TORI AMOS ABNORMALLY ATTRACTED TO SIN ATTRACTS ABNORMALS OF ALL KINDS

by Jeff Boule in Album Reviews, Editorials, Musician Reviews, New Releases, Opinion Posts, Reviews

On the outskirts of town, there is a scarlet mansion.  Well maintained, and heavily visited.  The police know what goes on there, and they look away.  Those who enjoy visiting the scarlet mansion come and go frequently.  Each bringing in their cares and woes and after an hour or so visit, they leave without them.  What is the attraction?  The girls.

Anyone who knows Tori Amos, knows that she refers to her songs as girls.  When the girls want to come out and play, Amos inserts them into the song list, records them, or just pals around with them.  If there was ever an appropriate allegory for a Tori Amos album, the above seems to fit.  On the outskirts of town?  Definitely a fringe artist, Amos only enjoyed minor success at the beginning of her career.  As she became more established, her sales numbers leveled off until she was unceremoniously dumped by Atlantic Records.  She did sign a short-lived deal with Epic, and they released some very interesting if not earnestly successful records.  My most notable is “Strange Little Girls” which was an album of covers done in her own inimitable style.  A scarlet mansion?  Come on, look at her.

I’m not about to call one of music’s smartest redheads a blonde-wood bungalow.

Abnormally Attracted To Sin (AATS) is distributed by Universal Republic.  Still, it had major label backing, just with no promotional push.  I still managed to get my hands on a limited edition expanded version and lithograph poster.  It also included a DVD containing videos for all the songs in an alternate order.  The videos appear to be Amos taking leisurely walks through various tour venue cities.  It also appears that the video was shot with some form of Hi-8 video camera, and edited to look more like 8MM video.  Even including editing “errors” such as video transfer bend at the top of the screen and jumping.  I watched the DVD in an ill-fated attempt to get a better understanding of her lyrics, the song concepts, meanings.

I should know better.  Her lyrics are as cryptic as ever.

Another interesting point that is important to Amos fans, that she keeps self-producing her own material.  Her vision, her call.  In my estimation, it seems as if Amos is surrounding herself with trusted personnel.  Recorded by the same people she has worked with for years (one of those people being her husband Mark Hawley and long time engineer Marcel van Limbeek).    Again, her rhythm section is comprised of long time members, Jon Evans on Bass and Matt Chamberlain supplying Beats, both electronic and acoustic.  Newcomer Mac Aladdin providing stringed instrument support.  The CD itself is an interesting journey to the scarlet mansion on the outskirts of town.

She opens AATS with “Give”, one of those slower tempo songs but it sounds real big, in a shadowy album of dark moods.  One of the benefits of her self-production surrounded by trusted ears, her voice is brought to front and center.  Harmonies are distinct.  This track does sound full, but you can tell the players are holding back.  Even with the lead guitar behind the third verse.  But for an end it all just stops.  Like it was interrupted.  Too bad.

“Welcome To England” is the first single from the album, replete with Amos’ famous pronunciation/enunciation style.  This track is a bit more lifting with its Bass runs and harmonized Guitar.  Don’t know if this was her emotion upon moving to the UK a few years ago.  The line “bring your own sun” harkens back to Boys For Pele and the track “Caught A Lite Sneeze” although the word ‘sun’ is in the context of the planet instead of the offspring.

Indulging her love of Led Zeppelin, Amos offers “Strong Black Vine” with it’s “Kashmir” style strings.  But this rocker could be about revival of faith, kinky interracial sex, but thanks to the video and its concept, it appears to be about dependency on oil.  Who’d have thunk it?  With Amos, you never know. What I do know is there is a strong rhythm section behind those “Kashmir” strings.  I really enjoy the way Chamberlain and Evans can meld a piece in a smooth, flowing, liquid-style.

Changing things up, we go to a beat-box style ballad, “Flavor” seems to be detailing the struggle between good and evil as flavors.  “What does it look like?  This orbital ball on the fringes of the Milky Way?” asks Amos.  The concept is definitely bigger than the sound.  It builds slightly at the break towards the end but then the track just runs out and a few piano notes linger at the end.  As though this extra-terrestrial question will never be answered.

The feel good track of this album has to be “Not Dying Today”.  This track is but a fleeting example of what this band is capable of producing.  An all-out performance-fest.  She would be remiss in playing this live, provided they can reproduce it live, it does have some tricky parts in a difficult arrangement, full of changes, surprises and another stop ending.

As we delve deeper into the tracks on this album, it starts to play like a AAA Trip-Tik.  Now Amos’ girl is a west coast native, ”Maybe California”.  A quiet, introspective piece (as many of these songs tend to be), it is resplendent with strings.  A strong theme coming through is Amos embracing her role as mother.  While the subject matter may appear sad, the track is comforting.  Especially the last lyric before another dead stop.

Bass drum and somber Piano notes begin “Curtain Call”, with a dash of electronic percussion thrown in.  It builds a smat during the bridge, about aging achievements.  The sparse yet highly intriguing background vocals are placed on specific word and phrases and as a result are sometimes devastatingly effective.  References to oral physicality and missed opportunities aside, this is mostly about success and it’s remarkable ability to be fleeting.

Perhaps a more accessible ride might be “Fire To Your Plain” with its bouncy rhythm track and string pops.  The chorus could be about her watching her husband (engineer Mark Hawley) watching her daughter, or a love triangle.  The staccato break is unexpected, but an interesting one in any case.

Welcome back to the dark side, here’s “Police Me”, with its elastic distorted bass and spider-webbing synths.  Her vocal style takes on a slightly different timbre.  A little deeper.  The guitar lines are very effective in their Fripp-like disparity.  This song was arranged for radio, but the subject matter might be a tad too suggestive.

Speaking of suggestive, the expanded version has many, many inside photos of Tori in suggestive attire and poses.  Not for the kiddies.  As well as videos of every song on a separate DVD and a two sided poster.

I am a huge fan of funny music.  “That Guy” sounds funny, sounds like a crappy lounge song, but the subject matter is anything but.  Abuse.  Abuse behind plucked strings, electric piano-type synths (not played by Amos but by John Phillip Sehnale.  The chorus sounding the warning “Do we make up to break up, do we break up to wake up? To cuts instead of kisses.”  I know my best thing to ever happen to me is not too fond of this track.  She hates it as much as she hates Nine Inch Nails “With Teeth”.

The eerie and brooding title track starts us off with some interesting alliteration.

The song “Abnormally Attracted To Sin” has some interesting changes and sexy lyrics.  They detail the dichotomy between church and sex.  When you view the song in printed form on the lyric sheet, you think it will be short, not likely.  Another Amos surprise.  Some B3 and some guitar notes and synth notes simply make this song, they are so tastefully placed.

Too much like the Proclaimers “I Would Walk 500 Miles”, we have Amos’ “500 Miles”.  A galloping drum line and acoustic guitar set a romantic mood with strings dashed in for good measure, all set a remarkable scene.  Like this album is a Trip-Tik, this song has the same effect in a break.  Paris to San Francisco in two lines.  At the last verse the roles are reversed, now Amos walks 500 miles to bring her Adonis the lover’s communion bread.  Being experienced with tours, I wonder if this has something to do with touring with her husband?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that  “Mary Jane” is not about a girl or a shoe or a candy bar.  It is about, as Ms. Amos so adeptly recites during the lyrics (fit this into a meter or time signature) “On her maternal side there was a Dr. Tetrahydrocannabinol Pure Isomer Dronabinol…” Fortunately this is only Amos on Piano and Vocals for this line, as I don’t even think her crack rhythm section (did I mention they were killer?) could follow.  If “That Guy” isn’t the humor track on this album, maybe this is.  But as that snippet of lyric reveals, the lyrics are worded so that you may think there is a girl named Mary Jane, this is a conversation between a son and his mother, asking if he may entertain a young girl during the weekend of his mother’s absence from home.  “She even bakes”  is such an obvious line.  Still fun nonetheless.

“Starling” starts off with some synth noodling, and guitar and piano bring a rich texture in quickly.  The song only fills out during the chorus which presents the verse words very starkly.  The chorus features Chamberlain on marching-style snare Drum with a synth accompaniment.  During the break, Amos takes her best stab at Beatles-type style during a break, and we go back to the intro for the last verse.  Synth noodling, guitar and keyboards.

“Fast Horse” is a bit confusing.  She references “Fast Horse” during a bridge vocal, the word Tennessee is repeatedly more often in the lyrics than “Fast Horse”.  About being ashamed of where you come from.  I know that.  The track is pure Amos and company.

A very stark beginning to “Ophelia”, voice and piano.  VERY reminiscent of Little Earthquakes.  The full band kicks in a very nautical sounding chorus.  But when we return to the verse, piano and vocals.  When the band kicks in, she loses that LE feel, but you HAVE to love Chamberlain and Evans work on it.  The flopping between full and solo piano parts differentiates them very distinctly.  Complete with LE style ending.

We end AATS with “Lady In Blue”.  A slow ballad with legs.  Synth percussion is mixed high up, the bass takes the spotlight for this bluesy-jazzy-smokey-bar style tune.  The chorus almost seems like a tribute to her band mates “Boys play well into midnight, can I join you?  Said the lady in blue”.  This track has a sneaky dynamic.  Building small fraction by small fraction.  But don’t let it take you by surprise, after the line “I can play too”, look out.  This is the band’s last chance to rock out and they do.  Chamberlain then abandoning the electronic percussion for more acoustic drums.  The guitar burns in on the second go-round.  And they burn until Amos ends the disc with a solo piano line.

My overview of the album overall is that it is a more down-tempo-ridden song list.  Many of the songs are slower, but interesting.  Far more interesting than most of what is on contemporary radio today, but far less accessible than those same songs.  I cannot see this being labeled as adult contemporary, the subject matter is too perverse.  To hear Amos’ “That Guy” being played after Michael Bolton ANYTHING, then to hear, say, Lionel Ritchie after that, would give most programming managers a heart attack.

Oh yeah, that’s right, playlists on radios are determined by computer now.

Next time, for the first time for me here on the PREX blog, I am going to have a back-to-back review of an artist and the tour to support their latest effort.  Yup, that’s right, next time we will be reviewing Amos live show from the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank from August 19.  Don’t  miss it, and get yerself down to the PREX and have them get you AT LEAST the standard version of AATS.  I am confident the more Amos savvy will have already ordered their expanded versions.