|
4.0 out of 5 stars
Under Stands (slightly) Above (most of) the Rest, Mar 16 2003
Given the nature of Tori Amos's music (and slightly obsessive fans) one would think that Amsco would be interested in releasing the most accurate possible piano score to each of her recordings ... complete with vocal notation and extensive editor's notes! However, this is not always the case. Her sheet music books often provide over-simplified piano parts reduced to melody and the bass-line. Harmony vocals are nearly unheard of, and comments from the editor are virtually non-existant.The biggest problem with many of her books is their follow-the-vocal approach to right hand notation, which typically ignores Tori's expressive playing in favor of a cut-n-paste job from the melody line along with sparse chords on the down-beats. This issue is somewhat avoided in Pink, on which Tori follows her own vocals much of the time already. Some sections are slightly "dumbed down" from Tori's playing ("Yes, Anastasia" specifically), but the changes blend better and are much subtler here than in other books. Even the repetitive left hand parts of "Pretty Good Year" and "Icicle" are preserved nearly verbatim from the record. Bonus piano compositions "All The Girls Hate Her" and "Over It" are stunningly well-done. However, off-setting the faithful transcriptions in this book are a few key transgressions. Foremost is the neutering of "Cornflake Girl," presented here without any of its awe-inspiring solos and with too much right-hand-play-a-long. Luckily, a brief internet search will lead you to several quality transcriptions of this gem. Equally as offensive is the trimming of the classical-style openings of both "Icicle" and "Yes, Anastasia," but the rest of each song is faithful. Pink is a challenging album to play, and includes a few remarkable passages ("Cloud On My Tongue"), key signatures (Cb on most of "Icicle"), and ever-shifting time-signatures ("God" ... yikes). Vocals are noted with precision -- this album is largely lacking in backing vocals. The exception is "Space Dog," which *does* include backgrounds in its bridge/outro. For the guitarists among you (of which I am one), Under The Pink offers sensible chord translations, and it includs the use of capos where chords would otherwise be painful to play. The book only ever suggests capoing up to the first fret, but you may find better options for some tunes on your own (try 6th for "Pretty Good Year"). Aside from "Cornflake Girl" every song in this book is presented in a playable *and* mostly accurate fashion. Not for the beginning pianist, but unless it comes back into print it will soon be hard to find!
|
