This Piano Deserves Some Playing

Introduction

Since the release of her soul-shattering debut “Little Earthquakes” in 1992, Tori Amos has risen to become one of the most prominent female singer-songwriters of recent decades. Combining deeply personal confessions with abstract piano arrangements and the occasional flight of fancy, she has obtained a deeply devoted cult fan base that kept her records charting high despite an almost non-existent presence on contemporary radio and the singles charts. Cataloguing her achievements of the previous 16 years over five discs, “A Piano: The Collection” proves as fascinating – and occasionally baffling – as the artist herself.

Packaging

One of the nicest things about this box set is its lovely packaging, resembling Tori’s right-hand instrument: the Bosendorfer piano. The box itself is constructed of a durable black-coloured board with the gold Bosendorfer logo inscribed on the side; the lid made of plastic sculpted into black and white keys. They’re rigid and cannot be pressed down, but this is understandable, as it would have made handling and carrying the box a little frustrating. From a distance, the set resembles a miniature keyboard, and is very aesthetically appealing.

Inside the box sits a removable plastic tray covered in a black, velvety material; this holds the five CDs, which are stored within cardboard cases (as opposed to the skinny jewel cases most audio discs come in). Each is individually wrapped in cellophane, and open to reveal the CD snugly inserted into a plastic holder. Track listings for each disc are printed on the back of the individual cases, and a complete list is attached to the bottom of the box set itself.

Booklet

Besides the CDs, the box set contains a hardcover 60-page booklet that fits nicely on top of the tray. It's glossily produced, full of pictures of Tori throughout her career. An informative introduction is given by writer Lorraine Ali, and Tori proceeds to outline the events that inspired each of her albums. There’s no information that will startle hardcore fans, but it’s well written and certainly worth reading. Specific track analyses are also provided; while it would have been nice for every song to have been granted a discussion, a reasonable number are covered and classics such as “Silent All These Years” and “Cornflake Girl” get their deserved attention. The last few pages provide a detailed song list and writing credits, and finally information about RAINN, a charity co-founded by Tori that provides a safe place for victims of sexual assault to find support and help.
Overall, I am impressed with the packaging of the box set, with one small caveat. Although the piano-key lid looks lovely, it needs to be suitably counterbalanced by the discs and booklet to keep the box standing level. If you open the lid when the box is near empty, it swings back and places pressure on the board casing; this may cause minor tears in the packaging if not attended to. However, this is only a minor issue, and I would give the set’s presentation a grade of 4 stars out of 5.

Music – General Overview

The first important thing to note about this collection is what is not included. Fans hoping to get a glimpse of the infamous 1988 synthpop album Y Kant Tori Read will be disappointed, as it is completely ignored here. I can certainly understand why, as its street-bubblegum styles would have been at odds with the general tone of the set, but I would have liked to see the songs “Cool On Your Island”, “Fire On The Side” and “Etienne Trilogy” make an appearance, especially as Tori still plays them in concert. Likewise, all of the material on her 2001 covers compendium Strange Little Girls is overlooked; although since I disliked that record, it doesn’t bother me at all. Still, these omissions are worth noting; the only way to obtain their songs is to purchase the original records.

Secondly, many of the songs are presented in the form of ‘alternate mixes’. Any long-time fan expecting redone versions of old classics will be disappointed, as the new mixes are incredibly close to the originals (in fact, the alternate versions of songs like “Leather” and “Mother” sound no different to me). The changes are almost one-hundred percent superficial; one sound effect might be more prominent in the mix for a few seconds (“Precious Things”), but aside from that it would take a truly obsessed fan (who’d memorised every note) to notice most of the alterations. This also turns out to be somewhat beneficial, as a new fan listening to these discs would not have to worry about hearing misrepresentations of the original material.

Individual Discs
Please note: as this set spans over 80 songs, I will not be doing a track-by-track breakdown. However, I have included links to my reviews of each of the parent albums, so if you’d like to explore deeper, feel free to do so.

Disc A: 440Hz: “Little Earthquakes Extended”

The first CD of this set returns to Tori’s breakthrough record, Little Earthquakes. All 12 of the original tracks are included, together with four B-sides (“Upside Down”; “Flying Dutchman”; “Take To The Sky (Russia)”; “Sweet Dreams”) that were initially intended to feature on the record, but ended up being bumped off in favour of other songs.

A heavily journalistic, raw and emotional work, “Little Earthquakes” remains a benchmark for singer-songwriters with its complex piano playing, dense soundscapes and uncompromising lyrics. Time has in no way lessened the power of the horrific rape remembrance “Me and A Gun”, and “Silent All These Years”, “Winter” and “China” remain exquisite and moving ballads. In fact, all of these songs are sounding as good as ever; from the thunderous rage of “Precious Things” to the hook-filled pop of “Girl” and “Tear In Your Hand”.

There is one notable difference here, however. The excellent “Crucify” is featured in a rockier single remix that incorporates more guitar sounds; I like this well enough, although I prefer the more stripped-down original version and would have liked to have seen it included. Fortunately, that is a very minor issue. Altogether, the disc plays seamlessly and powerfully throughout, and the B-sides fit in perfectly until you’re wondering why on earth the mini-symphony “Flying Dutchman” and pensive “Upside Down” got removed from the album in the first place. I give this disc 5 stars without a second’s hesitation, and it remains one of my most-loved albums.

Disc B: 493.88Hz: “Pink and Pele”

The second CD in the set takes choice cuts from Tori’s 1994 and 1996 albums, Under The Pink and Boys For Pele. At first it seems odd to mix the calm, classical fragility of “Pink” with the screaming brashness of “Pele”, but the heavy piano and keyboard exploration of those records makes them sit very comfortably together.

All but three of “Under The Pink’s” songs are included: “Icicle”, “The Wrong Band” and “Space Dog” all got the boot – but since I didn’t like any of those songs, I’m happy with that. The delectable B-side “Honey” takes the stand instead, together with the storming, previously unreleased “Take Me With You”. The former is a gorgeous stripped down ballad that was inexplicably excluded from the original “Pink” listing, while “Take Me With You” is a great pop tune with thumping drums, pizzicato strings and running piano on a tale of escape. Elsewhere, “Cornflake Girl”, “God” and “Past The Mission” are as great as ever, while the likes of “Baker Baker” and “Cloud On My Tongue” sound much better mixed in with more uptempo songs. I still find the overlong solo-piano numbers “Bells For Her” and “Yes, Anastacia” to be bores, but they’re more palatable in this diverse setting.

“Boys For Pele” is more ruthlessly treated; with my favourite, cold-and-eerie piano cuts getting a look in (“Horses”; “Marianne”; “Father Lucifer”; “Mr Zebra”), together with the more abrasive “Blood Roses”. The storming harpsichord-driven “Caught A Lite Sneeze” has been remixed; it loses some of the original’s power but is still a good listen. A creepy-yet-interesting live version of “Professional Widow” strips that song’s menacing arrangement to organ and voice, and for me memorably improves on the headache-inducing original. Overall, I give this disc a solid 4 stars.

Disc C: 523.25Hz: “Pele, Venus and Tales”

On the third disc, the box set starts to lose steam. Aside from the annoying chronological slip (“From The Choirgirl Hotel” was Tori’s fourth album, and should have featured here instead of “To Venus and Back”), the track selection becomes more hit-and-miss. Armand Van Helden’s asinine dance remix of “Professional Widow” monotonously thumps for eight minutes, and decimates the haunting calm produced by “Hey Jupiter (The Dakota Version)” and the tender, tragic “Putting The Damage On”. “Doughnut Song” is presented in a remix that sounds almost no different to the original, while the previously unreleased “Walk To Dublin (Sucker Reprise)” epitomises everything that was poor about parts of “Boys For Pele”. Despite a great use of low piano notes to simulate a bass riff and some nice harpsichord playing, Tori sings in a screeching ‘affected’ tone that irritates me hugely.

Electronica-fest To Venus and Back is represented well by the groovy “Concertina” and “Glory of the 80s” (as well as a nice but inferior remix of “Bliss”) while the charming ballads "1000 Oceans” and “Lust” are welcome too. However, the bland bleeping “Suede” and overlong “Datura” are still weak, and the rank live version of “The Waitress” is ten minutes of tedium. These songs would have much better replaced by the hypnotic “Juarez” and quite lovely “Josephine”, but as they stand, they cause the disc to bog down badly in the middle. Hits collection “Tales of A Librarian” is featured once with the passable adult contemporary number “Snow Cherries From France”, which is nice enough but makes no real impression. Despite its highlights, some of the poor choices here lead me to rate this CD as three stars.

Disc D: 587.33Hz: “Scarlet, Beekeeper and choirgirl”

More issues abound on the fourth disc. The highly textured, roaring From The Choirgirl Hotel sounds out of place amidst the calmer road-trip styles of Scarlet's Walk and The Beekeeper; even worse, former classics such as “Cruel”, “iieee” and “Jackie’s Strength” have been gutted by inferior remixes that pointlessly emphasise the vocal parts and ruin the excellent music/vocal interplay of the originals. A remix of the miscarriage-inspired “Playboy Mommy” thankfully manages to maintain the original’s sense of loss, while the dark, throbbing “Spark” is thankfully untouched (and still wonderful).

“Scarlet’s Walk” fares better, with its best songs (“Amber Waves”; “ A Sorta Fairytale”; “Gold Dust”) present and correct; while “The Beekeeper” is mercifully pruned down to the pleasant funk-lite of its title track, “Sweet The Sting” and “Marys of The Sea”.

The new additions vary in quality, from the truly excellent pop-rocker “Not David Bowie”, (which boasts a chugging sensibility that far surpasses everything Tori has released since 1999), to the forgettable adult contemporary of “Ode To My Clothes” and “Dolphin Song”. “To Venus and Back” outtake “Zero Point” is just as rambling and disconnected as the worst cuts on its parent album, while the “Intro Jam” to “Marys of The Sea” is a cute but ultimately pointless oddity. 2 stars.

Disc E: 659.26Hz: "Bonus B-Sides”

The final disc is a nice improvement over its two weaker predecessors, and a great place for Tori fans to find some of her rarer material. The tracks aren’t given in chronological order, but there’s a great mixture that’s enough to satisfy anyone’s ‘rarities’ thirst. The unnerving, ambient “The Pool” kicks things off nicely, while “Sugar”, “Mary” and “Here In My Head” provide other nice cuts from the “Little Earthquakes” era.

Meanwhile, the pretty piano numbers “Daisy Dead Petals”, “Black Swan” and “Sister Janet” are lovely outtakes from “Under The Pink”, while “Home On The Range (Cherokee Edition)” is a good revisit of the traditional standard. Other B-sides from the “Pele” and “Choirgirl” eras are welcome too, with “Never Seen Blue”, “Cooling” and “Bachelorette” proving the standouts. The previously unreleased demos of “Beauty Queen”, “Playboy Mommy” and “A Sorta Fairytale” are nice flashes into the processes of developing a song, and similar newbie “Peeping Tommi” is a decent enough piano piece.

Overall, I was happy with the B-side disc here, and it proves a nice way for keen Tori fans to get hold of her rarer material without having to track down the old CD singles. 4 stars.

Conclusion

It’s been a long review, so well done if you made it this far! Taken as a whole, I feel that “A Piano: The Collection” is a solid retrospective of Tori Amos’ career, with a mostly good song selection, treats for long-time fans and very attractive packaging. Worth investigating if the price tag doesn’t put you off, but newcomers are perhaps better off starting with the “Little Earthquakes” album or “Tales of A Librarian” ‘greatest hits’ set. Overall, I am very happy to have received this set as a present, and will continue to enjoy its music for a long time to come.