Abnormally Attracted to Sin Review

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(More customer reviews)I personally have not been impressed with Tori's recorded output since Scarlet's Walk, which I felt was the last great album she released with beautiful songs and captivating lyrics. Since The Beekeeper, her last three albums have been filled with the same production problems, poor lyrics, or uninspired and generic music. The Beekeeper had some promising songs that were lost in over or bad production and dry vocals. American Doll Posse's production was no improvement with flat mixing and her husband's less than great electric guitar. With Abnormally Attracted to Sin we find an improvement in overall production but still nothing that sonically creative besides some tracks such as Starling, Lady in Blue, and Abnormally Attracted to Sin. The electric guitar is still there from American Doll Posse, and instead of adding ambiance, adding cheesy 80's riffs that drown everything else in the song. In addition, the length of the album is excessive and once again Tori is need of desperate editing. In terms of vocals, there are some good moments as in Give, but she has increasingly relied on this weird accent that no one can understand what she is saying, and it sounds childish and just bad. Another negative of the album is that the lyrics which are anything but great. I don't know what happened to the days when she would craft thought provoking and mysterious lyrics, but on this album we are faced with some of the most cringe worthy lines of Tori's career.
Tori Amos' increased vanity is really exposed all throughout this project whether it's the fake posing and air-brushed beyond belief glamour shots of the album artwork or of the embarrassing visualettes --embarrassing being the only word to describe the accompanying videos of the deluxe version. Instead of visually intriguing films, we are presented with Tori Amos playing more dress up in horrible thousand dollar designer outfits walking, driving around aimlessly.
I am a huge Tori Amos fan but these reoccurring bloated albums with unimpressive results have caused multiple disappointments. She desperately needs to hire a producer to help record an album that does not contain filler, but a cohesive collection of strong, unique, emotionally-captivating songs that show off her amazing abilities as a musician (that are still there evident from a lot of her live performances last tour) found in her other albums. She should stop letting her husband play electric guitar that does nothing but drown the rest of the music. She should take the time to write the amazing lyrics she was known for. And she should stop the increased phoniness in her image and reconnect with reality and her old artistic integrity.

When compared to all her other albums, it's about a 2.5/5 stars. In other words, if you were looking for the 'return to form' of Tori Amos you'll probably have to wait a little longer.


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This Deluxe version of "Abnormally Attracted To Sin" will include a bonus fan DVD that include 17 visualettes (special music videos) for songs on the album.

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Tori Amos: Live from the Artists Den Review

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(More customer reviews)For almost two decades, I would occasionally hear a song by Tori Amos on the radio, or on TV, and say to myself, "Wow! That's an interesting song. I ought to check her out." Then, of course, I never got around to it. When PBS finally handed her to me on a silver platter, by televising this concert (most of it) on their Live from the Artists Den series, I made a point of recording and watching the show. Then watching it again. And again. Then going on line to get the lyrics, which are crucial but occasionally hard to understand, because Tori sometimes alters the sound of words for musical effect. Then finally taking the plunge, buying all 11 studio albums and about a dozen CD singles, followed by four DVD sets and four books. Rarely if ever has a singer/songwriter had such a profound impact on me.
If you are not familiar with Tori Amos, this solo concert offers an excellent entry into her world. There are twelve songs from seven of her albums, covering her entire career, including two which were not part of the PBS telecast, as well as an extended interview and a souvenir booklet. It is regrettable that the DVD is neither subtitled nor captioned, so I recommend getting the lyrics on line; neither of Tori's two websites has a complete list, but there are many other helpful sites, for instance AZLyrics. The song selection does favor the gentler, more introspective side of her output, and there is a more angry, raw, confrontational side to her which is not conveyed in this concert; on the other hand, that does make this DVD less likely to put people off. Don't worry if you don't "get" all the songs; she tends to describe, not the specific events in her life which created a song, but the images those events evoke for her, the things those events remind her of. It's like listening to the Oracle at Delphi: you won't understand every word, but you will know, with certainty, that every word is true.
For Tori aficionados, this concert is essential for a different reason. In her studio albums and on many of her live recordings, she performs with backup instruments; this makes the rhythms and dynamics relatively inflexible, in order for everyone to stay together. In this solo concert, however - just her, accompanying herself on Bosendorfer piano and on synthesizer, sometimes both at once - she has much greater control over phrasing and mood, and the songs become more sensuous, more haunting. I actually like these "black and white" versions of the songs much better than the album versions, for the same reason that I like Ansel Adams' B&W photographs - BECAUSE of the lack of instrumental color, not in spite of it; I think this presentation brings out things in the music and the lyrics which are obscured in the (more commercial) album versions. It would actually be very interesting to hear how this kind of performance affected some of her edgier songs; there may be facets to them which we have never heard.
Tori Amos is one of the most personal, creative poet/songwriters around. I always wondered what I would find if I explored her music. Now, thanks to this concert, I know.


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On a cold December 2009 night in New York City, Tori Amos played a private solo concert for one hundred fans at the historic Park Avenue Armory in New York City. "Tori Amos: Live from the Artists Den" captures this once-in-a-lifetime performance featuring both hits and fan favorites spanning the Amos catalog, from her breakthrough 1991 debut "Little Earthquakes" to her acclaimed 2009 album "Abnormally Attracted to Sin" -- including two songs not shown in the television broadcast.
Features: The full Tori Amos concert recorded at Park Avenue Armory in New York City on December 9, 2009 - including two songs not shown in TV broadcast; 20-minute Amos interview with music journalist Alan Light; tour of Veterans Room with Amos and the head of the Armory; 34-page hardbound book package.

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Bella Donna Review

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(More customer reviews)Throughout the 1970s Stevie Nicks was among the "golden line up" of the legendary Fleetwood Mac, and her lyrics and vocals did much to fuel the band's remarkable success on such releases as RUMORS. Still, when Nicks announced that she was going solo, there were naysayers aplenty. Many felt that Nicks' success with Fleetwood Mac rested in part on the musical settings created for her by various band members; others felt that she lacked the business know-how to put a solo deal together.
But Nicks proved much more artistically resourceful and a much tougher deal-maker than her critics expected. Released in 1981, BELLA DONNA exploded to the top of the charts. Throughout the 1980s Nicks would score further solo successes with THE WILD HEART and ROCK A LITTLE; at the same time she remained a mainstay of the on-again-off-again Fleetwood Mac. And she would become one of the most admired performers of the decade.
Whatever the merits of her other work, BELLA DONNA remains Nicks' single best selling solo effort, a release beloved by fans and admired by critics alike. And it isn't hard to see why. Although Nicks had done some very tough rock and roll with Fleetwood Mac, and had often performed folk and country-flavored songs with the band, BELLA DONNA extended her range in both directions. At the same, however, she did not make the mistake of doing material so completely different as to alienate her core fans, preferring instead to elaborate her previous work than to dismiss it completely.
The result is a series of songs that are very clearly by the same Stevie Nicks who performed with Fleetwood Mac--but which don't simply repeat the sound she acheived with that band. Perhaps the most obvious example is the opening title cut, which sounds very much like something Fleetwood Mac might have done, but which gradually turns in a number of directions that one would never expect from that band--a sort of fusion of Nicks' previous work and the new music she is about to present.
Nicks had done some fairly hard rockers with Fleetwood Mac, but with "Edge Of Seventeen" she takes her skills in that direction to the max, creating a hard, hard, hard rock vocal to a driving beat against a background of some the tightest back-up vocals you've ever heard any where. Her duet with Tom Petty, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," is done at a slower tempo but still creates a hard rock sound, and Nicks and Petty's voices are remarkably well blended. Nicks also veers more significantly toward a country music tone than she had in the past with "After the Glitter Fades," which proved a cross-over hit on the country charts, and her duet with Don Henley, "Leather and Lace," mixes pop and country idioms to tremendous effect.
If these cuts at least reference her original sound with Fleetwood Mac, the remaining cuts might have been written with Fleetwood Mac specifically in mind--and very likely were, songs that were probably never recorded for lack of space. "Kind of Woman," "Think About It," "How Still My Love," and most particularly "Outside the Rain" are very much in the Fleetwood Mac style, all of them expertly done, and all of them memorable.
In spite of her success as a solo artist, Nicks would continue to work with Fleetwood Mac--and fortunately so, for whereas her work with Fleetwood Mac would still find her in top form, her post-ROCK A LITTLE solo releases became increasingly problematic until her stunning TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA. But whatever her ups and downs, Nicks has remained one of the most interesting performers of her generation, a woman with a unique voice, a talent for creating unusual lyrics, and a powerhouse presence. It's hard to imagine any other performer quite like her. And BELLA DONNA remains one of her best. Recommended.
--GFT (Amazon.com)--

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No Description AvailableNo Track Information AvailableMedia Type: CDArtist: NICKS,STEVIETitle: BELLA DONNAStreet Release Date: 07/07/1987

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