Tori Amos
Y Kant Tori Read

THE REVIEW

"They were different times, I was in a different place. Everything was beyond the limit, crazy! The teased hair was the first clear and direct testimony of how absurd everything we were doing back then was."

Yes, every musician started their career by taking completely different roads and styles, or even opposite ones, to those for which they became famous later, and it was the same for the red-headed pianist from Newton, Tori Amos. We all knew her as a refined, eclectic, versatile, experimental, alternative artist, but not everyone knows about her musical past...

Los Angeles, 1988: Tori and her guitarist friend Steve Caton, along with drummer Matt Sorum (Guns & Roses, Cult, Velvet Revolver) and bassist Fernando Saunders (Lou Reed) decided to form a synt-pop/rock band named "Y KANT TORI READ", which would translate to "Why Tori won’t read", referring to the fact that for years Tori had studied classical music and that her rebellious character and inexhaustible passion for rock were much stronger than reading notes on a staff or memorizing a Mozart composition as they made her do at the prestigious conservatory of Baltimore, the "Peabody Conservatory", from which she was expelled at the age of eleven. It was a name that also served to convey the message that she was tired of that type of music (classical) and wanted to change the rules.

It was during a performance of the group in a sunny Los Angeles locale that they were noticed by a producer from Atlantic, who would have Tori and her bandmates sign their first record contract with the U.S. major (a contract that would last more than 10 years for Amos). The production of the album was overseen by Joe Chiccarelli at the Hollywood Sound Studio in L.A. and the single chosen to launch the album was "The Big Picture", a song that travels at relentless, typically ‘80s rhythms, just like the rest of the album, a fusion of Disco Music covered with pop tinges and "metallic" distortions. The video accompanying the single is very underground and shows us a Tori as we had never seen before: leather pants, teased (though always strictly red) hair, dancing wildly with a saber in her hands. The album opens with "Cool On Your Island", with a summery, Hawaiian rhythm, chosen not by chance as the second single and according to the Redhead herself, "the track she likes the most and never skips". It is followed by "Fayth", a sharp song, where Caton's guitars certainly have a strong centrality, and the entire track moves at fast rhythms. "Fire On The Side" is the most digestible pop/rock track of the album along with the beautiful "Floating City", where the lyrics are also to be appreciated: the whirlwind of sounds strongly captures the listener's attention, transporting them to a parallel galaxy. Then comes "Pyrates", a rather predictable track that fails to convince at all, followed by the uninspired "Heart Attack At 23", which, despite its driving rhythm, fails to impress if not for its banality. Next is "You Go To My Head", which leaves the listener fairly indifferent, unlike the beautiful "On The Boundary" which has the characteristics of a ballad song.

But it is right at the end of the album where the true jewel is hidden, the hidden pearl, the most intense song of the entire album: "Etienne Trilogy". There is a strange and compelling magic surrounding this track, one can already perceive the Tori of "Little Earthquakes", the girl with the piano. A delicate and emotional melody led by piano, bass, drums, and a bagpipe that opens and closes the track. A true diamond that is worth the entire album.

The failure and negative criticism that fell on the album were very heavy, to the point that it was termed "bimbo", meaning a childish and not credible work, which led Amos into a long and deep depression.

Today, the singer-songwriter herself disowns this work and repeats when someone asks her about Y KANT TORI READ: "It was a mistake". However, not all misfortunes come to harm, because shortly after, Tori would give birth to a series of albums that would make her one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of the nineties, with a strong following of faithful followers and ardent EWF who call her "Goddess Of Rock".