News: Slate's ADP Review

Nadia sent us this link to Slate.com’s take on ADP, which mostly consists of a roundup of other critics’ take on the album.

American Doll Posse, Tori Amos (Epic). The singer-songwriter adopts the roles of five female characters in her ninth studio album, donning different wigs and wardrobes and even creating Web sites for each persona. Reviewers are generally positive about the music, if puzzled by the concept. According to Billboard, the album is “so ripe for feminist debate that Epic could market it to literary circles with dignity.” The Washington Post thinks the heavy-handed theme comes off as a “gimmicky attention grab” but concedes that the music itself is, “perky and demented and unexpectedly decent.” Meanwhile, Newsweek lists the album as a top pick, not for its gender politics or Bush-bashing (Amos lays into the president in a song called “Yo George”) but for Amos’ signature “bouncy piano chords and sharp-tongued lyrics.” And the Boston Globe finds the album “brilliant,” adding that “the cynical may well roll their eyes,” but Amos’ latest “is a lush sprawl of an album that works, with or without the feminist playbook.” (Buy American Doll Posse)—P.F., May 1