From the Choirgirl Hotel

[Octopussy]

Someone mentioned SFIJ... I think that is, sonically, Choirgirl's closest kin. It's not as abstract as Dummy or Is This Desire, not as poppy as Ray of Light, and for an album that has been called "electronic" so many times it was mostly done with organic instruments. Drum programming is only credited to a few songs.

ETA: It's funny to see people calling Raspberry Swirl "techno", even in the old reviews... does it sound like Aphex Twin?! When you strip down all those annoying noises and the lame extra beat from Lip Gloss version, underneath it all... it's a glam-rock song. David Bowie could have rocked it.

[toriMODE]

Happy 19th birthday!

[Sansa Spark]

Oh my god. I still have a crystal-clear memory of my dad going to Walmart after work (hard to believe Walmart ever carried Tori CDs) to pick up the copy I'd reserved (because it was one of two they got in, so they barely carried them, I guess). I met him in the driveway and immediately ran to my room to listen. I was 15.

[Beelust]

I was 18. I had only heard the Spark single and I was quite new to Tori (I was first introduced to her and became obsessed about 1 month before FTCH was released).

Even though it had only been a month, I had the following CDs:
- Little Earthquakes, Crucify EP, Winter EP
- Under The Pink, Cornflake Girl EP
- Boys For Pele, Caught a Lite Sneeze Single, Hey Jupiter EP
- Spark Single (Purple People, HWAMLC, Bachelorette)

I recall being so surprised by Choirgirl's new sound and not totally understanding Cruel, Raspberry Swirl, Iieee and Hotel on the first couple listens, and I would skip them!?!?! It was my introduction to real electronica at the time (I listened to bad 90s dance music before I found Tori). I liked Jackie's Strength and Playboy Mommy on the first listen I recall. Then more songs opened up. I even recall skipping Pandora on the first few listens because of how high the vocal was - lol. But when the song clicked I was in love. This is all likely within the first 12 hours of having the CD. Later that night I was locked in my room and listening to the album on repeat. It remains my favourite Tori CD. It also helped me understand / appreciate LE, UTP and BFP more (which I was still fairly new to at the time)...

My favourites are Jackie's Strength, Iieee, Liquid Diamonds, Northern Lad, Hotel, Playboy Mommy, and Pandora's Aquarium. I cannot choose between them

BTW - I always thought there was a misprint on the Spark single. Does anyone know about this?
The tracklisting is:
- Spark
- Purple People (Christmas in Space)
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- Bachelorette

I always thought they meant 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Christmas in Space)' due to the spacey sounds at the beginning of HYAMLC...?

[Nick]

God help me, 19 years I got mine at Best Buy after school but fell asleep before I hit Jackie's Strength (listening to my Discman in the back seat of my mom's car). Because I was really tired after school, not because I didn't love it immediately!!! I didn't put it down for months afterwards, and Playboy Mommy on that original copy is scratched from overuse.

I remember watching tiny video clips from the club tour on her website. They had a little clip of She's Your Cocaine and I NEEDED MORE.

SFIJ came out 6 months later, When The Pawn a year after that. I thought my musical life would always be like that lol. Talk about spoiled...

(OMG after I wrote this I hit Wikipedia and ended up finding this LOATHSOME review of When The Pawn. It offends me in about 85 ways.)

And how would you like your emotion? Raw? Naked? Intense? Brrr. It’s a chilly domain in which the multimillion-selling ice queens of self-indulgent Ally McBeal-themed cosmetic angst operate, but you have to hand it to the kooky crew of Tori, Alanis and the troubled Ms Apple – they know their market. Although probably not quite as well as their market knows them.

image: http://www.nme.com/img/fionaapple0300.jpg

For these ladies, and LA-based 24-year-old Apple is no exception, leave no emotional stone unturned in their cathartic quest for neo-hippy feminist-lite ‘meaning’ in their, like, totally crazy lives. And for her second album of Amos-aping MTV-branded Lilith Fair fodder, the barmiest, prettiest pretender to Tori‘s throne of corporate crackpot chic deals unashamedly in that tired and trusted heavyweight heart-tugging currency: relationships.

So it’s been a frantic four years for Fiona since her debut, ‘Tidal’, poured its bruised musings over a generation of sensitive saps, half of which appear to have been spent writing this record’s staggering 75-word-long title (it’s poetry, dontcha know), the other half spent playing with the dark might of glossy trip-hop. And surging power ballads. And opaque Plath-U-like platitudes bereft of mirth. Still, that’s Fiona Apple. Fruit by name, fruitcake by nature.


Read more at http://www.nme.com/reviews/album/rev...FQPQkxZ8Og1.99

[beanstew]

Lovely piece on FtCH from the excellent @BoycottTrends first posted on the 15th anniversary.

Dispatches & Polaroids 1998-2013: From the Choirgirl Hotel 15 Years On

“There are moments of sadness … on this record,” Tori Amos told John Everson in an interview about from the choirgirl hotel, which was released fifteen years ago this month. “But I really realized that Sorrow goes to raves every Friday night. She looks at life differently because she understands tears. But that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have a dirty little laugh. She has all that. But she just sees life from a different angle.”

Bit too long to copy and paste in full so hit the link.

[emanate]

Oh my god. I still have a crystal-clear memory of my dad going to Walmart after work (hard to believe Walmart ever carried Tori CDs) to pick up the copy I'd reserved (because it was one of two they got in, so they barely carried them, I guess). I met him in the driveway and immediately ran to my room to listen. I was 15.

Swap out Walmart for Sam Goody and 15 for 14 and you've basically got my story.

[toriMODE]

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite version of Liquid Diamonds.....that intro though!

[Mr. Orange Clouds]

Lovely piece on FtCH from the excellent @BoycottTrends first posted on the 15th anniversary.

Dispatches & Polaroids 1998-2013: From the Choirgirl Hotel 15 Years On

Bit too long to copy and paste in full so hit the link.

This was such a great read, thanks for sharing. I'm listening to FtCH now. It's easy to forget how completely amazing, deep, and triumphant this album is.