Search - Tori Amos :: "The Original Bootlegs" (12 CD Box Set)

Great in theory, but reality's a different story

O. Zahr | San Francisco/Boston/NJ | 12/07/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Let me begin by saying, I am a huge Tori Amos fan. I even saw the Boston show included here. I have all the albums, B-Sides, and sheet music. I love her music, and I play through all her songs at the piano. I was thinking: "Jesus, this 12-CD set is a DREAM!"



But this release is a disappoint. If you cherish your pirated CDs of the Dew Drop Inn Tour, or if you love the second disc of "To Venus and Back", then you'll be disappointed, too. Don't expect more of the same.



Tori doesn't show the the mental and emotional involvement that characterizes her early work, nor the musical command and masterful showmanship so clearly on display for the Choirgirl tour. She makes more mistakes here than I've ever heard. Yes, she gets a bit mush-mouthed in "All Through the Night", and it's cute the way she stops and corrects herself. But she makes mistakes on the piano, which I've NEVER heard her do. More than once. She repeats sections of songs absent-mindedly, as though she had tuned-out. I realize she does this on purpose sometimes, but you can tell the difference. I'm beginning to think she cancelled the band because it would have required something she didn't have time for---rehearsal.



The worst part---and what makes this a 3-star rating---is her vocal instrument: it is severely out of tune. She's such a fabulous musician, usually with such great pipes, that she must know this. It is impossible for her to listen to these recordings and not realize that there are whole sections of songs where she is clearly singing flat or singing around the correct pitches. It's like she hasn't warmed up. I remember being so mesmerized by "Total Eclipse of the Heart" during the concert, but the CD doesn't lie. It can be painful. Think of "To Venus and Back": her voice could soar in full-throated passion, she had thickness in her middle register, her top was clean and piercing, she was in control of her breath support. It is rare to experience such moments on these bootlegs. I suspect she's stopped taking voice lessons.



The irony is, I think her songwriting is better than ever. But she's not keeping up with herself. Maybe she just wants time off to spend with her family.



The good stuff: I for one am happy to see so much from the Boys for Pele album (my favorite). She had been avoiding this material for a long time (too raw and dark, I think). She does "Beauty Queen/Horses," "Caught a Lite Sneeze," "Hey Jupiter", "Marianne", "Little Amsterdam", "Doughnut Song" and "Putting the Damage on".



Also rare are "Icicle" & "Mother", "Liquid Diamonds", "Suede," "Pancake" & "Carbon," "Ruby through the Looking Glass", "Apollo's Frock" and "Garlands". She really spins out the atmosphere. There are beautiful, meaningful improvisations here.



Still, considering there are 6 concerts, the set lists are not varied. I'm not talking about the way she frames each concert with "Original Sinsuality" and "The Beekeeper." Indeed, her two-minute piano intro to "Original Sinsuality" changes dramatically with each concert. It's engrossing. The problem is that some songs appear 3-4 times: "Barons of Suburbia", "Cloud on my Tongue", a cut-up "Yes, Anastasia", "Cool on Your Island", "Parasol", "Jamaica Inn" (I dislike the live arrangement with organ), "Father Lucifer", and "Leather". But we never ONCE hear "Marys of the Sea" or "Goodbye Pisces," easily among the strongest songs on "The Beekeeper" album. She actually sounds bored in some of these repeated tracks. In light of the great rarities, it leaves me wondering what might have been, if Sony had been more thoughtful or if Tori had showed more desire to explore her discography.



There are some great covers: "Like a Prayer" is mystical (she doesn't remember half the lyrics), "Livin on a Prayer" and "All Through the Night" are driving, and "Total Eclipse" is ambitious if not quite successful.



Summary:

Beautiful piano playing, her most sophisticated work, but marred by some mistakes or lack of involvement. Singing is unpracticed. Sound quality is crystalline. Good rarities, but too many repeated tracks between concerts. All in all, an uneven release.



Recommendation:

If you're a rabid fan like me, you already have this set and nothing I can say will deter you. In fact, I'm going to listen to these CDs and love them anyway, remembering the golden days.



If you're NEW to Tori and you've heard stories that she's great in concert, DO NOT get this set. Save some money and buy "To Venus and Back" instead. There isn't a bad live track on it. "Cooling", "Sugar", and "Cornflake Girl" are mind-blowing (Tori at her VERY best, which is saying something), "Cruel" and "Waitress" are revelatory. It will transport you."

A must-have for Tori Amos Fans

Daniel Maltzman | Arlington, MA, USA | 12/20/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"4 Stars for the casual fan

5 Stars for the serious fan



Official live albums and bootlegs are always a gamble. The major flaw with official live albums is that the recordings are often wrought with overdubs and studio re-recordings that often kill the songs. Bootlegs are often far more organic, but you never know what the quality of the recording will be. How many times have we spent $25.00 for a bootleg concert that sounds as though it were recorded on a home tape machine? A major flaw with both live albums and bootlegs are that the artist/band's performance often sounds thin, and the songs are usually not up-to-par with the studio recordings.



A fairly recent phenomenon, official bootlegs are usually the best bet. Recorded straight from the soundboard and on to CD, the quality of the recordings are usually quite good and there are no unwanted overdubs are studio-re-recordings.



This brings us to the new Tori Amos box-set "The Original Bootlegs," recordings gathered from her 2005 World Tour. Simply stated, if you are a fan of Tori Amos, this new box set is a must have. "The Original Bootlegs" does a fabulous job of capturing the ambiance, the essence of the show. I had the privilege of attending the Boston (8/21/05) show, and when I listen to this CD, it really recreates the performance for me. It honestly feels as though I were reliving the show. Sure she makes mistakes here and there, but I think those flaws have been exaggerated by some of the other reviewers. She doesn't play everything perfectly, but this is a recording from a one-person live show, you can't expect everything to be impeccable. The mistakes do not diminish the greatness of the material, at any rate.



You could make a case for the redundancy of the box set being a flaw. It would have been great to hear some of her material (that was not performed, probably due to the complexity of the songs i.e., "Raspberry Swirl") with a full-back up band. So one could argue that some of the shows should have been stripped-down with only piano and organ, (as these shows are) and some of the shows should have been full band affairs. But to argue that point would be missing the point of this box set. "The Original Bootlegs" serves as a time capsule, a testimonial to Tori Amos's 2005 world tour. It was a tour of basic piano/organ renditions, so that is what you get here.



Obviously, not every song that you know and love is on the set, but most of them will be. Amos goes throughout her entire catalogue and each album is given fair treatment. Having to hear the same song more than once isn't really going to be a problem, because the same song is never played quite the same way each time. Sometimes the tempo, arraignments, and various other nooks and crannies will stand out to the attentive ear. The inclusion of the gospel singers on several songs from the Hammersmith (6/4/05) show works nicely. While it would have been nice for a few more songs to have been included, and others played only once (instead of two or three times) the track selection is mostly excellent.



One of the best attractions of this box set is its numerous arrays of cover songs. Some of these songs like Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game" are obvious choices that one would think Amos would do a great job covering. However, most of these songs initially seem really out-of-place. Who would expect Tori Amos to cover Cyndi Lauper "All Thought the Night," Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer," and A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran"? But Amos really pulls it off and makes these songs her own. And if Tori Amos can play a piece of s#.t like "Livin' on a Prayer" and make it sound good, that says something.



If you are a casual fan, you may want to stick with Tori Amos's studio albums before investing a lot of time and money into this. But for the Tori Amos faithful that already own all her studio albums, this box set is a must-have. Tori Amos's studio albums are only half the story. She is one artist that you do not want to miss in concert. "The Original Bootlegs" will forever immortalize Amos for future generations and for all time. Whether it is 2005, 2010, 2057, or 2105, "The Original Bootlegs" will take the listener right to the show and recreate a magical moment from history. This box set does a superb job of capturing what makes her shows so special.



Also, you can't argue with the price. $70.00 for six full concerts (12 CDs) is definitely a good value.









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Documenting the musician's art

T. Mobbs | 01/19/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone thinking about purchasing this set should think about what it is they are buying and what their expectations are. A 12-CD box is a considerable investment, not only of money but of listening time if one is to reap the benefits.



Comparisons with Amos' previous live releases are apt to be misleading. `To Venus and Back' included a single disc of highlights taken from a tour with full band. The Original Bootlegs consists of 6 completely unedited concerts that are, except for some tracks on the London discs, entirely solo.



Given the nature of the set, it's inevitable that there are some flaws apparent in the performances. Amos' vocals are at times flat and, recorded in stunningly clear sound where every breath registers in a way that a live concertgoer would never hear, there is quite simply nowhere for her to hide. Errors in her keyboard playing are rarer, but no `highlights' disc would be likely to include the rendition of `Jamaica Inn' where she stops and swears after blundering a difficult passage.



To focus on the flaws, however, is to miss the point. The emphasis shouldn't be on the errors, it should be on the achievements: a single performer holding a crowd's attention for close on two hours with virtually no opportunity to rest (a feat of stamina that classical pianists don't attempt), showing such technical skill that she can even play a piano and an organ simultaneously. This is raw, live music-making with not a drum machine in sight.



Similarly, negative comments about repetitions in the set list serve only to downplay the variety. Yes, it's hard to argue that 4 renditions of `Cool on Your Island' isn't a little excessive for armchair listening, yet it's remarkable that there's an average of 8 unique songs per concert. The songs are drawn from throughout Amos' extensive catalogue - 9 different albums are represented as well as a considerable number of non-album tracks - and she doesn't come close to exhausting that catalogue (she debuted a song in the second-last show of the entire tour, and one of her most well-known songs, `Cornflake Girl', wasn't played once in the 81 shows). Each concert also includes covers of other performer's songs (mostly in a mid-concert segment called the Piano Bar), many of which were requested by fans and at least some of which Amos learnt especially for these performances. This is not a performer who is only capable of wheeling out the same hit songs every night.



Where there IS repetition of songs, the versions are not identical - and the benefits of such a large collection become apparent. It's possible to sift through the CDs and hear the seemingly spontaneous decisions Amos makes that set one version apart from another - to repeat the bridge of `Father Lucifer', or to end `Parasol' on the organ instead of the piano. Even when there aren't obvious textual differences, there are frequently differences in pacing and intensity that prevent the versions from being carbon copies of each other. One version of `Space Dog' is rhythmic and driven, the other a little more relaxed and lyrical. The placement of songs at different points in the set list also affects their mood. A great deal about the nature of musical performance, and of Amos' skills, can be learnt from this kind of listening to the Original Bootlegs.



Having said that, it's arguable the set could have been even better at demonstrating Amos' versatility if a more even spread of concerts had been chosen. It's not readily apparent why the 1st leg of the US tour should be represented by 3 shows out of 15, whereas the 2nd leg is only represented by 1 out of 28. This inequitable distribution means that the set doesn't demonstrate the change and evolution of Amos' set list and song versions as well as it might.



It's hard to know which of those first 3 concerts might have been left out, though. The Chicago concert is arguably the most consistently successful of all, including renditions of `Mother Revolution', `Apollo's Frock' and `Ribbons Undone' that eclipse the studio originals, a moving `Marianne' and a fine performance of Jim Croce's `Operator' in the Piano Bar. It also impressively demonstrates Amos' ability to improvise.



The Denver concert has relatively few tracks that are not repeated elsewhere in the set, but the performances are frequently more energetic than on the other discs - the dynamic version of `Little Amsterdam' at the beginning sets the tone for much of the concert. Los Angeles, too, has its fair share of strong performances, including a great `Doughnut Song' and two Piano Bar songs that will delight children of the 80's.



The London concert is unique in that it features a gospel choir accompanying Amos for four tracks from her most recent studio album, `The Beekeeper'. The results include an excellent performance of `Witness' (the only performance of the song for the whole tour). Elsewhere, the concert includes a delicate `Bells for Her' and two more 80's classics in George Michael's `Father Figure' and Madonna's `Like A Prayer', both of which Amos clearly relishes.



The Manchester concert, from the very next night, is the weakest performance included. This is primarily due to the set list, which is noticeably lacking in the more rhythmic songs required to maintain momentum in a solo performance. Some of the results are still good, especially in the first part of the concert - a `Little Amsterdam' that emphasises the song's slimy side, a thoughtful version of `Horses' and very well-shaped extended version of `Liquid Diamonds'. Following that, however, is the cold, alienating `Suede' and a wilfully slow rendition of `Strange'.



Against all odds, Amos then pulls out the finest moment of the entire 12 CDs, a performance of Oasis' `Don't Look Back in Anger' that is simply electric. It's made even more remarkable by Amos' revelation that she was still practising the song around an hour beforehand! After that, though, the performance goes downhill, as Amos clearly recognises when she stops in the middle of `Never Seen Blue' to complain about the frog in her throat. The whole thing ends unsatisfactorily with a somewhat aggressive version of `Sweet the Sting' that is not in keeping with the mood of the rest of the performance.



The final concert, from Boston over 2 months later, makes up for the oddities of Manchester. Inclusion of this performance in the set clearly demonstrates the evolution of Amos' performance during the tour. For starters, the set list has changed noticeably - two thirds of the concert is made up of unique songs. The performances of individual songs have also mutated, with `Barons of Suburbia', `Tear in Your Hand' and `The Beekeeper' all being far longer than previous incarnations. Again, it's the ability to hear these changes that gives value to the box set over individual concerts.



The Boston performances are strong, including a haunting `Caught a Lite Sneeze' and a touching `Playboy Mommy'. The fine covers are crowned by a passionate delivery of Aerosmith's `Dream On'. The collection is suitably rounded off with a version of `1000 Oceans' that feels almost religious with its church-organ tones.



The Original Bootlegs are clearly not for everybody, but serious listeners who want to hear a genuine musician at work will find there's a wealth of material here that will repay their efforts.

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