Word: choirgirl
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However, the release of Amos' fourth album, from the choirgirl hotel, may have been greeted with some hesitation by many fans. Under the Pink, her sophomore album, rang with much of the same poignant energy that shot Little Earthquakes into stardom, but carried less fire and more contemplation. Amos' last album, Boys for Pele, took a completely different turn from the path so unabashedly carved out by her two previous release. Fraught with musical experimentation on Amos' new harpsichord and lyrics so bizarre that they must have been in code, "Pele" may have impressed avant-garde musical connoisseurs but left...
...into from the choirgirl hotel, unfortunately, similar trends begin to appear in different songs. The bass line found in "Cruel" catches the listener's ear once again in "iieee," giving the album a disappointing aura of deja vu before it is even halfway listened to. "Black Dove (January)," the first of the album's quiet numbers, bears short chorus that immediately brings to mind the song "Past the Mission" from Under the Pink...
Luckily, though many pleasant (and original) discoveries remain in choirgirl hotel. As one of the few ballad-type songs on the entire album. "Jackie's Strength" carries a genuinely moving note of admiration to the late Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis. Although the song may border on sappiness, Amos' poignant passion streams through the delicate piano music to create a sincere cry against the double-standards women must face--always a favorite song subject of hers. "If you love enough, you'll lie a lot," she powerfully sings, her voice standing strong enough to support the weaker lyrics...
...While "choirgirl hotel" ends with a disappointingly mediocre song called "Pandora's Aquarium"--a feat echoing Pink's conclusion with the epic but lifeless "Yes Anastasia"--the final stages of this album remain fascinating. "Hotel" (the song, not the album itself) changes quite suddenly into a hypnotic pseudo-techno piece, shifting the mood of the song from painfully emotional to pure recklessness. Although "Playboy Mommy" may resemble a lazy folk songs more than a pop number, it fits nicely as the next-to-last song on the album, winding down contentedly from Amos'veritable smorgasbord of musical moods...
...points though, one might wonder where the emotional supernovas are in from the choirgirl hotel. Boys for Pele had the mesmerizing "Caught a Lite Sneeze;" Under the Pink contained the scandalous "God;" and of course, Little Earthquakes remains a virtual apocalypse of emotion, despite the recent trends of radio stations to overplay "Silent All These Years." Is Tori Amos finally starting to make peace with the demons that drove her to create painfully honest pieces such as Earthquake's "Me and a Gun," which was based on her experience with rape? If she is, are her musical talents strong enough...