are polar opposites. She has stated that the two terms “represent two different ways of thinking: narrow-mindedness and open-mindedness.” Cornflake girls are prudish and obedient to authority, whereas raisin girls are wilful and sexual.

 

The second single was Pretty Good Year, my personal #1 song in the album, and a song that stems from a letter that a fan called Greg wrote to Tori explaining how down he was and the struggles of his life and transitioning to adulthood. If I remember it well Greg was like 20 but he had already lost all hope in life. So the Greg in the song that write letters is a real person. This is what Tori wrote about the song: The song did very well in the charts, peaking at #7 in the UK.

 

The third single was Past the Mission, nice enough song with a video filmed in Spain, the song peaked at #31 in the UK. The fourth single was God and that missed the top 40 peaking at #44. Bizarrely, they chose complete different singles in the US, with God being the first single. The song peaked at #72 in the US and was actually her first US top 100. The second US single was Cornflake Girl, although with a different video. The song missed the top 100 in the US peaking at #7 in the bubbling under chart.

 

I think it might be her more accessible album and at the time I was totally obsessed with it. The album has some big big favourites like Pretty Good Year, Cornflake Girl, Baker Baker, Space Dog, Cloud on my Tongue… but also some song I like a little less or don’t care at all. As per usual, Tori had a bunch of other great tracks recorded for the album that missed the final tracklist and ended-up as b-sides. In particular, Honey should totally be in the album but was kicked out by The Wrong Band.

 

Some videos, this is easily my #1 of the album, Pretty Good Year:

 

Then my #2 would probably be Cornflake Girl

 

And my #3 probably Bake Baker

 

And a special shoutout to Honey, the best b-side of the era,

Although other nice ones included Black Swan and Sister Janet

 

 

Would love to hear what others think of this album...

10 Pretty Good Year

09 God

08 Bells For Her

09 Past the Mission

09 Baker Baker

09 The Wrong Band

07 The Waitress

11 Cornflake Girl

10 Icicle

10 Cloud On My Tongue

10 Space Dog

10 Yes, Anastasia

 

10 Honey

10 Take Me With You

 

 

One of those instances where the second half an album is so much better than the first. Not that there is anything wrong with the first half but the final run of 5 tracks is sublime. Cloud On My Tongue and Yes, Anastasia are my honorary 11s - the first is just beautiful and the second is a wonderfully epic closer. Honey is the perfect pick of b-side and definitely should have been on the album in place of something like the Wrong Band.

 

This was my first Tori album and it took a while to really grow on me. For a long time I only really liked the singles but gradually over time the other tracks began to shine. In an ideal world I'd add Honey and Take Me With You and get rid of The Wrong Band and The Waitress as I think they ruin what could be a perfect album. Bells For Her in particular took me a long time to love as it meanders along rather aimlessly really for a song so early in the album. Take Me With You is an odd one timeline wise but she included it within the Under the Pink section of her A Piano compilation so I always associate it with this era, despite it not being on any of the singles.

 

My ideal tracklist and the one I have in my iTunes library is:

 

01 Pretty Good Year

02 Past the Mission

03 Honey

04 Cornflake Girl

05 God

06 Baker Baker

07 The Wrong Band

 

08 Over It

09 Take Me With You

10 Bells For Her

11 Icicle

12 Cloud On My Tongue

13 Space Dog

14 Yes, Anastasia

 

 

Either way it holds a really special place in my heart as the album that kick started my love of her music :wub:

I didn't post it in the last thread but I have an alternate version of Little Earthquakes too now I think about it, my iTunes version goes...

 

01 Leather

02 Girl

03 Silent All These Years

04 Crucify

05 Precious Things

06 Winter

07 Flying Dutchman

08 China

09 Tear In Your Hand

10 Sugar

11 Smells Like Teen Spirit

12 Little Earthquakes

 

I get rid of quite a lot of the original album now I think about it ooops

I suddenly feel very emotional about this album. Longer post to follow.

Dandy, pretty sure Take me with you is not from UtP, will have to do some digging later if I have a sec but think it's either LE or BFP

Figured out about Take me with You

The song started its life in 1991, with the instrumental and chorus written during the LE album sessions.But it was only a partial song cos it lacked the verses. So the song was abandoned. Then 16 years later they found the song in some archive and Tori finally finished the verses and the song was finally completed in 2006.

 

 

"Take Me With You," was 16 years in the making, having been rediscovered by her engineer and husband, Mark Hawley. "When we put it up on the boards they looked at me and said, 'Well, all it needs is a vocal.' I said, 'I can't do that 16 years later,'" Amos recalls. "I thought about it and the song really started to call me to it. After 48 hours, I could finally finish the lyric and record it." [AOL Music News Blog - September 11, 2006]

 

One of the previously unreleased cuts, "Take Me With You," was originally an instrumental from the Little Earthquakes sessions. Now you've recorded a vocal. Why was the track abandoned?

 

"The truth is, there was a vocal on the 1990 take, and the lyrics to the chorus are the same. I've retained the chorus and parts of the bridge and used it as a skeleton. Then I worked around what was just humming in the verses. But the bridge was close to being there and the choruses were intact, so I haven't changed a word. It made an impact, but you can't put an unfinished work like that out. The way I was singing it, it was only a completed bottom chorus, so it wasn't a finished idea. Maybe at the time I wasn't able to really write what she wanted to be. I think that the journey that this song creature has made is really a story in itself. Sometimes I think about old visual artists and how it might take them years to finish a piece and how they've had to travel the world in order to finish their vision."

Ahhhhh that explains it!

 

I've always classed it with Under the Pink because I read (retrospectively) that she considered that to be its natural home in terms of her output - and that was why she retrospectively included it with the Under the Pink section of the A Piano set (as opposed to just the rarities and b-sides section like most of the others). She also included Honey within the Under the Pink section so she clearly also feels it should have been on the album too.

I think after LE, she also tried for UDP but didn't worked out

for me in my head I cannot classify t it as an UDP song cos back then it only existed as half the song we know now

and the full thing was only finished in 2006

so for me it counts as an A Piano track

I listened to Cloud on my Tongue yesterday

had forgotten how much I love that song

the bit about "I'll be wearing your tattoo" <3 like saying that relationships are like tattoos and leave a mark for ever

 

I don't know if it's confirmed or just rumours but the guy that was very persistent inviting Tori to go with him to Borneo

was Anthony the lead singer from Red Hot Chilli Peppers :D I really love the "leave me with your borneo" line, like saying leave me alone :D

As I mentioned in my post on Little Earthquakes, this album entered my life less than 2 months after Little Earthquakes did.

 

I actually didn't expect to see it on the shelves when I went to buy Cornflake Girl so ended up buying both the same day. It certainly wasn't as immediate as Little Earthquakes but I don't remember being at all disappointed by it, even during the first listen.

 

There are stark contrasts with LE, though. While the best half of that album is the first half with the absolute peak of her singer-songwriter output - Silent All These Years and Winter (and for me China), it's the journey of the second half off Under the Pink that is captivating. It strikes out for new territory and pushes the form into new places - songs about masturbation and pissing in the river were never going to come from Beverley Craven. Under the Pink is a different thing with different strengths, showing different aspects of what Tori wanted to express.

 

The melodies in Under the Pink would be harder to find but as this was the only Tori music I had (having given away my LE cassette) I had no choice but to live in this album for months, absorbing every detour, every string section, ever thrash or tinkling of piano, every submerged backing vocal.

 

I had a 35 minute walk to college every day and I only had a few cassettes so this was in high rotation.

 

My thoughts...

 

Pretty Good Year was an obvious link between the two albums - many saw it as a sequel to Silent All These Years. Even without the churning drama of the middle-8, the music is full of her now hallmark prettiness and intensity.

God, I didn't like and still don't. It's not terrible but I only ever played it for the complete album experience and I thought it was a really bad idea putting it so close to the start. But, as it was the first US single, maybe it's just me that doesn't think it's good at all.

 

Unfortunately, I've never really got much out of Bells For Her despite it sounding very intriguing and kinda hypnotic. It's much better live, as can be heard on the live disc of Venus.

The first half of Under the Pink is so patchy for me. Past the Mission is a huge step up with its warm chorus and wonderful middle-8.

 

Baker, Baker is perfection. Absolute 10/10.

 

....he says that behind my eyes, I'm hiding... is such a beautiful hook and one that flipped at the switches in the Tori-sensors of my brain.

 

An unpopular opinion is that The Wrong Band is also amazing. I guess it comes across as whimsical but is far better than Happy Phantom or even Leather. I enjoy it very, very much and along with Baker, Baker represent the peak of the first half. The ending is such a rush.

 

The Waitress has a nice verse but the chorus is just painful. Low point on the album.

 

Over we go to side 2.

Obviously Cornflake Girl is great but it's down to the piano work and some of the sections in the second half.

Icicle is slow to reveal its charms - her voice doesn't even appear for nearly 2 minutes. That middle-8 of 'I could have, I should have' is genius. I swear she could fall on top of a piano and it would sound great.

Cloud on My Tongue is almost just an extension of Icicle - the final note of the latter has barely even ended when the opening arpeggio of the former beings. It too is a grower.

And on the subject of arpegios - Space Dog has one of her very best ones, and my favourite on the album. The second half of this song also contains the best backing vocals on the album. Those harmonies just get me.

I hardly know where to start with Yes, Anastasia. It's just a showcase for her vision and utter talent, and peaks endlessly. And like all masterpieces you just want to listen to it all over again to experience the journey.

 

Overall, it's not an album that I would recommend to the uninitiated and I'm surprised that Pitchfork gave it as score of 8.1 when it was remastered in 2015. This will always be my Tori album because of how much time I spent with it in early 1994. It sits in my top 5 albums ever and has done so for more than 25 years.

 

It's very difficult to pick out a favourite track but I think I'll have to give it to Yes, Anastasia for the scale of it. It's her Bohemian Rhapsody. Her Stairway to Heaven.

 

 

This is my edit of the album on Spotify

 

1 Pretty Good Year

2 Honey

3 Sister Janet

4 Past the Mission

5 Baker, Baker

6 The Wrong Band

7 Over It

8 Cornflake Girl

9 Icicle

10 Cloud on My Tongue

11 Spacedog

12 Yes, Anastasia.

Edited February 4, 20232 yr by Colm

I've just listened to The Wrong Band again after reading your post and I actually really like it too. For some reason I remembered it being more novelty and less melodic and I scrapped it from my playlist on memory alone... but actually it is really lovely, especially the melody at about 0:48 through to 1:39.

 

The Waitress is an odd one for me. I don't hate it as a stand alone (although I don't love it either) but it's really jarring in the middle of the album as a whole experience. It sort of is an indication of some of the more experimental things she would do later in the 90s but she did it better on those albums.

 

 

I also like Over It as an interlude too, I'd probably slot it before Take Me With You in my list. Sister Janet is okay but it's not stand out enough for me to want to add it in.

ps I've listened to this album about 7 times this week and have become completely obsessed all over again

haha same :D

 

for me The Wrong Band is ok but I'd still replace it with Honey...

 

God is also so-so for me, and The Waitress I never super liked it either but I understand why it's in the album

as it's key in the framework of female-female relationships, same as Bells for her...

but Waitress would be better later in the album towards the end

 

 

Edited February 4, 20232 yr by Bjork

so how do you guys rank the tracks:

 

for me,

1 Pretty good year

2 Cornflake Girl

3 Cloud on my tongue

4 Baker Baker

5 Space Dog

6 Past the mission

7 Yes Anastasia

8 Icicle

9 Bells for Her

10 The Wrong band

11 God

12 The Waitress

 

I'd actually like that as the track listing.