By 1998 Tori Amos was already established an artist who balanced both commercial success and critical praise. With her fourth album, From The Choirgirl Hotel, Amos dialed down the piano and dialed up the band, exploring a fuller sound that moved between electronic(a) beats, Beatle stomps and a slew of new sounds. In surrendering her confessional piano ballad comfort zone, a broader approach does reveal some cracks that left us scratching our heads both from a songwriting and production standpoint. Gone are the unmistakable hooks of "God" or "Crucify" while the vocals, now competing with a bigger sounds from the background players, get compressed and pushed up front to a dizzying degree. It's a frustrating episode for as much as we liked about the album, we found ourselves unable to connect with the material like expected.
Special thanks to Sudio Sweden for providing our May giveaway - a pair of Regent headphones. Join us at Patreon by May 15th to be eligible to win, winner announced on episode 384. We’re following up on our previous Tre and Regent reports, if you like what you hear and want to grab a pair, use the code DIGMEOUT for 15% off your purchase.
Intro - Spark
10:46 - Raspberry Swirl
14:33 - Cruel
19:11 - She's Your Cocaine
27:32 - Jackie's Strength
Outro - Iieee
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#458: Re by Café Tacuba
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#455: This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes by Juno
#454: The Honeymoon Is Over by The Cruel Sea
#453: Rubberneck by Toadies
#452: Sophomore Slump Reversed
#451: Bareback by Hank Dogs
#450: Sunday Morning Music by Thornetta Davis
Patreon Preview: Freedom by Neil Young
#449: Revisiting the Warped Tour
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#447: Forever = 1 Day by Fighting Gravity
#446: Modest Mouse In The 90s
#445: Bloodletting by Concrete Blonde
#444: Backbeat Soundtrack
#443: The Ideal Crash by dEUS
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