S p r k .

Ik heb mijn contactpersoon heellang moeten 'lastigvallen' en moeten omkopen met brownies, maar ik heb vandaag, als eerste niet-Sony-medewerker in NEDERLAND, het nieuwe Tori Amos album gehoord. Hieronder mijn beschrijving in het Engels, zoals ik het heb gepost op het Tori Amos forum.

I have notes, a couple of lyrics for most of the tracks, 2 'long' quotes from the handwritten Tori note that came with the promo and general impressions from hearing it ONCE. So before I type up the whole thing, I just wanted to give you a few points:

- the tracklisting (including song durations) is 100% correct for those 20 songs
- there are 2 copies of ADP in The Netherlands NOW, so it's not being sent out to press yet
- There IS a track with BRASS
- The 4 lyrics that were posted on hereinmyhead.com are CORRECT
- the album is sonically most similar to Strange Little Girls
- No harpsichord whatsoever
- There is no way in HELL she's going to pull this album off live without a guitar player
- the leaked image does not seem to be the album cover
- no lead single has been chosen yet
- I was (obviously) not allowed to copy the CD
- I wasn't allowed to copy the 2 page handwritten thing that came with the promo

Ok, first of all... A little bit about my musical taste (which I also posted in the other thread). Since a lot of people didn't know how to interpret that other review.

Pele is my favorite album of ALL time by anyone. I hated (HATED!) it when I first heard it. Choirgirl is my 2nd favorite Tori album. I don't like TBK (but do like some of the solo versions live, esp. Knickers).

I don't 'get' Here. In My Head. Nor do I 'get' Honey. Or Not David Bowie. I love Carnival, Bachelorette and Sugar.

In fact; for reference, check my last.fm so you'll know what I'm into. http://www.last.fm/user/sprk
Oh and according to my Sony contact, I am the very first non-Sony person in The Netherlands to have heard the album. I know it's not cool, but I'm SO going to masturbate over that later.

First of all; the handwritten message. It's 2 pages, black&white. I'm not familiar with Tori's handwriting, but it is said to be her handwriting. It starts with 'Dear confident' which reminded me of the theme to the Golden Girls. I couldn't copy it and I wasn't allowed to copy it fully, so I picked the 2 most interesting quotes.

,,I, like you, can't just turn my back on this very fragile Blue Ball that is our only known hope of existence."

She then talks about how 2 women seperately came up to her while she was standing in line at Starbucks (no, seriously) and one of them asked about the new album and encouraged her to 'tell it like it is' (which reminded me of Don Johnson, but nevermind). The second woman said something like ,,The war isn't some place far away, it's in my life too." or something like that - I don't have the exact quote. The note ends with the following quote:

,,Maybe these 2 women will never know the impact that they had on me and on this project. American Dolls Posse is my response."

Now, onto the album. Like I said, the tracklisting (including running times) is 100% correct from Yo George to Dark Side of the Sun. I wanted to bring the other review that was posted, but I forgot and I haven't read it since. I'll compare the 2 when I finish my own review though It's funny, reading through my notes, I honestly can't remember ANY of it. ANY.

Yo George
Piano/vocal. Nice. Previously posted lyrics are correct.

Big Wheel
We've all heard this one, it still reminds me of LeAnn Rimes.

Bouncing off Clouds
Cool. We all know this one as well. Very single-worthy. The end just sort of echoes out, sounds like something is breaking down.

Teenage Hustling
Piano/vocal intro, which is kind of soul-ish. Very loud guitar. The bridge is very similar to the part in Happy Phantom where she sings ,,the sun is getting dim/will we pay for who we been". Some actual lyrics:
,,Working since I was 14"
,,Save me from your dirty demons"
There are some repetetive lyrics, like where she says a word 3 times before going to the next word. I can't remember a thing about the song now, but I wrote down that this is going to kick ass when it's played live.

Digital Ghost
Nice, lots of vocal harmonies, guitar. Long vocal note at the end. Not a very specific song.

You Can Bring Your Dog
The intro has Tori singing 'ooh ooh ooh'... Another song with guitar. Kind of rock/blues-ey. Some lyrics:
,,You can bring your dog, I got 3"
,,I'm not living to be the missus"

Mr. Bad Man
Kind of up-beat, not that special. Some lyrics:
,,He's a bad man.
Mr. Bad Man
And she had enough of him
So the walls try to dry her eyes
'Cause the bad man made her cry"

Fat Slut
VERY loud guitar intro, nothing rhythmic, just LOUD guitar and an effect on her vocals. Kind of like a short She's Your Cocaine without drums.

Girl Disappearing
No guitar. Very nice strings, but it didn't sound like an orchestra to me. More like a quartet or something. It's a very calm song, very ominous. Reminded me of Gold Dust and Marianne, but more haunting yet not creepy. Has those drums where you don't use sticks but like... brushes?
I wrote down something stupid for lyrics, because this line makes absolutely no sense:
,,Girl dis, to some secret prison
Le in the morning, end of September"
The other line is correct though:
,,So I'm running to a constellation where they can still see you"

Secret Spell
We've heard it. As Molly Knight eloquently put it: I liked it better when it was still a secret.

Devils and Gods
Vocals and Keltish-sounding guitar. Is that even an English word? Like it's Scottish or Irish or something.

Body and Soul
Not David Bowie's less anoying brother. Seriously - they are sonically TOTALLY alike, except for the 'hoo-hah' - thank god.

Father's Son
Some acoustical guitar. Lots of lyric samples:
,,Steady girl, on your feet
You and your wondering"
,,So it ends, so it begins
I am my father's son"
,,Plant an apple seed in a trusting virgin girl"
,,Can you blame nature if she's had enough of us"
,,Plant an apple seed of hate in another father's son" - END

Programmable Soda
Strings (again, not an orchestra but a quartet or whatever), BRASS, piano.
Kind of whimsical, reminds me of the 'up' section of Wednesday. Lyric (lol):
,,Think of me as programmable Soda"

Code red
Cool. Dark. Cool outro. Guitar sounds like in The Beekeeper when she sings 'wrap yourself around the tree of life'.
Loud, cool guitar again, very dark piano. Lyric:
,,Slip and slide away from the charade"

Roosterspur Bridge
Pretty. Calm song with piano, acoustical guitar, bass and drums.
Lyrics (which were also vocal highlights for me)
,,Sometimes I watch the wonder in your eyes"
,,Sometimes I think I understand the fear in a boy, the fire in a man"

Beauty of Speed
Lots of piano. I remember wanting to write down 'carbon', but thinking 'no, that will give the wrong impression'. But very elaborate piano playing, let's keep it at that. I wasn't really paying attention at this point because I was talking to my contact at sony, about Tori coming to Holland, trying to arrange an interview and trying to get my own watermarked copy of the album, which may or may not work.

Almost Rosey
Has electrical guitar. The drums on the bridge are rather cool. Once again; not paying attention. But that also means this (and Beauty of Speed) weren't very attention-grabbing upon first listen.

Velvet Revolution
Ok. The whole track sounded very Russian to me, with the acoustical guitar sounding like ummm... Whenever you're watching a sitcom and they show Venice or some other Italian city.

Dark Side of the Sun
VERY anti-war. Semi-acoustical guitar, then electrical guitar on the chorus. The chorus is sung nicely (that's what my notes say). She holds the final note (on the piano) of the song for a VERY long time. Really great way to end the album.
Lyrics:
,,How many young men have to lay down"
,,For some sick promise of....." (couldn't understand all she was singing)
,,I wish .... (?) .... (?) turn back the clock"

All in all... Not a 'return to form'. But if you like the Strange Little Girls album, you'll probably like this one. Dark Side of the Sun, Father's Son, Code Red and Girl Disappearing really stood out.

ADP doesn't have the electronica of choirgirl and venus, it doesn't have the... ummm... floating/drifting quality of Scarlet's Walk... It's not as deeply personal as Earthquakes... Nobody's patching anybody's jeans (TBK). It's not as angry, passionate and eclectic as Pele. It's rock. Either she found a really good guitar player or she bought a nifty filter for her yamaha - I can't tell the difference.

I now wish I had insisted on listening to the album with headphones. It didn't occur to me that I could just ask to hear the album again, or hear certain tracks again. But that might also have been because my contact at Sony stayed with me the whole time. And it's kind of weird 'sharing' something so 'personal' like Tori's music, with someone you don't really know. It sounded good, though, and it didn't sound as neutered as Spark on TOAL, or basically all of TBK.

It's really really hard, because I keep trying to remember specific things about songs. I was humming along to some of the choruses, hoping I would remember them later, but alas... There was also one song where I remember a certain drum bit being COMPLETELY on 1 speaker instead of both. Not the full beat, but like an extra drum accent or whatever. Of course, I don't remember which song... Sigh. It's frustrating knowing there were things that I *loved* about the record but not really remembering what they were :S