Tori Amos “A Piano: The Collection” (Atlantic/Wea 2006)
When I first heard that this collection was being released, I was furious. This reaction isn’t because I’m not a Tori Amos fan. On the contrary, I spent most of my teenage years hunting every piece of Tori Amos material I could get my hands on. Every album, nearly every single, whatever import I could find, down to any magazine article regardless of its take on her. I researched lyrics and wrote essays about her. Obviously, Tori Amos and her music became very important to me as a teenage girl, inasmuch as a songwriter can to a young girl trying to find herself.
Also obviously, as I teenager, I was ravenous for her material. However, I didn’t realize for a long time that eight single EPs per album was unnecesary, not to mention highly insulting. Oddly, this epiphany also came at about the time when I felt that the quality of Mrs. Amos’ writing was slipping and became even more vague. Call me crazy, but once Tori Amos started sounding like something my grandmother would be content listening to a la Scarlet’s Walk, my interest in her waned. Sure, I bought Scarlet’s Walk, and I still haven’t completely been able to soak myself into it completely, as much as I wanted to. Okay, and I bought the special edition of The Beekeeper for those seeds and a theme that didn’t make any sense. And you know what? More than a year after its release, I still can’t listen very far into it without getting angry.
Needless to say, I avoided the Fade to Red DVD, as I already had the previous VHS collection, and this new DVD only added a few extra videos and a commentary that I knew wouldn’t make sense either. I did, however, purchase the Welcome To Sunny Florida DVD (oh, and I purchased that Live in NY video a while back), but skipped out on the other box set of live discs (it’s not like we’ve never heard live material from her). Does anyone else feel gouged? For these reasons, I immediately felt that, aside from good intentions, this set is another gouging attempt, and I didn’t see the point in buying material I already had.
At the same time, Tori Amos is an extremely influential songwriter, and her career has spanned more than 15 years. Why shouldn’t she have a box set?
But let’s face it. This box set is misguided. We’ll start with the obvious: Tori Amos doesn’t have many casual fans. She has people who dress like fairies and attend every show around the globe. They knit her quilts for her birthday and send them to her. They cut out magazine articles and glue them to their walls. And I’m not just talking a poster or two. I’m talking reviews, casual random news bits, references to her. No one who is not a die-hard Ear With Feet is going to be buying this box set. If anything, a casual fan will buy Tales From a Librarian (oh yeah, ANOTHER gouging attempt. Those remixes were hardly noticeable.). This box set is completely and utterly for superfans. What’s sad is that it’s not worth the $70 it takes to get your hands on it, mostly because every superfan has already heard all of this. To be fair, it’s also possible that I just don’t like box sets, but as previously stated, I don’t like re-purchasing material, even if it is all just in one place. That’s what shelves are for.
In addition, the new remixes aren’t very worthwhile. If anything, they’re indulgent. The changes are slight, merely magnifying certain vocals or instruments. “Baker Baker” and “Sugar” have the only truly signficant remixes. “Baker Baker” is preluded by a few seconds of strings. While this is pretty, it’s certainly not necessary and doesn’t add any new perspective to the songs.
On the contrary, I was asked if there was a way this box set could have made me happy. Truthfully, I would have been happy with a set of three discs of nothing but demos, b-sides, classic live tracks, and rarities. For me, most of this set seems unneccessary. I bought the Talula, Hey Jupiter, and Winter singles, so aside from the “new” songs, there’s not a single thing I haven’t heard over the years. At the same time, to have them all in one place wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe even record a new commentary to go along with them. That is a box set for fans. All of this material for is simply too overwhelming when they can simply buy individual albums or TOAL.
For a bit more of what I mean, here’s a disc-by-disc brief assessment:
Disc A (Little Earthquakes Extended): This tracklist combines Little Earthquakes along with unreleased tracks written between the Y Kant Tori Read period and the LE era. Apparently, this is the order in which Tori wanted LE to appear. Either way, I like the flow of this new tracklist, and I like the inclusion of songs from the Winter EP, especially “Take To The Sky” and “Upside Down.” For the record, “Cincinatti” is such a cool-sounding word.
Disc B (Pink and Pele): Here’s the part where I start to get angry. I could deal with LE being rearranged, and as much as I don’t like Under the Pink and Boys For Pele songs on the same disc, if I have to say that the disc does work on its own, as the albums are musically a lot more similar than I had previously thought, although it doesn’t hurt that the Pele harpsichord songs are the milder ones. “Take Me With You” is gorgeous; it tries so hard to be uplifting despite how devastating it is. And if there’s going to be any “Professional Widow” remix in this set, it should be this version (Merry Widow) played on the organ - chilling.
Disc C (Pele, Venus, and Tales): First off, why BFP has to be rearranged and spread across two discs, I have no idea. And to be combined with To Venus and Back songs? What a terrible decision, especially the inclusion of “Datura.” And I’m sorry, but no one actually like the Armand’s Star Trunk Funkin’ mix of “Professional Widow.” Sure, it’s important because it made people aware of her who normally wouldn’t look twice at her, but every Tori fan I know skips this song. As a side note, my beloved thinks that this disc is a representation of her beginning to slip from reality. I can’t say I don’t see his point. At the same time, this disc also has some of Tori’s best remixes/live tracks. “Hey Jupiter (Dakota Mix)” and “Sugar” are astounding. Okay, so I already have these, but their inclusion raises my opinion of this disc tremendously.
Disc D (Scarlet, Beekeeper, and Choirgirl): This order makes even less sense. On one hand, you’ve got a bit of a theme, with songs from different eras about loss. However, the stages of loss both musically and emotionally are too vast to sound cohesive. At the same time, we do have a good chunk of new material on this disc. “Not David Bowie” is a gorgeous new addition, very urgent and still harrowing. “Zero Point” is just kind of repetitive and rambly. “Ode To My Clothes” is about how Mrs. Amos’ clothes know her better than anything else. Cute. For the record, something from Strange Little Girls should be here. Granted, getting the rights would have been a nightmare, but she did it once.
Disc E (Bonus B-Sides): Oh, Tori, this is what we wanted. It’s sad that these songs didn’t achieve album status, as they’re all lovely. “Dasiy Dead Petals” and “Black Swan” are so pretty, and so strong that I’m so glad they got to appear on this disc. And “Here. In My Head”? Holy crap. However, this “Sugar” mix. There are so many better versions. In fact, there are so many other b-sides and rarities that could have been included here (”Mountain,” “Murder, He Says,” “Humpty Dumpty,” “Song For Eric,” to name a few) that there’s no excuse for Tori to not release a rarities collection.
Please understand, sweet readers, as previously stated, I adore this woman and her music. I simply think this box set is a misstep. Ideally, I think Mrs. Amos should have waited another ten years before approaching the box set idea; you know, give her catalog a bit more time so that she could have been more selective. It could have been so much more meaningful that way.
I love this live version. Just sayin’.
Stream “Zero Point” at EverythingTori.com
Stream some of the remixes at her Myspace
Buy A Piano: The Collection through Rhino
