Track Listing

1. Spark
2. Cruel
3. Black-Dove (January)
4. Raspberry Swirl
5. Jackie's Strength
6. Iieee
7. Liquid Diamonds
8. She's Your Cocaine
9. Northern Lad
10. Hotel
11. Playboy Mommy
12. Pandora's Aquarium

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9906 in Music
• Released on: 1998-05-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
For Tori Amos, sex can be a weapon, a spiritual offering, or an act of protest. It's certainly been the singer/pianist's big subject since her 1989 debut Little Earthquakes. But while her earliest compositions tried to punch every emotional hot button at once and came off sounding turgid and overblown, her new album packs a greater punch by toning down mock-symphonic excess in favour of stark, haunting tracks that contain veiled mysteries. Love cuts both ways on Choirgirl. Songs such as "She's Your Cocaine" and "Cruel" view relationships as vicious power plays, while the protagonists in "Playboy Mommy" and "Northern Lad" desperately seek salvation via emotional connection. Hypnotic, affecting, and frequently gorgeous, From the Choirgirl Hotel is Amos's most accomplished album to date. --Marc Weingarten

CD Description
With her abstract lyrics, idiosyncratic piano playing and quirky arrangements, Amos has rewritten a good deal of the post-Laura Nyro poet-gal-with-a-piano rule book since 1992's LITTLE EARTHQUAKES. As her legions of fans can attest, she's already made it plain that she can do the intellectual artiste thing with aplomb. What she proves on FROM THE CHOIRGIRL HOTEL is that she can also rock out with the best of them.
This recording finds her retreating a bit from the singer/songwriter-with-backing-band approach of her previous recordings in favour of a more band-oriented approach. Though the songcraft here is up to her usual standards, many of the tunes sound as if they were the product of Amos working closelywith her musicians and feeding off their inspiration, rather than cloistering herself away with her diary and piano. Itis this development that makes CHOIRGIRL HOTEL such a refreshing change of pace, and marks the next chapter in the continuing evolution of Tori Amos.

Customer Reviews

Tori's Strength
Tori Amos is one my favourite singers of all time her thought provoking messages with beautiful lyrics and a sense of comfort she brings to her music which is what fans globally have fallen in love with over the years. ""From The Choirgirl Hotel" is her fourth album and her most beloved among fans, a very dark, painful album in which during the recording process Amos suffered several miscarriage 'Choirgirl' being the end result.

1.Spark - One of her best songs shes ever written, this one definately touches on the subject of her miscarriage and feeling really angry with herself and god, the beat is heavily driven by an electic guitar and fits the song perfectly theres also a line "6:58 are you sure where my spark its" the meaning of this is that this is the moment she knew she wasnt carrying life anymore and the 'spark' was gone if you really think about it this a truly painful song for Tori to sing this is probably why she doesn't play it live much anymore 10/10

2.Cruel - This song has a really sexy beat with it's harsh guitar loop and pounding drums and it's echo-like vocals this song she sings about people who are feeling sad and you got other people basically saying 'get over it' and if they've never experience they don't how you feel that's why you retaliate back in a 'cruel' manner i think this song is for anyone who has felt that people didn't really understand them they way they waned to be understood.This is a very understated song from Tori and definately a favourite of mine without question. 10/10

3.Black-Dove (January) - I never really understood this song it's a very dark song for Tori very much acoustically driven with a great bassline.From what i can gather this could be about a woman or girl not telling anyone she was pregnant and going off to have the baby on her early in this case going to Texas in a wooded area lol, thats what i came to term with anyway i like the mysterious feel it brings 9/10

4.Raspberry Swirl - This is when the animal instincts of Tori's music comes out this club-driven beat is fantastically upbeat.This song is about just being a woman loving yourself as a woman being feminine and not letting men dominate your life, a somewhat sexual song the 'raspberry swirl' playing the role of the womans femininity and basically saying only a woman knows how to please a woman, not in a sexual way but it all ways and from what i can gather Tori feels men need to learn this lol cool song 10/10

5.Jackie's Strength - One of her most beloved songs the song was written in homage to the former first lady Jackie Onassis a song that signifies the true strength a woman has the lyrics are some of the most clever,strong and beautiful lyrics Tori has ever written i love this song i love the line "i got lost on my wedding day" which for me says that even with all the power you still get scared and afraid and it's alright to be weak sometimes its human nature. 10/10

6.Iieee - When i first heard this song a few years ago i thought it was so strange and instantly brushed it aside, but just recently i've seen the true beauty of this song, as Tori has Cherokee blood i feel this is a way of getting in touch with that i song feels very tribal, apparently according to Tori herself the song came to her in a dream by a little boy singing "Iieee, Iieee" in her ear, i find this song very sorrow-filled and Tori's vocals are top notch. 10/10

7.Liquid Diamonds - Another of Tori's most loved songs and my favourite song on the album, clocking in at a hefty 6 minutes this song could be 16 minutes and still not enough and when i saw her live she made this song truly come alive.From the impression i get from the this song is that you should try and make yourself happy before you even think about other peoples feelings, you have to that enternal need to be fulfilled by someone else and fulfill yourself the best line in this song is " A lilac mess in your prom dress" classic Tori! 10/10

8.She's Your Cocaine - This is Tori at her most bitchy it's a fanstically rock song, a revenge for Tori about a woman who can't be the woman she is but the guy can't get enough of her like an addiction, I haven't quite figured out if the girl singing is really annoyed that she isn't special to him anymore it's such a transformation from her usually stuff 9/10

9.Northern Lad - Another sad song for Tori this time she is pining over a love she used to have and still misses terribly and now she bitter that her live is unrequited, it's not as complex as her songs usually are but it's very pleasent to listen to theres a line which she says "I guess you go too far/when pianos try to be guitars" probably saying that she isn't ready or even willing to change who she is and if he doesn't like it thats his loss 10/10

10.Hotel - An electronic song that really gives the album that experimental,dark,sad even to the point of crazy, Tori really lets rip with the creativity with this on singing in higher ranges that she usually does which was a good addition to the song it shows her versitility, the song is about being with someone and while your with them everywhere you go your seeing your ex loves and its either temptation or angry is the main theme of the song its frantic and i love this song its great 10/10

11.Playboy Mommy - Another much loved song of hers, The song is about the lengths someone will go to keep theyre children protected in this case the woman is either a prostitute or an adult movie star and many consider this seedy work but the song is about not to judge the person shes just trying to look after her child.It's a sweet song in a way and a very good one that Tori plays live 10/10

12.Pandora's Aquarium - The closer is a sad song i enjoyed it alot its a song for you if you've cried and cried and you can't do it anymore and your introvertive and subdued,it's a whole new journey, but you've got to metaphorically leave this little dock and come with me to find out what's really in this ocean of feelings.That was a bit deep for me actually hehe but the song has a very aquatic theme anyway great closer

Top 5
1.Liquid Diamonds
2.Jackie's Strength
3.Cruel
4.Iieee
5.Spark

This is one of the best albums ever made and Tori fans really connect with songs from this song fans have felt her pain personally with each record but this was Tori's pinnacle career moment and a true highlight in musical history

The definitive Tori album.
This was the second Tori Amos album I bought (the first was "Little Eathquakes") and is still my favourite now that I have "Boys for Pele", "Under the Pink" and To "Venus and Back".
I usually tend to listen to rock music so I think Tori Amos will appeal to anyone who ventures out of the pop bubble. Anyway "From the Choirgirl Hotel" is breath taking and sees Tori using a full band (drums, guitar and bass)to amazing affect.

Songs such as "Spark" show off beautiful melodies while others like "Iiiee" and "Hotel" seem experimental but still flow seamlessly with the rest of the album. "Northern Lad" is profoundly emotional and Tori's voice sounds beautiful. In fact this whole album gives a new meaning to that over-used word. Apart from the previously mentioned tracks, "Playboy Mommy" and "Shes Your Coccaine" also immediately strike you.

That said, in time you'll love every track.Enjoy...

Dazzling...
This is by far my faveourite Tori album and the one I would recommend above all others. It achieves the amazing feat of being both her most accessible, commercial and experimental work. All the songs overflow with energy and emotion and Tori takes you into many different sound worlds. Standout tracks for me were: Spark (her finest single), Raspberry Swirl (which has an almost feverish intensity), Iieee (estatic and haunting) and Northern Lad (one of her most beautiful songs); I also loved the wildness of Hotel.