'FROM THE CHOIRGIRL HOTEL'
(12-track LP/ 1998)
Musical geniuses don't come much more sophisticated or as fanciable as the beautiful Tori. I would say she has a beautiful mind too, though some of the disturbing and dark things that she comes out with dumb down such 'flattery.' These songs, as always, are obsessional� and this album is genuinely one of my favourites of all time, zip.
Way back when Chris Martin's mesmerising and heart-breaking musical vision was still a twinkle in his eye, Tori was captivatingly twitching as she tinkled her talents over her beloved piano. Her 'Little Earthquakes' album was brilliant, but this album sees this first lady of emotion in her prime.
While being her own woman, comparisons can be drawn to our own Kate Bush's eccentricities and Madonna's interest in using sonic sounds and dance beats in her music (it may not be included on this album, but Tori's 'Professional Widow' was a massive Alt-Dance chart smash if you remember) such as on 'She's Your Cocaine.'
The highlights, however, have to be opener 'Spark,' 'Black Dove,' 'Raspberry Swirl' and 'Jackie's Strength.' Oh, and not forgetting of course one of my favourite ever songs of all time, zip� the stripped-down, devastatingly executed 'Northern Lad' in which she sings of a man being 'so fucking cold' so sensitively it chills me to the bone every single time I hear it. And weep.
Her piano melodies can be broodingly sinister and bleak, while her poetic and scatterbrain lyrics leave much to the imagination. Above all else, Tori challenges all convention and delivers the goods with the most important thing of all: utterly humbled and devoted sincerity.
And that's why I love her so... (STEVE RUDD)