American Doll Posse
Tori Amos
Engineer: Adam Spry,
Producer: Tori Amos
Epic (USA), 2007
1 CD
Catalogue #: 82876861402
EAN: 0828768614020
UPC: 828768614020
You save: 20%
Personnel include: Tori Amos (background vocals); Mac Aladdin (acoustic 12-string guitar); Edward Bale, Matthew Elston, Rosmary Banks, Holly Butler (strings); Nick Hitchens (euphonium); Jon Evans (bass instrument); Matt Chamberlain (drums).
Recording information: Martian Engineering, Cornwall, England.
For 2007's AMERICAN DOLL POSSE, singer-songwriter Tori Amos returns to more confrontational form, after her relatively subdued and introspective '05 outing, THE BEEKEEPER. While that album may have been informed by the warm, nurturing side of motherhood, POSSE seems to plant its feet on the fierce, protective side of raising a child, with Amos referring to various social and political issues even in the record's title, which nods to the wildly popular American Girl series of collectable dolls and gives the bold performer yet another reason to play dress-up.
In keeping with the various personas depicted on POSSE's cover, Amos has kept the album appropriately eclectic, with the upbeat, keyboard-driven "Bouncing Off Clouds" and buoyant "Secret Spell" playing off moody songs such as "Teenage Hustling," which breaks into a startling guitar-heavy swagger as it comments on despondent youth. By remaining fascinatingly unpredictable (see "Big Wheel," a raucous Southern rock number replete with twangy electric-guitar lines), Amos proves that she is still a vital and uncompromisingly creative force in pop more than 15 years into her impressive career.
Tracklist
Tori Amos
Rising from the ashes of the amusingly named rock band Y Kant Tori Read, Tori Amos debuted with LITTLE EARTHQUAKES in 1992, a stunning set of brutally honest and emotionally wrought songs that recalled Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush without being slavishly indebted to them. Since then, when not dispensing revelatory cover versions of songs by Nirvana or the Rolling Stones, Amos has mostly concentrated on intimate stories of her religious upbringing, childhood traumas, sex, self-discovery and various unhappy relationships. A skilled and imaginative pianist and a versatile vocalist, Amos makes music that's often inspiring but rarely comfortable.
