Tori Amos
Unrepentant Geraldines

Once upon a time, there was a singer with fiery red hair who, in the middle of the journey of her life, found herself in a dark forest where the straight path was lost. This is how one could describe the story of Tori Amos, in the opinion of the writer, the greatest singer-songwriter of all time (alongside Joni Mitchell – if they had been men, they would be where Bob Dylan and Tom Waits are now, but they were unlucky to be women and thus destined not to receive the honors they deserve).

Tori Amos has crafted a series of albums that range from epic (the first four) to beautiful (the next four) between 1992 and 2003. And if 2005’s “The Beekeeper” showed us a Tori in distress, trying to make up for quality with quantity, the sprawling albums of 2007 and 2009 (“American Doll Posse” and “Abnormally Attracted to Sin”) were marked by concepts barely held together, little inspiration, and a patchy production, representing the lowest point of Amos’s career. But in 2014, Tori decided to return to her roots and, once wigs and alter egos were abandoned, she began drawing again from her personal life. And when Tori talks about things close to her, she rarely fails.

The album starts from where "Scarlet’s Walk" left off. “America” is a very Scarlett-esque piece with a catchy chorus and a melancholy that accompanies images of the other America, the one struggling for survival and not constantly under the spotlight. The single “Trouble’s Lament” is an unbalanced track in which Amos, once again, tells unsettling stories of girls and demons. This album contains tracks that draw from nearly all eras of the Cherokee singer-songwriter’s vast career, telling us that a woman’s life in the star system is not easy, but that if one wants to, she can find a way to survive the difficulties. The theme of aging is central in “16 Shades of Blue” where one can feel all the discomfort of a woman who fears she won’t be considered anymore just because she’s not young and attractive. The other winning piece of the album is the title track, which has three tempo changes in seven minutes and ends with a piano and voice piece reminiscent of the glory of “Under the Pink.” However, it is in "Oysters" that Tori reveals that perhaps what she has done in recent years wasn't the best she could have done (keep in mind that for Tori her musical creations are her “girls”):

“so can these shoes take me to
who I was before
I was stabbing my sticks into
a vulnerable earth
and I can almost out run you
and those stalking memories
did I somehow become you
without realizing
found a little patch of heaven now
so then I'm gonna turn oysters in the sand
'cause I'm working my way back
I'm working my way back to me again
not every girl is a pearl
with these ruby slippers
with these ruby slippers
so then I'm gonna turn oysters in the sand
in the sand
turn
turn
turn”

And Tori Amos has truly returned to turn oysters in the sand to create pearls. This is not a perfect album, the production is anything but immaculate, and a song like “Giant’s Rolling Pin,” while cute and cheerful, clashes with the rest of the album. But this record gives us back a Tori Amos who is alive, vibrant, and reminds us why we loved her so much. It truly seems like the beginning of a new era, and we are ready to welcome the new girls the singer-songwriter wants to gift us.