tori amos's to venus and back

Tori Amos is no longer the angsty teenager with a piano who brought the young Alanis Morisettes of the world to tears with her cathartic debut, Little Earthquakes. Now, on the double-CD To Venus and Back, her lyrics are more mature and cryptic than ever, even as her music maintains its apparent inaccessibility. But give the industrial-inspired percussion and ethereal sound layering some time to grow. Venus is a logical, beautiful step in the continuing metamorphosis of Tori Amos.

The first CD, Still Orbiting, a compilation of live performances from Amos' "Plugged '98" tour, brandishes some of the singer's flashiest, most emotional performances yet. Older songs such as "Precious Things" and "Cornflake Girl" have received electrifying facelifts, while hard-to-find b-sides like "Cooling" and "Purple People" are even more compelling than their original versions.

The magnum opus of this set, however, is Amos' new studio album, Venus Orbiting. Its opener, "Bliss," recalls the percussion-driven rock of Amos' last album, From the Choirgirl Hotel, and explores the dynamics of a dysfunctional father/daughter relationship. "Concertina" is the closest Amos has ever come to full-blown synth-strings-and-hummable-chorus-pop, while "Lust" and "Josephine" are more traditional piano-based ballads with wonderfully gelatinous melodies. "Riot Poof" is like nothing Tori has ever done. Mix a teaspoon of Björk, a plethora of over-dubbed vocals, and a whole lot of attitude, and you have a dance song sprinkled with lusciousness. "1000 Oceans" is the album's closer, and rightfully so—Tori comes clean and sings a gorgeous hymn about devotion that will win back any disillusioned followers.

With every new album, Amos demonstrates her impressive musicianship and the great scope of her songwriting; here she shows that she can wield electronics with the same genius that she does her beloved Bosen-dorfer. Moreover, To Venus and Back is an excellent survey of Amos' once and future career for anyone who's had their head in the sand since she was singing about grade school crushes. Tori Amos is a 35-year-old, married woman, but she's still the queen of what she does, and she does it all over the place on To Venus and Back. (Atlantic)

—Chuck Colman

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