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Rating:
During the Plugged Tour '98, Tori, while engaging in concert activity, works on new songs with the musicians who have been with her since the previous album. Soon the Atlantic considers releasing a collection of rarities, but Tori prefers to quickly assemble a proper album with her "boys." In the end, from outtakes to studio production, it becomes a double album that also includes tracks recorded during the same tour.
When there are such reassessments and/or doubts in the artistic field that are linked or guided by typical market logic, the average listener usually has doubts before conducting a detailed analysis of the product.
And if Tori (or those behind her) wasn't so sure of the new songs and thus added a live album to earn forgiveness from battalions of fans?
Or is the studio album just an excuse to release a simple live album? The answers could be both, because as far as the first CD is concerned, it is a punch in the gut compared to the praised "From The Choirgirl Hotel," while in the second, as she dreamed as a child, she is definitively consecrated as a star in the rock firmament.
However, looking less superficially, one can notice that even Venus.orbiting. (in the studio) has its own homogeneity, and the common denominator is the level of Amos's compositions disgracefully plummeting. Often the radical changes in instrumentation and arrangements between one track and another seem just a farce to make the listener believe they are listening to a worthy successor of the previous album.
Venus follows the trail of the "electronic" of any Cruel or the more spartan rock model à la Spark, always pushing the boundaries already explored to the extreme, but if after a few listens you hold onto the armrests and manage to endure the mass rape recounted in Juarez (a "coincidence" track number 2 on the list like Cruel), the electronic drums and the feedback of Bliss (read Spark) are already checkmate for dear Tori, who, however, is only at her first track and leading single. A track like Bliss, so intimate and personal, styled with a jaunty chorus in D major and a mischievous drum machine/bass combo with a pick sounds ultimately fake. More stereotypical is the third track (another useful single) Concertina, well-calibrated between verses and chorus, with impeccable production, radio-perfect, infinitely singable... but unfortunately, millions of pixels and easy listening do not necessarily mean emotions, feelings, a lump in the throat. Then comes Glory of the 80's, obtuse and vulgar, starting with the video (it almost seems like a vice of artists in crisis to fiercely cling to criticizing past fashions) and leading to useless electronic swarms like Riot Poof and Datura or sleepy tracks like Lust or Suede, which are supposed to be the ballads of the moment, but unfortunately do not have a shred of the pathos of a Marianne or a Playboy Mommy.
From the fourth track onwards, the album definitively stumbles, and even if, incredulously, you persist in listening to it again, there will be few anchors, like Josephine (pleasant, no strokes of genius anyway) and 1000 Oceans, one of the most tender moments of the album, supported by an unnecessarily weak rhythm that seems more like a poor radio remix of itself than the original version (it was the last single left, amen).
What really saves this double album is the second disc: Venus. live. still orbiting, Tori radically renews the arrangements, and the magic of From The Choirgirl Hotel repeats. The choice of tracks then, and here is the songwriter's hand, leans more towards an original atmosphere than one of the usual celebratory live albums. In short, the second CD is a sincere collection of tracks, not just any greatest hits. Sure enough, we cannot find elsewhere the delirium of Precious Things and the flights of Cornflake Girl (extended to 7 minutes) as much as the -really raw- Cruel and the zeppelin-like improvisation on The Waitress (11 minutes).
The two b-sides Cooling and Purple People make an appearance, with the latter closing the show. Will Tori be satisfied with this album?
I speak for myself and describe myself as half content: double album, 50% disappointment.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Bliss (03:42)
Father I killed my monkey
I let it out
to taste the sweet of spring
wonder if I will wander out
test my tether to
see if I'm still free
from you
steady as it comes
right down
to you
I've said it all
so maybe we're a Bliss
of another kind
lately, I'm in to circuitry
what it means to be
made of you but not enough of you
and I wonder if
you can bilocate is that what I taste
your supernova juice
you know it's true I'm a part of you
steady as it comes
right down to you
I've said it all
so maybe you're a 4 horse engine
with a power drive
a hot kachina who want into mine
take with your terracide
we're a Bliss of another kind
02 Juárez (03:48)
Dropped off the edge again
down in Juarez
“don’t even bat an eye
if the eagle cries”
the Rasta man says, just
cause the desert likes
young girl’s flesh and
no angel came
no angel came
I don’t think you even know
what you think you just said
so go on and spill your seed
shake your gun to the rasta man’s head
'cause the desert - she must be blessed and
no angel came
no angel came
listen, darling
no angel came
there’s a time to keep it up
a time to keep it in
the Indian is told
the cowboy is his friend
a time to keep it up, boys
a time to keep it in
the Indian is told
the cowboy is his friend
you know that I can breathe
even when I cheat
should. should’ve been over for me
listen, darling
no angel came
no angel came
no angel came
listen, darling
no angel came
no angel came
no angel came
no angel came
03 Concertina (03:56)
Clouds descending... I'm not policing what you think and dream.
I run into your thought from cross the room.
Just another trick... can I weather this?
I've got a fever above my waist, you got a squeezebox on your knee.
I know the truth is in between the 1st and the 40th drink...
Concertina, concertina, a chill that bends.
This I swear, you're the fiercest calm I've been in.
Concertina, concertina, try infrared.
This I swear, you're the fiercest calm... I've been in...
The soul-quake happened here in a glass world.
Particle by particle she slowly changes.
She likes hanging Chinese paper cuts.
Just another fix... can I weather this?
I got my fuzz all tipped to play. I got a dub on your landscape.
Then there's your policy of trancing the sauce without the blame...
Concertina, concertina, a chill that bends.
This I swear, you're the fiercest calm I've been in...
Concertina, concertina, try infrared.
This I swear, you're the fiercest calm... I've been in...
Too far... Too far... Too far...
It could all get away, too cheerful, no no no.
I've got a fever above my waist, you got a squeezebox on your knee.
I know the truth lies between the 1st and the 40th drink...
Concertina, concertina, a chill that bends.
This I swear, you're the fiercest calm I've been in...
Concertina, concertina, try infrared.
This I swear, you're the fiercest calm... I've been in...
Clouds descending...
04 Glory of the 80's (04:03)
I took a taxi from LA to Venus in 1985
I was electromagnetically sucked back
into a party going on that night
it was the glories of the 80's
with karma drawn up in lines
and two bugle boy models saying, baby,
it's free-bee you sure look deprived
I had the Story of O' in my bucket seat
of my wanna be mustang
auditioning for reptiles in their
Raquel Welsh campaign
in the glories of the 80's
you said, 'I'm not afraid to die'
I said, I don't find that remotely funny
even on this space cake high
and then it all seemed clear
just then you go and disappear
silicone party barbies to the left and
Joan of Arcs to the right
no one feeling insecure we were
all gorge and famous in our last lives
and the glories of the 80's you said
'the end is nothing to fear' I said
blow the end now baby
who do I gotta shag to get outta here
and then when it all seemed clear
just then you go and disappear
sure you're out there orbiting around
wish I had you back now
I met a drag king called Venus
she had a velvet hologram, she said
'my husband ran off with my shaman
but they love me as I am'
in the glories of the 80's
I may not have to die
I'll clone myself
like that blonde chick
that sings Betty Davis eyes
and then when it all seemed clear
just then you go and disappear
05 Lust (03:53)
Hey you, gender nectar,
sifting through the grain of gold tripping at your door.
Is that you alpha in her blood
and when the woman lies you don't believe her.
Rolling and unrolling coiling emerging running free
running through the underworld into your room
Is he real or a ghost-lie,
she feels she isn't heard
and the veil tears and rages
until her voices are remembered and his secrets can be told
Hey you gender nectar,
crystalline from the vine
you know you'll drink her
Rolling and unrolling, coiling emerging running free
running through the afterworld into your room
So she prays for a prankster and lust in the marriage bed
and he waits til she can give and he waits and he waits
06 Suede (04:58)
suede suede suede sude
You always felt like suede.
There are days I feel your twin
Peek-a-boo
Hiding underneath your skin.
Jets are revving
Revving from a central source, and this,
This power over me-
Not because you feel something or don't feel something for me,
But because
Mass so big it can swallow, swallow her whole star intact.
Call me "evil" call me "tide is on your side"
Anything that you want.
Anybody knows you can conjure anything by the dark of the moon.
Boy and if you keep your silence silencer on
You'll talk yourself right into a job.
But out of a hole.
But into my bayou, into my, my bayou. Suede.
I'm sure that you've been briefed
My absorption lines,
They are frayed and I fear
My fear is greater than my faith,
But I walk the missionary way.
You always felt like suede.
There are days I am your twin
Peek-a-boo, hiding underneath your skin.
Jets are revving, yes, revving from an ether twist.
Call me "evil" call me "tide is on your side"
Anything that you want.
Anybody knows you can conjure anything by the dark of the moon.
Boy, and if you keep your silence silencer on
You'll talk yourself right into a job.
But out of a hole, but into my bayou, into my, my bayou. Suede.
Oh... little sister I hope you didn't feel that way,
And oh... little sister I'm glade you came,
And I said, oh, little sister I hoped you wouldn't feel that way,
And oh... little sister, oh again,
And I said, oh, little sister I hope you didn't feel that way,
And oh... I'm still glad you came,
I said, oh, little sister I wished you didn't feel that way,
And oh, little girl I'd do the same again said,
Oh... little sister I hoped you wouldn't feel that way,
Oh... I said I wished, oh... little sister you'll forgive me one day,
You'll forgive me one, one. Suede.
08 Riot Poof (03:28)
You know what you know
So you go and break
the terror of the
Urban spell
This alliance you say
'I'm on the threshold of greatness girl'
So you burn your pagoda through the congo
till there's a broken bond
On the birth of the search
white trash my native son
It will all find its way in time
Blossom, Riot Poof
You know what you know
So you go chain her
to your flow
She bites through your dry lean meat
as she's going to the movie show
In a bath of glitter and a tiny shiver
she crawls through your java sea
Black sahara I'm stepping into
your space oddity
It will all find its way in time
Blossom, Riot Poof
The sun is warming my man is moistening
On the bomb on the bond on the bomb
09 Dātura (08:25)
get out of my garden
passion vine
texas sage
indigo spires saliva
confederate jasmine
royal cape plumbago
arica palm
pygmy date plam
snow on the mountain
pink powderpuff
datura
crinum lily
st. chrstopher's lily
silver dollar eucalyptus
white african iris
katie's charm ruellia
variegated shell ginger
florida coontie
datura
ming tea
sword fern
dianella
walking iris
chocolate cherries allamanda
awabuki viburnum
is there room in my heart
for you to follow your heart
and not need more blood
from the tip of your star
get out of my garden
walking iris
chocolate cherries allamanda
awabuki viburnun
natal plum
black magic ti
mexican bush sage
gumbo lumbo
golden shrimp
belize shrimp
senna
weeping sabicu
golden shower tree
golden trumpet tree
bird of paradise
come in
variegated shell ginger
Datura
lonicera
red velvet costus
xanadu philodendron
snow queen hibiscus
frangipani
bleeding heart
persian shield
cat's whiskers
royal palm
sweet alyssum
petting bamboo
orange jasmine
clitoria blue pea
downy jasmine
Datura
frangipani
dividing Canaan
piece by piece
o let me see
dividing Canaan
10 Spring Haze (04:44)
Well I know it's just a spring haze
but I don't much like the look of it
and if omens are a godsend like men
breezing in
certain these clouds go somewhere
billowing out to somewhere
in a single engine cessna
you say we'll never make it there
so all we do is circle it
Uh oh, let go
off on my way
unseen this eternal wanting
uh oh way to go
so I get creamed
waiting for sunday to drown
uh oh waiting on, waiting on sunday
waiting on sunday to land
uh oh so if I really get creamed
waiting for sunday to drown
well I know it's just a spring haze
but I don't much like the look of it
and all we do is circle it
and I found out where my edge is
and it bleeds into where you resist
and my only way way out is to go
so far in
billowing out to somewhere
billowing out luna riviera
billowing out to somewhere
uh oh let go
off on my way
unseen this eternal wanting
uh oh way to go
so I get creamed
waiting for sunday to drown
waiting for sunday to drown
why does it always end up like this
why does it always end up like this
why does it always end up like this
uh oh let go
off on my way
unseen this eternal wanting
uh oh way to go
so I get creamed
waiting for sunday to drown
uh oh way to go
so I get creamed
waiting for sunday to land
waiting on sunday waiting on sunday to land
uh oh so if I really get creamed
waiting for sunday to drown
11 1000 Oceans (04:19)
These tears I've cried
I've cried 1,000 oceans
and if it seems
I'm floating in the darkness
Well, I can't believe that I would keep
keep you from flying
And I would cry 1,000 more
If that's what it takes
to sail you home sail you home
Sail you home, sail you home
I'm aware what the rules are
But you know that I will run
You know that I will follow you
Over Silbury Hill through the solar field
You know that I will follow you
And if I find you, will you still remember
Playing at trains
Or does this little blue ball just fade away
Over Silbury Hill through the solar field
You know that I will follow you
I'm aware what the rules are
But you know that I will run
You know that I will follow you
These tears I've cried
I've cried 1,000 oceans
And if it seems I'm floating in the darkness
Well, I can't believe that I would keep
Keep you from flying
So I will cry 1,000 more
If that's what it takes to sail you home
Sail you home, sail you home, sail you home
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