Hey Levres, long time no hear. Well as for your questions... As far as Tori goes I believe she reached her apex at Boys For Pele. Little Earthquakes was ok, but she was unproven and I think she curbed a lot of her artistical whims merely to please the suits at the record company. It's way more accessable than any of her other albums but it takes the fewest chances and there for falls short. Under the Pink, widely considered her best album was also good. In this album she allowed herself more artistic freedom and experimented much more. This album has a few standouts like God, The Waitress, and Yes Anastasia, but the rest of the album may as well be called Little Earthquakes II: the Revenge. Now Boys for Pele... this one holds a special place in my heart, for it was the CD that introduced me to Tori.

I'd just gotten back from a trip to the carribean with Calliander and was looking to blow some of my unspent vacation money. I bought a few CDs... one was Boys for Pele. It blew me away. In this album she was really trying to stretch the boarders of what you cold do with antiquated instruments, I see a lot of this type of experimentation with Rasputina which is a large reason why I am so enthralled by them, You should try looking into them... they might be a little dark for your tastes though. Her use of a harpsichord played through a Marshall Stack floored me. This song also holds my favorite Tori song, The Doughnut Song.

Then She came out with Choirgirl. Here she added the use of synthesizers and a full band and it just completely drowned out alot of her beautiful voice. Here she took her experimentation just a little too far. In a few songs, like hotel and she's your cocaine the electronica edge did yeild some very cool results, but for the most part, this one missed the target.

Then came To Venus and Back. The album without a soul. I don't mean that as a bad thing, individually some of the songs are incredible, Spring Haze ranks right up their with Doughnut Song, but the album lacked cohesion. You see, when I listen to a Tori song, I can immediately tell you what album it's from. That's not because I've memorized the track listings (which I have) but because each album had a soul to it. You can track what Tori was feeling and going through at the time. Whether it was her dealing with her rape in earthquakes, or the loss of her 7 year fiance in Boys for pele... you could tell. This one was like, "Well this song could have come of Under the Pink, or that one sounds like it was ripped right off of Choirgirl". This problem stems from the fact that Venus was never meant to be an album. Originally it was meant to be a CD of live performances and a Cd of B sides. Then Tori started adding new songs to the B sides. Eventually she added so many new songs she decided to scrap the B sides altogether and make a new album. This was a surprise even to her. That's why it came out a year after choirgirl, instead of her traditional 2 year break between albums.

Strange Little Girls... What can I say about this abortion. This was a CD full of covers so bad I DIDN'T BUY IT! Some more shameless covers include Eminem's '97 Bonnie and Clyde and Neil Young's Heart of Gold. Hearing her do Eminem was like eating pizza with Ice Cream on top... I love them both, but they are positively repugnant together.

Now, the last hope that I speak of in my last post was Tori's new album. Due out on October 24th, this unnamed album shall be the deal breaker for me. It is all new material and she will be touring to promote it. However, my hopes are not high. The basic fact of the matter is that TORI NEEDS TRAGEDY IN HER LIFE TO MAKE GOOD MUSIC. The first 4 albums were all inspired by personal tragedy. Her life is currently going very well, she's happily married with a 2 year old daughter now. We should be happy for her, but chances are the music we receive is going to be complete and utter tripe.

by the way, I don't enjoy Drips or Superman from the new Eminem CD.