se71

« Schild's Ladder - Greg Egan | Main | Time - Stephen Baxter »

September 19, 2007

American Doll Possee - Tori Amos

American Doll Possee - Tori Amos

I've bought every Tori Amos CD since her debut Little Earthquakes, and DVDs and quite a few CD singles when I've been able to get them. I have occasionally been a bit disappointed in the beginning, and have then warmed to them, and then loved them ("To Venus and Back" may be a possible exception, I'm still working on that one).

I was expecting the same here, but my initial disappointment on the first two listen was worse than usual; I actually disliked the songs that I wasn't indifferent to. I persevered, I am not without endurance. I liked it even less, and forced myself to keep going. I finally couldn't take it any more, and gave up. I may never play it again.

Please to be ignoring the idiots on Amazon who give this 5 stars. Tori is a genius, listen to any other album and you will find gems of sheer perfection, but do not under any circumstances let this one near your ears, ever.

-------

The above is the review as I'd actually like to leave it, but it seems unfair not to actually mention any of the songs, and why they are bad. The premise for this album is that there are five different personalities singing songs in their own style. Unless you are going to study the lyrics and photos, and really work at understanding these differences, it's all a bit pointless as they all sound, unsurprisingly, like Tori. So lets just forget that and move on.

The opener "Yo George" isn't completely awful, and it's short and nicely sung, but Tori's anti-war effort is just an excuse for a bad pun. "Big Wheel" is also OK, though there is an annoying drum counting middle segment that spoils it. "Bouncing off Clouds" would be an OK filler track on a good album. From here on though, the next 20 tracks get worse. "Teenage Hustling" just goes on and on with seemingly little variation in the note being sung and an annoying rough guitar sound. "You Can Bring Your Dog" also has this guitar. "Fat Slut", at 41 seconds is more of an interlude, but one I could have done without. Despair sets in until "Father's Son" which I'd forgotten, and is quite nice. The next few songs are totally forgettable, a complete waste of listening time. It's not that they are bad, but when each finishes, you get a "so, what was that all about?" feeling. Imagine a comedian telling a shaggy dog story for four minutes, then walking off without delivering the punchline; the time spent wasn't completely unenjoyable, but you feel cheated at the end. Would you let him to it to you again, and again? There are the odd flashes of sounds that are familiar, licks and hooks stolen from other albums, but hacked to remove the originality, and hence the quality. And on it goes, gradually dragging you down, till you can't take any more. My media player says I've listened to this album six times, I know it's a few more more than that, but even so, and having just worked through them all again, I think I've forgotten the songs already.

Posted by se71 at September 19, 2007 03:21 PM

Comments

Post a comment