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Oh my God. This is by far the worst example of a "greatest hits/best of" that I've ever seen. This just is NOT a hits collection. They should make it clear in the title that this is just a compilation, otherwise they are fucking lots of folks over because Tori has to be self-conciously weird about everything.

How could she not include "Hey Jupiter" or "Caught A Lite Sneeze"? That's criminal. It misses the point of making a hits record entirely. I understand why nothing from Scarlet's Walk in on there - it's because that album was recorded for her new record label under a new contract.

It should've been more like this, in any order she felt like putting the songs in:

Crucify Silent All These Years China Winter God Baker Baker Cornflake Girl Caught A Lite Sneeze Professional Widow Hey Jupiter Talula Spark Raspberry Swirl Jackie's Strength Bliss Glory Of The 80s 1000 Oceans

plus Angels and Snow Cherries From France

Posted by Matthew at September 30, 2003 11:03 AM

The cover just says TALES OF A LIBRARIAN: A TORI AMOS COLLECTION, which is not a misstatement... I'm thinking the ideal configuration for a Tori Amos comp would be two discs -- one of singles, and one of whatever kooky shit she feels like highlighting, album tracks, b-sides, new things, live versions, terrible remixes, whatever.

Posted by Chris at September 30, 2003 11:33 AM

Oh, that's fair enough, I guess. It just seems kinda pointless, though. I guess the label (and Amos herself maybe) are just being realistic about the number of people who want Tori Amos hits vs. Tori Amos fanatics who want a few new/rerecorded songs in a context that allows for more Tori-analysis.

Posted by Matthew at September 30, 2003 12:52 PM

It seems a bit strange that she has not included any "hits" (CALS, Talula, Hey Jupiter) from the Boys for Pele era but has included "Way Down", "Professional Widow" and "Mr Zebra" off that album; apparently, she has "revisited" and "reconditioned" older tracks. I am looking forward to the release if only to see what sort of work she has done on the older songs... Typically, she has gone out of her way to confound expectations (again).

Posted by Theo at September 30, 2003 04:11 PM

Well, to be fair, "Professional Widow" was something of a hit from that record, albeit in dance remix form.

I'll say it again and again: the only Tori album anyone really needs is Boys For Pele. The rest are all kinda 'eh' to me.

Posted by Matthew at September 30, 2003 04:25 PM

Are you talking about the song, wondering why it's not on the record, or defending the album from my rather sweeping claim above?

I've never particularly liked LE as an album. I'm very fond of "Silent All These Years" and "China," but I can barely stand to hear them (especially the latter) because they make me feel too sad. The rest of the album is just okay, I don't really care about it. Under The Pink has some great songs on it ("The Waitress," "The Wrong Band," and "Spacedog" in particular) but it doesn't feel compelling all the way through. I'm more into the Choirgirl Hotel record, which has some of the best (and most criminally underrated/overlooked) work of her career - "Liquid Diamonds," "Black Dove," "Pandora's Aquarium," and especially "She's Your Cocaine." To Venus And Back would be a total waste of time if not for "Glory Of The 80s" and "Suede" which I love to bits and pieces, and I can't really be bothered with Strange Little Girls or Scarlet's Walk, though they have some halfway decent songs among their number.

Boys For Pele just seems like Tori at her weirdest/most intense while also her biggest peak as a songwriter. If we're comparing her to other piano-playing pop stars, I'd say it's her Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It's this defining burst of creativity that is experimental in style and masterful in substance, and slightly overwhelming too because there's just so much of it. The unfortunate things is while Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is widely regarded as Elton's masterpiece, Boys For Pele is usually just cast off as being her "weird" long album.

Posted by Matthew at September 30, 2003 07:22 PM

I totally agree on what you say about 'Boys For Pele' but my favorite album still is 'From The Choirgirl Hotel' - only three songs from it :( and not even my ultimate all-time favorite: HOTEL!

I'd say that it's too bad that there's so much from 'Little Earthquakes' (six plus two B-sides and not even the epic 'Little Earthquakes' itself!), but the tracklisting of this collection is too peculiar (Way Down??! a good one but without 'Little Amsterdam' right after, strange...) to be really disappointing and I think that the whole, probably in that order, must be interesting. But we'll see...

Posted by JP at October 1, 2003 10:16 PM

It's definitely bizarre that certain songs were left off of this upcoming disc, but I suppose with as many songs as Tori has, it would be impossible to include all of the good stuff.

I think I'm actually slightly irritated that this is even being made. A Tori Amos 'best of' or 'collection' (or whatever it's to be called) is pointless. The woman has had many great songs (and some that weren't so great). It would behoove those interested in truly listening to her to start at the beginning of her catalogue and go from there. Making a 'collection' disc is just an obvious sales gimmick and just damn cruel (no pun intended).

Oh well. At least there looks to be a couple new tracks to check out. Sure would've been nice to see "Icicle" on there though...

Posted by Robbie at October 2, 2003 01:38 AM

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