#sundayrevival Pretty good year - Tori Amos

Pretty good year - Tori Amos

I don't know why I found myself with this song in my head this afternoon, but I just did. I suppose I triggered Tori myself by suggesting her music to a friend recently, but I suppose that's not all of it...! Anyway I guess that, notwithstanding my generally bad mood of the last few days/weeks (I need a holiday), a Sunday with Tori can never be a totally bad Sunday. Maybe it's a bliss of another kind...!

Mother - Tori Amos

Mother - Tori Amos

Last night I was reading an interview that Tori made together with Justin Timberlake, Sting, Alicia Keys, Pharrell and John Legend about songwriting and music, and she was talking about her debut album 'Little earthquakes', which is probably in my top 5 of all times! I of course had to go listen to it, and well... even when having it in the background while doing other things, if the moment is right it can convey such a strong energy...! Its magic is unparalleled and it always resonates with me in one way or another. 'Mother' is one of my favourites in an album of favourites, and it is the one that really resonated with me last night. It's her time to shine here on the blog.

"Go, go, go, go now out of nest it's time, go, go, go now, circus girl without a safety net..."

Northern lad - Tori Amos

Northern lad - Tori Amos

I often say that life is a sea of shit with a few moments of happiness interspersed here and there, and somehow even when it looks like I might be proven wrong, I end up being right. What can one do about it? Learn to swim through the sludge and try to keep your head up.

"Had a northern lad, well not exactly had

He moved like the sunset, god who painted that

First he love my accent, how his knees could bend

I thought we'd be ok, me and my molasses

But I feel something is wrong

But I feel this cake just isn't done

Don't say that you don't

And if you could see me now

Said if you could see me now

Girls you've got to know

When it's time to turn the page

When you're only wet

Because of the rain..."

Taxi ride - Tori Amos

Taxi ride - Tori Amos

Don't know why, tonight I felt the need to watch/listen to some live performance of Tori Amos (if you ever need a reason for that feeling), and thanking her incredible productivity, a quick and easy YouTube search brought me to find what I was looking for. It's been incredibly soothing and I will forever be grateful to the forces of the universe that have brought me to discover her... well, more than 7 years ago. Feels like forever. Anyway, I've found this beautiful live performance she did for NPR in 2012 and have been absolutely delighted by it, seeing how she came back to near-to perfect shape in that time frame after long years of decadence. I've particularly enjoyed 'Taxi ride' from that live, it's a version I probably like even better than the album one, so I'm gonna share it with you now, you can look at (and especially listen to) the difference if you care about it enough!

#sundayrevival Digital ghost - Tori Amos

Digital ghost - Tori Amos

At the end of this slightly tiring but very rewarding day of exploring Algarve, I found myself with a song off Tori's 'Americal doll posse' on my mind, so I went on to listen to the whole album. And I got the right inspiration for today's post. I'm not a huge fan of ADP, but I think I like it better than most Tori fans do. Ok, I agree, it's trashy pop. Mostly. And I'm not a big fan of that too (even if the song I mentioned falls under that category). What I think is that there are quite a few songs that, were they to be taken out of (this album's) context, they wouldn't feel bad in any of Tori's good albums. This is one of them and it has always been a favourite of mine, so I am sharing it with you now hoping that it will become a favourite of yours too!

Professional widow - Tori Amos

Professional widow - Tori Amos

It's been a while since I felt this shitty... unfortunately I haven't learned yet how to keep my expectations from rising up to ceiling whenever something good happens to me. This time though I don't think I have a big fault, it's just that realising that a person doesn't care about you nearly as much as you wished and hoped is never a happy thing to find out.
It's been a while since I felt the need to go and listen to 'Boys for Pele' as 'Boys for Pele', as the strongest and deepest and darkest album I know, the one I go to when I need to exacerbate my bad feelings so that I can get them out of myself. "Can't forget the things you never said" sings Tori in 'Blood roses', the most powerful song for me, the one that most vividly represents what this album means to me. Thanks goodness there's Tori to go to in times like this!

"Give me Peace

Love

Peace

Love

Gimme Peace

Love

And a hard

Cock"

Talula - Tori Amos

Talula - Tori Amos

Today is the 22nd of January, not a particularly special day for many of us, but a very particular day for one of what I believe is one of the best albums of the 1990s, i.e. Tori Amos's 'Boys for Pele' who turns 20 today! I personally wouldn't say it's my favourite album of hers, but I think it's the most powerful one, the one that goes deepest and darkest, the one I immediately go back to when I'm feeling down and depressed. Don't mistake me, many of the songs are enjoyable even when you're not feeling that bad and it still is a great album, but personally I have been able to feel it most strongly during the darkest times of my life. Talula has always been one of my favourite songs off it and is one of those you can enjoy even if you're feeling happy, as I am now!

#sundayrevival Josephine - Tori Amos

Josephine - Tori Amos

Once again I'm ready to pack my things and fly, and few other times I've needed this so badly under a physical point of view because... once again I am badly struck by the usual cold and sore throat and... what the hell, how I hate winter!! Warm places are waiting for me, just a couple of flights away, just a few hours away... and then I'll finally be able to get rid of this hideous, annoying inability to do anything with my mouth without suffocating! There is a time for enduring this malaise without taking action to stop it, but not tonight. Not tonight, Josephine.

A sorta fairytale (single) - Tori Amos

A sorta fairytale

Here we are with the first song of 2016 and to celebrate the beginning of the new year I picked one of my absolute favourite songs ever, the one I've listening to the most according to my iTunes count (taking into account both the original version and the single edit) and, really, one of the songs I love the most. It's magic, as after listening to it more than 300 times, it still hold its magic power as the first time I fell in love with it. The lyrics are beautiful, the melody soothing but with a great rhythm, the song can touch your deepest feelings and at the same time be a perfect soundtrack for a thoughtless ride in your car. The video is absolutely inspiring too, and the whole 'Scarlet's walk' CD is just awesome, I can't wait to be driving in the middle of America just to use it as a soundtrack, walking back on the steps Tori herself was walking while drafting the album. I really hope that 2016 will be like this song: as close to perfection as it can get in this world.

"Like a good book I can't put this day back, a sorta fairytale with you..."

And I rode along side till you lost me there in the open road...

#liveweek Blood roses (live in New York) - Tori Amos

Bloos roses (live in New York) - Tori Amos

When I started the #liveweek, the first performance that came to my mind was, obviously, my favourite live concert ever (I just wish I could go back in time and be there...), i.e. Tori's concert for RAINN in early 1997, right after the release of her third album 'Boys for Pele' and after one of her abortions. This is the only concert whose videos have given me feelings (let's say chills) comparable to those that one can get at live events. I can only imagine what would've been like to be there for real! Anyway, this is one of the most powerful songs composed by Tori, one I cherish and tend to listen to only during particularly black moments of my life, as it helps me gather all the negativity and channel it away. This live performance in particular is incredible in my opinion, the drama of it increased by the suffering Tori herself is feeling due to her inability to give birth, a strong feeling that she is channeling towards the audience, and that is amplified by the fact that the concert is in support of RAINN, an organization supporting victims of rape. abuse and incest, an organization that Tori is part of because she went through an episode of abuse herself when she was young. I don't think I can describe with words the feelings that this song generated and still generates in me, but I tried! I think you had better just go and listen to it and, while you are at it, listen to the whole concert, I promise it's a great, great use of your time!
With this I put an end to this first #liveweek, I'm happy about how it went through, so I might consider doing it again sometime in the future! I'm sorry to leave you on such a sad note, but music is feeling and feelings are not always good in themselves, yet I think it's good to let them emerge and to live them fully, whatever they are. Because it means we are alive.

#sundayrevival Maybe California - Tori Amos

Maybe California - Tori Amos

I know, I know... I know what you must be thinking: another Tori sundayrevival?! Yes. I am sorry, well... maybe not so much! It's just that last night has been one of those nights when you think about your life, fully realise that things are not going in a way that works well for you and that you have to do something about it. And when that happens, I always end up going to listen to my favourite albums. And 'Little earthquakes' is my top choice usually. And so I did. And then today I woke up with a couple of Tori songs in my head, more recent ones and so I went on to listen to those albums. And here I am now! At the airport once again, waiting for my flight to Abu Dhabi with final destination Bangkok, but wishing I was flying to California. Maybe California... with all the meaning that I attach to the concept of it, which I'm not going to try and explain to you here now. I'll just take the chance to say goodbye to you for this week!

#sundayrevival Hotel - Tori Amos

Hotel - Tori Amos

Sometimes it feels like my sundayrevival is more a ToriAmosrevival than else, but what can I tell you? Each and every day I realise more and more how big the influence is that she and her music have had on my life since they came in it in 2009...! Last week in my car I've been mostly listening to a playlist I made with songs from two of her best albums, i.e. 'Scarlet's Walk' and 'From the Choirgirl Hotel'. And needless to say, I enjoyed every last note of it. Driving back and forth through the hills of Prosecco, singing, dancing and screaming like a madman. "Met 'em in a hotel. Met 'em in a hotel beneath ground. Tell me that he's missing. Tell me this is one for lollipop gestapo..."

You were wild.

Where are you now?

Wednesday - Tori Amos

Wednesday - Tori Amos

"Nothing here to fear. I'm just sitting around being foolish when there is work to be done. Just a hang-up call and the quiet breathing of our Persian we call Cajun on a Wednesday...". This is how my day started, with this song playing in the car, and I must confess it made perfect sense to me for the time being: taking it easy getting up and having breakfast while I had to come to work... I was just lacking the Persian (cat? I assume so, given that it's breathing), but I could see my own wednesday as the one described by Tori in her song, starting the day in the usual way, thinking "Well, why not?" and stopping for a coffee (I didn't do that, but just because I don't love coffee) and maybe recalling things said by somebody, things I forgot already...

#sundayrevival Tear in your hand - Tori Amos

Tear in your hand (live VH1) - Tori Amos

Here we are, after a totally unexpected weekend (and actually a totally unexpected whole week I dare say)! I got to know a couple of people around here, which was quite unexpected, and then I spent two beautiful, sunny, summery, hot, blue-skied days at the lake (yesterday) and at the pool (today). Of course there was no lack of a few moments of thinking about my life, what I'm doing with it, what I'm not happy about, what I could change, what I want to change and so on... but it wouldn't be me if I didn't get a couple of those each week! I have been feeling for a while that some big changes are on the way and this 2015 already proved to be a kind of a turning-page year for me. Let's hope it will keep on running on this road! But, as every sunday, I have to keep an eye on the past, look back at songs I loved and still love and that still hold a great meaning for me. I found this live performance of one of my favourite Tori songs (out of my favourite Tori album) casually on YouTube and it reminded me why I love her so much and why I love this song so much. I hope you can enjoy it too, and that it can teach you a powerful lecture as it did with me.

"You don't know the power that you have with a tear in your hand..."

"I tell you there're pieces of me you've never seen.

Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen..."

Mr. Zebra - Tori Amos

Mr. Zebra - Tori Amos

I was about to bring to the end the short cycle of the wild animals songs with the dear Joni Mitchell and the title song out of the 'Wild things run fast' album, but I just realized that I already posted this song a few days ago… this is just to let you know how poor is my understanding of what is happening around me and of what I'm doing these days… Anyway, I couldn't just bring to a close the (already) short cycle in advance, so I came up with this well-worthy substitute! Now that you know what wild things do (well, you knew that already!), I can share with you one of my favourite live videos of Tori Amos on YouTube. Mr. Zebra is a very short song, kind of like an Interlude, but it's so great that we fans love it very very much! I love this performance in particular, I think that it is the perfect example of just what a great performer Tori is! Thanks, Tori, for coming in and saving me!

#sundayrevival Smells like teen spirit - Tori Amos

Smells like teen spirit - Tori Amos

I mentioned Tori yesterday, as after listening to her I got to Dido, but this is a fresher listen, as it happened yesterday itself. Some random playing of all Tori songs (I have, which is more than 200 tunes and counting) brought me to listen to this gem, the "most viewed Tori Amos video on YouTube", a cover not loved by many not-hardcore-fans maybe because, as usual, the red-head completely overturned the original and made it a song of her own, a completely new song. Making comparisons is useless, and the very fact that an artist covers a song of someone else means that they respect their music. What doesn't happen very often is that the original songwriter himself embraces a cover in the way Kurt Cobain did, dancing at it with Courtney Love and playing it as an intro to Nirvana gigs. Well, that should be a good enough reason not to throw Tori's teen spirit on the side...! Hope you can enjoy it too!

#sundayrevival Caught a lite sneeze - Tori Amos

Caught a lite sneeze - Tori Amos

Recently Tori Amos has announced that her first two (solo) albums will be re-released in April with deluxe material (b-sides, live material and else), most of which I already own and know, so there's probably gonna be no need for me to buy them (again), unless they'll be out at a (significant) discount in a while! One nice surprise has been the new home page of her official website (here), where you can play a full studio version of Take to the sky, one of the extra materials out of her debut album and one of my favourite songs of hers and in general! But back to this week's sundayrevival: this morning I woke up "early" for my standards (around 10.30) and I've had time to take a good hot bath before getting ready to lunch at grandparents' and then to travel back to the Venice area for the next week of training course. While taking my relaxing bath (which was not hot enough though, what a shame!) I was playing Tori's third album, Boys for Pele, and I decided that one of the most popular songs out of it (it's been the first single if I remember correctly), but also one of my favourites on the album and a favourite of many ears-with-feet (aka Tori Amos fans), would have made an unforgettable sundayrevival post, so... here it is for you! Beware of lite breezes and try to catch your sneezes!

#sundayrevival Silent all these years - Tori Amos

Silent all these years - Tori Amos

Well, living at night, here I am! Today I got up at the shameful time of 4.15 PM. In my defense I went to bed late, at about 5, and I was woken up in the morning and couldn't fall asleep again for a while. Ok, that's a petty defense, I acknowledge that! Well, given that, the central event of my day has been taking a very hot bath and while doing that I was listening to some good music. First I put on Feist's The reminder and felt my bond with the songs I already loved on that album grow stronger. Then, after the water cooled down enough for me to get in the tank without burning, I put on the first CD of Tori's A piano: the collection, which is basically an extended version of Little earthquakes. I didn't get to listen to all the songs on there (which I anyway know by heart), but it still helped me find an inspiration for this (late) sundayrevival post. Silent all these years is maybe the most renowned song out Tori's debut album, it is also a worthy component of what is one of my favourite albums overall.

Take to the sky (Russia) - Tori Amos

Take to the sky (Russia) - Tori Amos

Well, it's concert day today! And, guess what? I'm not posting about OneRepublic...! I sure will have more chances to share with you a couple of my favourite songs of them, but today I'll give you something different. I just got pervaded with a need to listen to this song, have no idea why or how. Well, it's Tori, I won't even wonder, her songs are so powerful that you don't need logical reasons to feel connected to them, you just do. I just do, at least.
This is one of my favourite Tori songs, one of the first she has ever written I believe, it was on the original setlist of Little earthquakes but was then removed (together with Flying dutchman) after the record label asked her to work on a few more songs for her debut album. I mean, how could any sane-of-heart-and-mind person want this song out of an album? It is one of the mysteries of the music history, thanks goodness we got the chance to enjoy it anyway, as it ended up being a b-side for Winter and then was featured again on A piano: the collection! I've had the luck to listen to it live during my first Tori concert in 2010, and then she did it again this past June. I can never get enough of this song, it really does take me to the sky. It will take you too, I'm sure!

We float (live) - Tori Amos

We float (PJ Harvey cover) - Tori Amos

My goodness, so many things to post today! I woke up with a song in mind, than I listened to another one by the same singer that made sense too, then I found out about this one I'm posting and in the late afternoon I gave the first listen to an album by a singer I already knew and I went back to listen to a song of hers I knew already and wanted to post that one too! Anyway, hopefully the other girls are gonna find room in the next few days, but now I have to post the song that made my day!
First of all, happy birthday to Tori Amos, who turned 51 today (22 August, which is still in the US). Second of all, congrats to PJ Harvey for being awarded a honorary degree by Goldsmiths University, the ceremony will take place on the next 10th of September. And congrats to both for contributing to this awesomeness that took place during Tori's Lizard Lounge (her "cover set within the setlist" of this tour) in Durham!