News: ADP Review In Business Week

Mike Marrone has reviewed American Doll Posse in Business Week. (We’re not sure which issue.)

Although considered a cult artist in some circles, Tori Amos has sold in excess of 15 million albums. That may be because fans of this 43-year-old singer/songwriter are fanatical, but there is clearly something else going on. Amos is one hell of a pianist. Granted a full scholarship to the prestigious Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore when she was just 5 years old, she was asked to leave at 11 because, she has said, she refused to play from sheet music.

Always pushing the envelope, Amos has unveiled five “characters” to be her “voices” in the 23 new songs on American Doll Posse, her ninth studio album, set for release May 1. Listed in the liner notes as Tori, Pip, Clyde, Isabel, and Santa, each has a distinctive delivery and vibe, and each unmistakably conveys an individual slive of this performer. Pip represents “dark energy,” for example, while Santa sings about passion.

Isabel, whom Amos describes as “historical,” sings _Yo George”, a 90-second anti-Bush ditty that is the first cut on the CD. Isabel delivers a much more melodic expansion on political themes later with the exquisite Dark Side Of The Sun. But that’s just a small part of the album’s sonic palette. Songs like the ethereal Girl Disappearing and Bouncing Off Clouds, the deceptively playful pop of Secret Spell, and the sinewy Code Red had me hooked from the first listen.

They all display Amos’ wonderful sense of melody and exceptional instrumental prowess. The pianist extraordinaire relies mainly on her trusty Bösendorfer and expands her keyboard arsenal with a Fender Rhodes, an acoustic upright, an electric piano, a Wurli, a clavichord, and a Mellotron. She is again backed by the sublime rhythm section of Matt Chamberlain (drums) and Jon Evans (bass), with Mac Aladdin contributing acoustic and electric guitar on most tracks.

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