American Doll Posse

For years I've read about how Tori has been inspired by great rock bands of the 1960s and '70s (The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, etc.) and upon listening to AMERICAN DOLL POSSE in its entirety, I feel that she has finally let loose and really jammed with her talented bassist Jon Evans, drummer Matt Chamberlin, and guitarist Mac Aladdin on this long-overdue sonically heavy album. After all, it was her adoration of this music at such an early age that got her kicked out of the Peabody Conservatory, so it's good to hear her music being so directly influenced by it. She began hinting at her rock-tinged roots with some of 1998's FROM THE CHOIRGIRL HOTEL, even more so with 1999's TO VENUS AND BACK, and to some extent with 2001's covers album STRANGE LITTLE GIRLS, but she clearly had no inhibitions making this glam rock/rock opera-esque album which, as music reviewer Matt Mazur stated, plays out similarly to ZIGGY STARDUST and HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH. Consequently, I couldn't agree with him more.

POSSE is clearly Tori's most politically-themed album to date and I think she handles it with the right amount of subtlety without being too preachy. For as political as "Dark Side of the Sun" is, it's an amazingly beautiful song that nearly brings me to tears each time I hear it. I think that if an artist is going to release political music, it needs to be supported in some respect. Tori doesn't just wail "impeach Bush" she makes sharp observations such as "you have the whole nation on all fours," "you say you're not bothered to lie beneath pigs, then go on Laura, here's a flower for your grave" and offers some solutions, "I'll save you from that Sunday sermon, Boy I think you need a conversion." Her pain and sadness over an unjustified war is unmistakably evident. She's also clearly not a "W" fan yet she's passionate enough about her position to back it up, and herein lies the secret of the album's success: she's passionate about it. While I've liked her recent work (most of 2002's SCARLET'S WALK and about half of 2005's THE BEEKEEPER) the problem with those works is that they weren't always cohesive (possibly due to them being too long) and she didn't seem overly passionate about all aspects of them.

POSSE isn't just glam rock and political statements, which will surely appeal to the many Tori fans who worship her first (two) album(s). POSSE includes some "old-school" Tori sounds that are some of her most beautiful songs to date. The sonically subdued but vocally rich "Father's Son" could easily reside with the girls from 1994's UNDER THE PINK and a less percussion-intensive "Beauty of Speed" could pass as an alumnae from 1992's LITTLE EARTHQUAKES. The album also offers beautiful, emotion-filled songs from a contemporary Tori, which is important because all artists must evolve. "Roosterspur Bridge" and "Almost Rosey" are such tracks that remind us our piano goddess is still creating.

Despite how much I enjoy the "classic" tracks, I feel they are overshadowed by the real gems of the album, the rougher tracks such as "Teenage Hustling," "Code Red," the initial single "Big Wheel," and my already-favorite "Body and Soul". These songs are so full of energy and emotion, and they demonstrate how multifaceted Tori continues to be, while drawing from the musical inspiration that is at the core of her being. Another strong point for POSSE is that the songs are quite diverse, yet they compliment each other very well, the softer tracks balancing the harder tracks balancing even the pop, radio-friendly tracks such as "Bouncing off Clouds" and "Secret Spell." I hope fans of Tori's early works listen to and appreciate POSSE for the sonic menagerie that it is, but there will no doubt be people who don't think the POSSE lyrics are esoteric enough and that the overall tone of the album isn't EARTHQUAKES enough. Time will tell how well this album bodes with both the EWF and non-EWF crowd, but I think Tori has managed to do what she hasn't done in a long time: create a solid and musically satisfying album (even if it's 23-tracks long) that she's passionate about while continuously evolving musically and clearly re-creating herself.

A simple glance at the tracklisting for American Doll Posse is likely to have most people instinctively wishing that Tori Amos would edit herself a little. For the third time in succession she's pushing the capacity of the CD close to its limits.

Maybe that's partly because, in an age where the commercial single has all but died in most parts of the world, Amos no longer has b-sides as an outlet for the overflow of songs that seems to result most times she goes to the studio. But it would be a mistake to simply assume that ADP is a shorter album buried amongst b-sides. All successful musicians have to shape their impulses to fit what the market requires of them - Bach didn't write hundreds of cantatas just because he liked writing cantatas, but because he was paid to write church music. When he had an employer who loved instrumental music, that's what he wrote.

So, the market no longer wants b-sides and the personal mp3 playlist is king. Amos' response has been to create bigger albums. Do they work? Well, obviously it's partly a matter of opinion. But there tends to be an agreement among fans that the long, continuous thread of Scarlet's Walk worked somewhat better than the scattershot sweetness of The Beekeeper.

What about American Doll Posse? Is it a sprawling mess of an album? Arguably yes, although any sense of excess is helped by regarding it as a 20-track album, with 3 bonus tracks that just happen to be riding on the same physical disc. But it's a GLORIOUS, exhilarating mess.

The album starts deceptively with Yo George which, while lyrically pointed, is musically very reserved and almost polite. It gives no hint of the sudden burst of energy that unleashes Big Wheel, Bouncing Off Clouds and (after briefly lulling the listener into a false sense of security) the aggressive Teenage Hustling. Amos hasn't sounded this animated for close to a decade.

After that the tempo settles down a bit, but the energy level stays high. Part of that is because she sounds like she's having FUN. She clearly relishes throwing herself into forceful numbers like Teenage Hustling and Body and Soul, or the blatant swagger of You Can Bring Your Dog. There's plenty of humour in that track, Big Wheel and Mr. Bad Man, if only you're willing to hear it. This isn't the coolly analytical Amos that brought us the Strange Little Girls cover album. More than ever before, this is Amos the entertainer, urging us to get caught up in the moment.

There are moments of seriousness and repose as well, such as Father's Son and Girl Disappearing, the latter featuring a beautiful string quartet accompaniment. And Amos has included a fair number of lyrics referring to wars and bombs, especially in the songs that are credited to `Isabel'.

Ah yes, the concept. It seems that no Tori Amos album is allowed to go without one these days. In this case, it's best to regard it as a `take it or leave it' deal. If it helps you, use it, and if it doesn't then it can be quite safely put to one side. Amos has confessed in at least one interview that this time around, the songs came first. Really, the concept of five different singers is best regarded as a kind of acknowledgment that ADP covers a number of diverse styles, and a guide through the maze. And there does seem to be a degree of legitimacy in Amos' decision to demarcate the different approaches. For instance, there's a noticeable contrast between the dark aggressive singing of `Pip' and the higher-pitched, slightly pained emotionalism of `Clyde'. As different members of the posse enter and leave the stage, the album sometimes changes tack quite dramatically.

It's the sheer diversity of ADP that's likely to make it a hit-and-miss affair for a lot of listeners. Some people know what they like, style-wise, and what they DON'T like, and never the twain shall meet. You can lead a horse to water, so to speak.

But if you're the kind of person who enjoys a sense of restless exploration; if part of why you're even interested in a Tori Amos album is because she's refused to stick with the `girl and a piano' label she was so unfairly slapped with by lazy journalists and fans; if you can cope with jumbled yet inspired kaleidoscopes that hearken back to the Beatles' White Album, then American Doll Posse is going to give you quite a ride.

Tori Amos is back to her old tricks on "American Doll Posse," which is sure to please fans of her 90's albums. She has captured the bite and urgency that marked albums like "Boys For Pele" and "From the Choirgirl Hotel" while retaining the poise and sophistication of post-millennium output like 2002's "Scarlet's Walk." As she puts it, the "warrior woman" has returned.

Amos wouldn't be Amos without building her record around an eccentric concept. Throughout the bulky list of twenty-three tracks (including 5 interludes) changes of mood, tempo and subject recur forthrightly, owed to the differing perspectives of 5 characters Amos has concocted for her "posse": Clyde, Isabel, Pip, Santa and of course Tori, all of whom are credited in the liner notes. The categorizing of the tracks in this manner, though much more discernible than the grouping of songs on 2005's "The Beekeeper" into six different "gardens," is unnecessary for the enjoyment of the album.

Beginning with the coolly cryptic "Yo George" ("Is this just the Madness of King George?/Yo George, well you have the whole Nation o all fours."), she then whips into the fast-paced lead single "Big Wheel" which finds her breaking free of a man who hinders her self-expression with its self-assured lyrics. The romantic protestation of "Bouncing off Clous" follows, a gigantic wave of instrumentation geared to sweep listeners off their feet and carry them off. Romance succeeds, however, in the cheeky "You Can Bring Your Dog."

"Girl Disappearing" may be the most culturally relevant track on the disc. Spotlighting the repercussions of tabloid culture, Amos muses on the war women wage against each others. never fumbles her message.

"Envy can spread herself so thin/She slipped it in before I could notice it/In my own war, blood in the cherry zone/When they pit woman against feminist/Riding on backs of palominos/Ditching the blond shell/Working her hell on that red carpet."

This with songs like the bitterly sarcastic "Mr. Bad Man" or the curiously titled "Programmable Soda." The best is "Secret Spell," with its widescreen, epic melody that finds beauty in a clean slate, even if love has abruptly met an end.

Religious commentary comes with "Father's Son" and the anxious, seething "Body and Soul." She also continues to wage criticism on President Bush in the likes of "Code Red" and "Dark Side of the Sun," the latter of which cuts to the heart of the matter: "So how many young men have to lay down/Their life and their love of their woman/For some sick promise of a heaven?" She even manages to send a message to Laura Bush in "Posse Bonus."

Moments of pure wisdom and grace abound in lines like "Sometimes I think, I think I understand/The Fear in the boy/The Fire in the man" in "Roosterspur Bridge" or "My dark twin, the annihilating Feminine, does not need civilizing" in "Smokey Joe."

The most evocative moment is the unflinchingly rapturous "Almost Rosey." Her most gorgeous, mercurial melody to date married with melancholy observations ("Just why do they say "Have a nice day." anyway/We both know they wouldn't mind if I just curled up and died."), it pieces together an intriguing story of the pitfalls of love and life.

She wraps things up with "Dragon," where one woman confronts another about her past while comforting her as well, telling her to "just stay awhile" since "they forgot about the power of a woman's love."

If feminism is in dire straits as of late, Amos gives it a warm embrace with "American Doll Posse" without resorting to undue stereotypes. In such a time as 2007, she is a much-needed breath of fresh air.

The limited edition contains an 8-minute bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes footage and an additional track, "My Posse Can Do."

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