Tori Amos
Boys For Pele

THE REVIEW

After more or less formulaic productions, which nonetheless led to the making of albums with a capital A, Tori arrives at her first self-produced album after freeing herself from producer (and lover, among other things) Eric Rosse. Boys for Pele was as appreciated by many as it was criticized by others. Certainly Tori's most anarchic album (musically speaking), which, paradoxically, when she gazes at her own navel, writes her best songs. This time, among harpsichords, spinets, and pianos, she relies in 18 tracks (few stumbles despite over 70 minutes) on drum machines, drums, and a few strokes of bass and guitars in not even a third of the album.

Considered and reconsidered, the album is nonetheless coherent in terms of music, even if the lyrics are increasingly cryptic in some episodes, except for unexpected revelations, like the first single, Caught a Lite Sneeze, openly dedicated to her ex-producer; embarrassing to read, as in the verses "Right on time you get closer and closer / call my name / but there's no way / to use that fame / rent your wife and kids today / maybe she will / caught a little sneeze", beautiful for the ears. But aside from Sneeze, which is the 7th track on the list, there are other gems that shouldn't be missed.
Just the opening, with the sweet Horses and the more "cruel" Blood Roses (a chorus like chickens gonna taste your meat would make even the best PJ Harvey blush) which between harpsichord and tubular bells is surely one of the red-haired singer-songwriter's best tracks. Drum machines only arrive on the 4th track—Professional Widow (even more beautiful considering it's a single!) and the 7th, while tiny jazzy suites (Mr. Zebra), delusions of slapped bass and harpsichord (Talula), and a couple of full-band blues tracks (Little Amsterdam - In The Springtime of His Voodoo) parade by.

Bold and Inspired. Perhaps Tori's best, far from MTV specials and easy radio plays.
Makes a mockery of Atlantic, which, worried about the album's sales, re-released the album long ago with two dreadful remixes that flattered the UK charts.