Posted June 17, 20232 yr Sorry for the huge pic but, y'know, some albums are worth it xx So I'm bringing back the mod chosen albums of the month and am going full on TORI for June! You'll all no doubt realise by now that myself, Colm and Bjork are full on Tori loons and I've decided that this is the best retro album to showcase why. Lots of purists would be aghast at me not choosing Little Earthquakes but I feel that this album shows so many more sides to what Tori could achieve, it's got the piano ballads (and great ones too, Northern Lad is one of my all time faves) but also mixes in a whole new aspect of experitmentation from Tori that we haven't quite seen before or since - whether that be the full on dance pop of Raspberry Swirl or the trip-hop-ish production of Cruel or Liquid Diamonds. Not everything was forward thinking, there were retrospective jazzy and blues elements with the wonderful Playboy Mommy telling a truly beautiful take on a mother explaining to a stillborn child why her multitude of lovers would look after her in heaven (that sounds weird but it totally works and is one of my all time favourite lyrics from her) to the brilliant b-side, Purple People, sounding like a lost classic. There's much more to uncover than I've described here so I'm sort of hoping that we'll all be able to join a listen through together for this one - I'm really intrigued to see how this translates to a younger audience tbh. I'd personally rate this album as one of the best of the 1990s so it will be interesting to hear people's thoughts on it.
June 17, 20232 yr easily in the top 5 best albums in the history of music so many highlights, Spark is probably her best single ever, crazy personal lyrics about Tori's miscarriages. I still remember for years being obsessed with the 6:58 line and all the crazy fan theories (bizarrely the song Mother from LE is 6:59, so might be like saying almost made it to mother but didn't :/ Cruel is just also fantastic and wow that line about having a top 10 in the charts of pain when you lose a child. Really love all the upbeat numbers in the album like Hotel or Raspberry Swirl too. Hotel in particular is also a big favourite, especially the "you were wild, where are you now" part. but my fav songs were mostly the ballads. Playboy Mommy is just so touching, and it also has what's possibly my fav opening line in a song ever "In my platforms I hit the ground"... which is related to Tori and her friend being drunk on champagne and falling. I also love Northern Lad, love the sadness it conveys. And then Jackie's Strength about the Kennedys but also mixing it with Tori's own wedding. There are so many metaphors and references in that song, I remember I only figured out the opening like ("A Bouvier til her wedding day") ages later, never knew that Jackie's single name was Jackie Bouvier. and yes, it could even had better if Cooling had been included. Easy Tori #1 song for me, but Tori says the song didn't wanna be in the album so alas... :D
June 17, 20232 yr Author So, as was the case on a few others, I'm putting forward my own version for the buzzjack listen through to include a couple of essential b-sides from the era: 01 Spark 02 Cruel 03 Purple People 04 Black - Dove 05 Raspberry Swirl 06 Jackie's Strength 07 Iieee 08 Liquid Diamonds 09 Cooling 10 Northern Lad 11 Hotel 12 Playboy Mommy 13 Pandora's Aquarium (youtube video tbc)
June 18, 20232 yr Author I made a video for the listen through but sadly YouTube won’t allow the copyrighted material so any listen through will just have to be the individual tracks I’m afraid. (Unless anyone knows anywhere else I could try that would also be compatible for a listen through?)
June 18, 20232 yr I'm going to post my album of the month on Monday. I could host a listenthrough for both albums on Thursday if that day is alright for Dandy and others. My album is only 40 minutes long.
June 18, 20232 yr was trying to rank the songs but its hard 1 Spark 2 Playboy mommy 3 Northern lad 4 Jackie's strength 5 Cruel 6 Hotel 7 Raspberry swirl 8 Liquid diamonds 9 Iieee 10 Black dove 11 Pandora's aquarium 12 Cocaine
June 18, 20232 yr I made a video for the listen through but sadly YouTube won’t allow the copyrighted material so any listen through will just have to be the individual tracks I’m afraid. (Unless anyone knows anywhere else I could try that would also be compatible for a listen through?) if we all use Spotify we can just start at the same time
June 19, 20232 yr Spark is the only track I know (I charted it but havent heard it since) so this will be a complete unknown to me. I will post my next album week after Rollo's, already picked and played by me - unless Rollo beats me to it (quite possible! :D )
June 19, 20232 yr Ooh glad to see this returning, looking forward to more of these listenthroughs as the ones earlier in the year were good fun! And Tori Amos is definitely an artist I'd be up for hearing more from. I don't think I've heard anything from this album bar the version of 'Raspberry Swirl' that you sent to BJSC (which I assume is different to the album version? I forget) Vimeo works on SyncTube as well (and they're not nearly as trigger happy with copyright).
June 19, 20232 yr Will Thursday evening be OK for a listenthrough? I can do your album and mine in the same session.
June 21, 20232 yr Author Here is the vimeo link to use for the listen through on Thursday: https://vimeo.com/838355585?share=copy Or indeed for listening through beforehand also ^_^ edit: I realised after reading bjork's ranking that I've left off She's Your Cocaine... which is primarily because I removed it from the version in my iTunes library and have become so accustomed to it not being there that I never thought about it. It's not absolutely horrendous or anything but I just replaced it with Cooling as it was my least favourite.
June 22, 20232 yr Author What time are we thinking of Rollo? edit - lol I already had this page open and wasn't expecting you to have answered in the meantime! :D
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