Tori Amos is back...again...Unrepentant Geraldines!

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bono_man2002

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Sorry about the crap thread title.

Over on the official Facebook page, a little message from Tori has been posted announcing that “Trouble’s Lament,” the first song from Unrepentant Geraldines, will be made available tomorrow, Friday, March 28th. The post also includes this photo so we’re guessing digital single of some sort or another…but we shall see!

Update: If you are in Australia, “Trouble’s Lament” is already here on iTunes for purchase as a digital download. There’s a 30 second preview clip on the web that anyone should be able to listen to, as well as a minute and a half clip in iTunes itself if you access it there. Or maybe not…

Additionally, the track listing for the album was announced — coincidentally, not too long after it appeared on Barnes & Noble’s listing for the standard edition of the record. Check it out below!

America
Trouble’s Lament
Wild Way
Wedding Day
Weatherman
16 Shades of Blue
Maids of Elfen-mere
Promise
Giant’s Rolling Pin
Selkie
Unrepentant Geraldines
Oysters
Rose Dover
Invisible Boy

Pretty excited! Let's hope there are some good tunes! :hyper:
 
Yeah ... we'll see.

I have little hope of being really interested in her ever again. And yet. AND YET. I can't quit her.
 
Honestly the last album that meant something to me at least was American Doll Posse. AATS was okay, and had some good songs it's a few songs longer than it probably should have been, Midwinter Graces was plassable as a seasonal album...but she's kinda lost me with Night Of Hunters and, well Gold Dust was more of the same just the old songs dressed up with an orchestra.

Anyways, apparently she's dropped the orchestra for this...so it's got me a little excited....I have downloaded the single and will report after I get home.
 
I really like her new song. It's like "Friend of the Devil" meets "Black Dove."

I'm glad to see there's only 14 tracks on the new album. That's incredibly low for her. The longer her albums got the more she started to lose me. Abnormally Attracted to Sin could've been a classic album if she ditched half the songs. I'd like to say the same for American Doll Posse but that album's only got a few good songs. It's probably my least favorite. Her last great album was To Venus and Back. The studio cd.
 
Okay..."Unrepentant Geraldines" has some great stuff on it, and Tori Amos is one of my favorite artists. However, since the turn of the century, she just hasn't been able to make her albums "work" for her. What I mean is...if she was to drop 4 or 5 songs on here and rearrange the order a little, she would have a solid album. And her songs are long and meandering. They're not 3 minute punk songs. Make a 9 or ten song album instead of 14 and it's still a long listen.

My fixes for dis album:

Drop "America." It's a boring song to open with, and the Beatlesque middle 8 does not improve on the tediousness. It just makes it more annoying. I really dislike the chord change on the verses when she sings "ameeeerick-uuuughhhh." Her phrasing has been pretty hit or miss for a while.

Drop "Weatherman" - I know everyone seems to love this one but I just can't get over the way she sings "one. more. luuuuuke." It ruins what would otherwise be a chilling song.

Drop "Invisible Boy" - This song doesn't have any interesting twists. It's just another meandering precious piano song with no edge to it. What happened to her awesome chord changes?

Drop "The Maids of whatever" song. It's just plain silly and horribly placed on the album. A lesser version of "Weatherman" which I am not crazy about anyway.

Fix the pre-chorus section to the title track. It's bordering on mom-rock. If it weren't for the echoed and layered vocals it would be awful. Good news is that the rest of the song is great. The chorus is very 90's, which I love obviously, and that piano solo is dazzling. I would nix the final pre-chorus. It was a poor decision to repeat that part again just to go back to the final chorus again. I would've inserted the vicar's wife section after the 2nd chorus, and then gone BACK to the final chorus as a last minute reprise. Would've been strange, like the longest middle 8 ever, but would've been a hell of a lot more interesting than just repeating parts again with no variation. What's the point? You just heard the thing! There should be a reason! Progression!

Ok, the rest of the songs I really like as is, with the exception of Giant's Rolling Pin, but that song is so fucking strange it doesn't bother me as much as the more boring tracks I've omitted.

So here's my version of Unrepentant Geraldines:

1) Trouble's Lament : Great subtle opener, when the drums kick in it's like opening the porch door and stepping outside.

2) Wedding Day : Follows the previous song naturally with it's southern gothic vibe.

3) Wild Way : While it's a bit too AOR for my tastes, it at least doesn't overstay it's welcome. And I appreciate that she ended the song with a moving chord change. Chord changes...a lost art.

4) 16 Shades of Blue : Seems like a good spot after the less-Southern sounding Wild Way. It's a bit more upfront and personal, not as abstract. Love the wacky production. Goes great with the hard hitting lyrics, especially on the "you screwed up your life" part. Not sure about "verbal bomb", but hey at least she pronounces it correctly.

5) Promise : Makes sense to come after 16 Shades. Since it's about aging and all. Her daughter's got some pipes! And the organ is nicely used here.

6) Giant's Rolling Pin : It's a weird ass song and breaks up the ballads. I'd like to replace it with a better b-side, but I've only heard Dixie and wasn't impressed. If I dig one of the other b sides, this song will be gone in a heartbeat.

7) Unrepentant Geraldines : Already talked about this one.

8) Selkie : Great soothing number.

9) Rose Dover : Dark and whimsical and it works. Good penultimate track.

10) Oysters : Without a doubt the most emotionally affecting song she's released in quite some fucking time. I actually tear up at this one, it's so perfect. Ethereal, haunting, sad, cathartic and empowering. Everything someone should love about a Tori Amos piano ballad. And I love it as the final song. Better to go out on a high note.

So what you all think?
 
I think you have a lot of intense opinions about an album that has only been out less than 24 hours. :)
 
i've been listening to it since amazon started streaming it last week. what's the appropriate waiting time b4 opinions are allowed?
 
What's this... hardly any opinions about the new album??? This is pathetic. Where are all the fans?

Anyway, Unrepentant Geraldines has become one of my all-time fav Tori albums! I'm glad I gave it a chance after completely skipping Abnormally Attracted To Sin in 2009. Except for Promise (I really cannot stand Natashya Hawley's voice here! Sorry Tori!), I really love this album. I even like the much-maligned Giants Rolling Pin. Rose Dover needed a bit getting used to but I grew to like that one too. Great album!

ozeeko, I don't know what the hell you're smoking! I would not drop so many songs from the album like you have suggested. But to each their own. :D
 
Hi Zoots. I'll be real here.

As soon as I saw that post above with all the "fixes" for this newest album, I was done. I just don't have it in me to engage in a discussion wherein we all decide how Tori should have released her record. I know we're all here to share our opinions--that's what message boards are for--but I just don't have it in me when it comes to Tori right now. The person who posted above comes across as having the arrogance to know what's best for a Tori album, and what would have been better, and that is getting to be the drill every time Tori puts out new music. It just crossed a line for me and turned me off to having any discussions about the album.

Tori has been making music for a loooong time, and I think it's time we all put to rest the idea that she's going to make some sort of return to the type of songs she recorded earlier in her career. This is not to say I've never criticized her production or wished an album has been more cohesive, etc. But to start off a discussion with However, since the turn of the century, she just hasn't been able to make her albums "work" for her. and My fixes for dis album: made me think, You know what, I'm not doing this again.

So that's why this fan has not been posting thoughts on the new album here.
 
Yea but HG, you don't have to reply to any post or argue with anyone here. You can still share your independent opinion on the album... if you like, that is.

:)
 
Cool! I really like this album. It doesn't ramble on and on. There's hardly any songs I'd cut from here, except maybe Promise and even that one is not awful or anything. But it is definitely my least fav track.
 
Yeah ... we'll see.

I have little hope of being really interested in her ever again. And yet. AND YET. I can't quit her.

I did quit her and it looks like I almost missed a good album, as a result. Thank goodness I have been incredibly OCD about listening to new albums this year. This is super good.
 
Melbourne setlist last night. Was an awesome gig. She sounds so good, I would say better than when I last saw her in 2009.

Parasol
Bouncing Off Clouds
Wild Way
Upside Down
Winter
Beauty Queen / Horses
Learn to Fly
Flying Dutchman
Doughnut Song
Pretty Good Year

Lizard Lounge

I Touch Myself [The Divinyls]
Icicle
Merman
Silent All These Years
Forest of Glass
Cooling
Cornflake Girl
-----------------
Almost Rosey
Riot Poof
Wedding Day


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