News: Oklahoman ADP Review

They continue to trickle in: George Lang’s review of American Doll Posse appeared in the May 25th edition of The Oklahoman.

Fri May 25, 2007

Tori Amos ‘American Doll Posse’

Just when the industry seems to be distancing itself from albums — you know, those old-fashioned collections of songs that fit together musically and thematically — Tori Amos has given the big, audacious concept album a motherly embrace. Amos’ ninth disc, “American Doll Posse,” delivers five distinct viewpoints on female empowerment as the singer-songwriter tries on guises and delivers her best work in a dozen years.

After the short, direct political screed “Yo George,” Amos proves she has paid attention to younger artists who traveled the trail she blazed: “Big Wheel,” with its powerful message of mature sensuality, takes cues from the funky blues approach of K.T. Tunstall’s “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree,” and “Bouncing Off Clouds” is a close cousin to Nellie McKay’s disco-fied “Waiter.” But instead of playing catch-up, Amos improves on those earlier notions, investing the styles with deeper emotions.

In the past decade, Amos has veered from obtuse art-rock to too-soft, adult-alternative ballads. But for all its ambition, “American Doll Posse” is surprisingly accessible. She rocks hard and hits her points with unusual force on this disc — “Teenage Hustling” is a huge slab of glam-rock with sharp points on sexuality — and whether her personality is split five ways or united, Amos’ “Posse” is worth following.

— George Lang