Cover of From the Choirgirl HotelNews that Tori was soon to be gracing our shores here in SA got me running back to the house to dig up my copy of From the Choirgirl Hotel - by far my favourite (and in my opinion her most dangerously engaging) album. I remember hearing the album for the first time and exiting the tail end of it physically exhausted and distraught, not least for the hard and unnerving employment of noise in the recording, nor Tori's weird and wonderful wailing between moments of sweet and seductive siren-ing. (Yes, I make up words sometimes.)
Distortions, strange amplification, and just plain crazy musical variations make Choirgirl a masterpiece in the context of Albums by Iconic Women in Rock.Fuckit, never mind that - it's a great freaking album any way you want categorise it!
"Spark" - which opens the album - is a brilliant example of Amos' musicality over a tangential and seemingly obtuse sense of subject and lyric. The odd-time verses are an outstanding counter to the beautifully singable chorus.
And if you took the time to try to decode the lyrics, you'd find a number of possibilities and references that would appeal.
Fantastically appropriate video too, which in a way raises more questions and possibilities than answers.
