Tori Amos - To Venus and Back

For many pop-music cynics, excess can be neatly summed up in three things: live albums, double-CD's, and Tori Amos records. Damned if To Venus and Back doesn't hit the trifecta. But perhaps Amos is just trying to prove what we've always suspected: that her muse possesses a sly, ironic wit and has been frantically trying to give us a wink while Tori whipped up her heady cocktail of quiet Sturm, desperate Drang, and angst in the panties. There's teasing moments on this double-dose of Tori's love affair with her own melodic and mystical dramaturgy to support that notion, even in the disc of powerful new studio recordings that inaugurates this set. Dubbing a song "Glory of the 80's" is burlesque enough, but yearning to have oneself cloned as Kim Carnes at its climax is simply inspired. Amos is to Kate Bush's distaff mysticism what Mark McGwire was to Roger Maris; she hasn't so much broken the mold as willfully hammered it into her own image. After Bush hit the snooze-bar on her career in the late `80s, Amos boldly stepped into the fray, building a body of work that demanded to be taken seriously, even while the thrift-store chic set were laughing up their tattered sleeves at her ambitious chutzpah. They're not laughing now; in fact, many may find Venus to be a deliciously guilty pleasure. Amos supporters have long maintained that the key to understanding her intrigue lies in her live performances. Disc two boldly states their case as Amos coos, whoops, and warbles through a hit-sprinkled set, her shrewd, sorely undervalued band hanging with every nuance and turn of phrase. Cynics are from Mars; Tori is from Venus--that's just the way her galaxy crumbles. Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

TWO SIDES OF TORI

Ambivalent, multifaced, dark and full of light , thats Tori Amos with "To Venus and back" one of her most admirable pieces of work, in this album Tori delighted fans with not only a full lenght album of then previously unreleased tracks such as "concertina" , "Juarez" , "glory of the 80s", "a thousand oceans" and "bliss" but she added an extra gift, with a bonus live cd were she recreates her now classics like "space dog" in an amazing way, "Mr. Zebra", "cloud in my tongue" (one of my alltime favorites)and "girl" among others, this were also the times were Tori developed her "friends" (songs)as she uses to call them, to make them more colorfull with the addition of drums, bass, percussions, and not only guitar and her Bosse or harpsichord as she used to do after the release of "under the pink", she is Tori Amos, more than prolific, always giving her fans an excess of information, a charming confussion in her lyrics and providing her fascinating personality for our free interpretation, To Venus and back is a basic in her discography.

HM March 25, 2008

I love this album!

This is a very awesome album. The live cornflake girl and spacedog are out of this world. Tori is a Goddess. March 24, 2008

Awesome!

God, I love both halves of this album. tori is a goddess. The live section is awesome, the original stuff is remarkable.... buy this. February 20, 2008

Tori Out Of Orbit : The Uselessness of "To Venus and Back"

This review is for CD 1 of this 2-CD Set. The second CD is a compilation of some of Amos' live recordings. For Toriphiles like me who collect entire concert recordings of her performances, the second CD was redundant and also quite insulting to my sensibilities, considering some of the versions of the songs they put on there were possibly the worst renditions of the songs ever. That said, the first CD contains all new recordings (at the time, at least), and is a proper `studio' album in the strictest sense of the word.

Why is "To Venus and Back" so unlistenable? Even as a Toriphile, this and "Strange Little Girls" hardly get any airplay on my player or my Ipod. I don't even host this on my Ipod. It just sits on my laptop asking to be added on, but I can't bring myself to do it. Its one of these oddities that you either `get' or don't get. I've been trying for years to possibly bring myself to find something here worth playing, and it still hasn't happened. No matter though - the album has its' own set of cult followers, and I'm glad they have found something here to love.

"Bliss", in my estimation, is the best song here. The opening line itself is worth the price of the album. It has a slow, thumping bassline with a chorus and melody that far surpasses the rest of the compositions here. The same however, cannot be said for the rest of the tracks. "Concertina", which many fans consider an excellent single, is baffling. It has a very mediocre sound and chorus, and I really can't see myself playing this or even listening to it in concert - its dull and lifeless. The same goes for "Riot Proof", which rates very highly on my list of Tori Songs never to hear again.

Still, there are a few gems here that could possibly grow on you with repeated listening. One of these is the `classic' "1000 Oceans". This song has spawned various cover versions, and is certainly beautiful in its' own way (though decidedly sub-par when compared to Tori's own back catalog of singles). The other song of note is "Glory of the `80s", which was released as a single. Fans drool over the song, but I guess I missed the bus on this one. Its as lifeless yet overblown - not a good combination.

The problem is the faux-electronica sound that defines this album. Electronica is a unique genre and its easy to go wrong with it. Not to mention that Tori going the William Orbit way is a concept that should have been handled with great care and tenderness. What we have here instead is one stomping bassline over the other, with very little attention to production or melody. The lack of any cohesive melody on ANY of the songs is what prompts me to award this album a paltry two stars.

So yes, this is perhaps the worst Amos album alongwith the hideousness that was "Strange Little Girls". I've known electronica fans who thought it was garbage, and I've known Amos loyalists who consider it her big mis-step. Still, seeing as there are enough people out there who write positive things about this CD, it might well be that I am not musically schooled enough to appreciate records such as this one. Be that as it may, I still cannot bring myself to listen to this over-produced, messy lump of an album.

Two Stars.
February 7, 2008

Killed my monkey

Though I don't care much for the studio portion of this release, the live tracks more than make up for its lack. Tori, live, in her zenith. August 1, 2007

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