Complicated is a word for Tori Amos; she might even use it to describe
herself. Her sixth recording, the double disc To Venus and Back, testifies to
just how wide and deep her river runs. The two CDs -- Venus Orbiting, an
unplanned studio effort that Amos recorded suddenly this summer, and Venus
Live, Still Orbiting, a set of thirteen live songs from her recent world tour
-- are not exactly opposites, but they are far from twins. Venus Orbiting is
Amos at her most surreal, dreaming of her past, her pain and her desires in
supersaturated musical and lyrical color. The CD's first words, trademark Amos
phantasma -- "Father, I killed my monkey/I let it out to taste the sweet of
spring" -- function as its mission statement: Autobiographical as ever, Amos
aims to simultaneously uncover her inner history and cloak it in the wildest
symbols she can find. Venus' music is equally ornate, flush with technology:
mystery-ridden keyboardscapes and sample-and-loop witchery. Amos' stock in
trade, her voice and piano, are often mere bit players on Venus. But just when
it seems Amos has given herself over to the seductions of electronics, she
pulls out a heart stopper: "Josephine," a stunning, regret-strewn Cowboy
Junkies-sounding quickie that's just Amos, a drum, a bass and her ivories.
Perhaps for balance, or simply for the sake of completeness, Venus
Live, Still Orbiting spotlights Amos' more acoustic material, most of it
performed with her crackerjack touring band. It's Amos' first live recording,
long overdue, and it works equally well as a greatest-hits collection. Crowd
faves like "Cornflake Girl," "Waitress" and "Cooling" -- which has never
before surfaced on an album -- make showstopping appearances. With To Venus
and Back, Amos pays herself the ultimate compliment: She's good and
complicated. (RS 823)
NATASCA STOVALL
--
these little earthquakes here we go again these little earthquakes doesn't take
much to rip us into pieces doesn't take much to rip us into pieeeeeeeeeeeeeeces
--
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