The Genius of Tori Amos

Starting with her first solo CD, Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos has used unorthodox arrangements that often focus on the piano with minimal accompaniment. In "Crucify," the drum part is largely just kick drum and, in the chorus, a low tom that evokes a relentless hammering. In the verses of "Precious Things," the underlying rhythmic element is not even percussion but what sounds like eighth-note bursts of breath, perhaps inspired by the opening line "so I ran faster."

In those early days when she toured by herself with nothing but a piano, her live performances were marked by an especially nuanced performance style: pauses in the tempo, rubato in the vocal melody (an expressive technique of rhythmic freedom contrasted with rhythmic regularity), and liberal use of ritardando (a slowing of the tempo at the end of phrases). She scales back these techniques somewhat on the CDs or when she performs with a band, but some good, representative recorded examples include "Mother" and "Anastasia."

In addition to her unorthodox arrangements and approaches to tempo, she plays with the regimentation of pop song structure by introducing unusual chord progressions, irregular phrases, and musical sections that break the expected "verse / chorus" set-up. She utilizes all of these techniques effectively in "Professional Widow" from Boys for Pele. The basic structure of this brilliant song is:

verse / chorus / little coda

contrasting section A

verse / chorus / little coda

contrasting section B

The "verse / chorus" sections are arranged for harpsichord, drums, bass and dissonant guitar in a 4/4 meter. At the last line of the chorus, the instruments all stop and, in an unusual move, she sings the phrase unaccompanied. Then, instead of returning to the verse, she tacks on an unexpected coda with the phrase "it runs in the family" repeated twice. Violating pop song formula, the tempo completely stops as her voice sings a gradually rising pitch on the last syllable of "family."

The music starts back up and we think we're going back to another "verse / chorus," but she surprises us with a complete shift in the music to a loose 3/4 tempo punctuated with irregular phrases. She heightens the contrast by changing the instrumentation to piano and voice.

Following this detour, she gives us at last the delayed "verse / chorus" section. But it's not exactly the same as before. The first time, the phrasing was 3+4+8; now it's still irregular but is lengthened to 4+4+9. The coda, too, is lengthened for dramatic effect.

She then brings back the contrasting 3/4 tempo with irregular phrases, but it's a different melody, and she keeps the song's primary instrumentation of harpsichord, drums, bass and guitar. The irregular phrases soon are dropped and the music builds to a climax, propelled by a steady 3/4 beat to the final shocking word of the song.

Other examples of her genius include her many covers. She successfully transforms a hard-edged rock tune like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" into a dirge for piano. Her version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," unlike most recordings of this familiar holiday tune, perfectly captures the melancholy, the awareness of time passing too quickly, that is at the heart of the lyrics.

She even approached her "greatest hits" album, Tales of a Librarian, in a unique way. Many of the songs are subtly remixed, revealing elements that were hidden in the background or omitted in the earlier versions. "Professional Widow" is a dance remix by Armand van Helden originally released in 1996 that suggestively uses some of Tori's vocal tracks from the song. She also includes new material such as the ravishing "Snow Cherries from France."

I haven't even touched on the way she uses her voice or her eccentric, enigmatic lyrics. But in terms of the sheer expressive power of her music, she is a brilliant composer and certainly one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.

More music articles at Song of Fire (obergh.net/songoffire)



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