General Article name: Under the Pink
Genre: Pop englischsprachig Product type: LP (Vinyl) Label: RHINO Number of tracks: 18 Tracklist LP - 1 1. Tori Amos - Pretty Good Year 2. Tori Amos - God 3. Tori Amos - Bells For Her 4. Tori Amos - Past the Mission 5. Tori Amos - Baker Baker 6. Tori Amos - Wrong Band Amos, Tori - The Waitress 3:09 Amos, Tori - Cornflake Girl 5:06 Amos, Tori - Icicle 5:47 Amos, Tori - Cloud On My Tongue 4:44 Amos, Tori - Space Dog 5:10 Amos, Tori - Yes, Anastasia 9:33   Tracklist LP - 2 7. Tori Amos - Waitress 8. Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl 9. Tori Amos - Icicle 10. Tori Amos - Cloud On My Tongue 11. Tori Amos - Space Dog 12. Tori Amos - Yes, Anastasia   Description Description

Tori Amos'second full-length solo effort has often been considered a transitional album, a building on the success of Little Earthquakes that enabled her to pursue increasingly more adventurous releases in later years. As such, it has been unfairly neglected when in fact it has as good a claim as any to be one of the strongest, and maybe even the strongest, record she has put out. Able to appeal to a mass audience without being shoehorned into the incipient "adult album alternative" format that sprang to life in the mid-1990s, Amos combines some of her strongest melodies and lyrics with especially haunting and powerful arrangements to create an artistic success that stands on its own two feet. The best-known tracks are the two contemporaneous singles "God," a wicked critique of the deity armed with a stiff, heavy funk-rock arrangement, and "Cornflake Girl," a waltz-paced number with an unnerving whistle and stuttering vocal hook. While both memorable, they're actually among the weaker tracks when compared to some of the great numbers elsewhere on Under the Pink (other numbers that more openly misfire are "The Waitress," a strident and slightly bizarre rant at such a figure, and "Yes, Anastasia," which starts off nicely but runs a little too long). Opening number "Pretty Good Year" captures nostalgia and drama perfectly, a simple piano with light strings suddenly exploding into full orchestration before calming again. "Bells for Her" and "Icicle" both showcase what Amos can do with prepared piano, and "Past the Mission," with Trent Reznor guesting on gentle, affecting backing vocals, shifts between loping country and a beautifully arranged chorus. The secret winner, though, would have to be "Baker Baker," just Amos and piano, detailing the story of a departed love and working its cooking metaphor in just the right way. ~ Ned Raggett

Ned Raggett

Description

After sharing personal and emotional accounts on her stunning debut, Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos stirs those sensations up for an eclectic yet beautiful account of female security on Under the Pink. Being a woman, she's always in question of her actions, calling out and interrogating the opposite sex for her own pleasure. But it's not necessarily with a scolding tone. She's playful with her signature piano accompaniment, but allows for a twisted mess of guitars, violins, and bass loops, which are quite enigmatic like Kate Bush as well. "Baker Baker" and "Bells for Her" are aching with ballad-esque beauty, but the seething "The Waitress" sparks Amos' inner devil. She's quaint at first, but rages into a scalding vocal queen. It makes her even more a pioneer for female originality and independence. Singles such as "God" and "Cornflake Girl" are sultry and provocative, depicting that she's everything but shy. Under the Pink is typically melodic, but it contains a heavy desire. Amos is still breaking into something more definitive as both a woman and a singer/songwriter. The lyrical imagery is much more wide open, something that will become Amos' ever-changing swan song. [A Deluxe LP Edition was released in 2015.] ~ MacKenzie Wilson

MacKenzie Wilson

Contributors Artist: Tori Amos Record Label: Atlantic Guest Artist: Trent Reznor Guest Artist: George Porter, Jr. Guest Artist: Merry Clayton