| Product Summary | | Label: Cbs/epic/wtg Records | | UPC: 00827969369821 | | Release Date: 2/22/2005 | | Buy.com Sku: 63949710 | | Item#: M242L4 | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25140 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Parasol ~ Tori Amos |  | | 2. Sweet The Sting ~ Tori Amos | | | 3. Power Of Orange Knickers, The - (with Damien Rice) ~ Tori Amos | | | 4. Jamaica Inn ~ Tori Amos | | | 5. Barons Of Suburbia ~ Tori Amos | | | 6. Sleeps With Butterflies ~ Tori Amos | | | 7. General Joy ~ Tori Amos | | | 8. Mother Revolution ~ Tori Amos | | | 9. Ribbons Undone ~ Tori Amos | | | 10. Cars And Guitars ~ Tori Amos | | | 11. Witness ~ Tori Amos | | | 12. Original Sinsuality ~ Tori Amos | | | 13. Ireland ~ Tori Amos | | | 14. Beekeeper, The ~ Tori Amos | | | 15. Martha's Foolish Ginger ~ Tori Amos | | | 16. Hoochie Woman ~ Tori Amos | | | 17. Goodbye Pisces ~ Tori Amos | | | 18. Marys Of The Sea ~ Tori Amos | | | 19. Toast ~ Tori Amos | |
| | The limited edition package features an extended 24-page booklet, the Standard CD, PLUS a special bonus DVD that includes over 25 minutes of interview footage with Tori and the bonus track "Garland" with text and pictures from her new book! It has been over two years since musical force Tori Amos has brought new music to her ever-growing foundation of dedicated fans. On February 22nd Tori Amos unveiled two exciting projects- a new CD entitled The Beekeeper and her first book Tori Amos: Piece by Piece, co-written with journalist Ann Powers.
Tori self-produced The Beekeeper in her UK studio Martian Engineering. On songs like "Sweet the Sting," "Sleeps with Butterflies," and "Ribbons Undone," Tori incorporates vintage organs, Afro-Cuban drums and Gospel choirs, working once again with longtime partners, drummer Matt Chamberlain and bassist Jon Evans.
Tori Amos explains, "The Beekeeper is musically inspired by the fact that the piano has realized that she has an organ. With my right hand on her organ and my left hand on her piano keys, I have been changed by the relationship between these two beautiful creatures, the Bosendorfer piano and the B3 Hammond organ."
In the book Tori Amos: Piece by Piece co-penned with writer Ann Powers, the usually private Tori gives a rare inside look into many intimacies of her life as both a private individual and a very public performing musician.
Tori Amos, whose career skyrocketed with the release of the 1992 multi- platinum breakthrough Little Earthquakes, has led the charge in rejuvenating the era of the female singer songwriter. With worldwide record sales topping 12 million and multiple Grammy nominations, Tori continues to be one of the most intriguing and respected artists of our time.
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | This Limited Edition includes an extended 24-page booklet, a bonus DVD disc which contains the bonus tracks "Garlands" and a Beekeeper seed packet. | | Personnel: Tori Amos (vocals, Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards); Damien Rice (vocals); Mac Aladdin (guitar); Jon Evans (bass instrument); Matt Chamberlain (drums); London Community Gospel Choir, Kelsey Dobyns (background vocals). | | Released in conjunction with Tori Amos: Piece by Piece, a memoir presented as a think piece co-written with music journalist Ann Powers, Tori Amos' eighth studio album, The Beekeeper, is also loosely autobiographical, a song cycle that chronicles emotional journeys through metaphorical gardens all tended by the beekeeper protagonist of the title. Good thing that this concept was sketched out in the pre-release publicity, since The Beekeeper offers nothing close to a discernible concept in the album itself. At first, songs appear to spill forward in some sort of narrative, but the liner notes divide the 19 songs into six different groups -- "gardens," if you will -- that have nothing to do with how they're presented on the album, nor do they seem to have many sonic ties, and their lyrical connections are either tenuous or obtuse. Coming after 2002's Scarlet's Walk, whose title and songs clearly communicated its concept, this willful obtuseness might seem to hearken back to Tori's obstinately difficult albums of the mid-'90s, but The Beekeeper is miles away from the clanging darkness of Boys for Pele and From the Choirgirl Hotel. This is a bright, gleaming album that retains its sunny disposition even when the tempos grow slow and the melodies turn moody. Amos even occasionally punctuates her trademark elliptical piano ballads with organ-driven lite-funk -- a move that may alienate longtime fans, who may also balk at the album's highly polished sheen, but one that nevertheless fits well into the general feel of the record, lending it some genuine momentum. If the story line or concepts of the album aren't readily apparent, individual songs make their specific points well, and the record does flow with the grace and purpose of a song suite. As a cohesive work, The Beekeeper holds together better than nearly any of Tori's more ambitious albums, but there's a certain artsy distance that keeps this from being as emotionally immediate or as memorable as her first two records. But if Little Earthquakes was an album Amos could only have made in her twenties, The Beekeeper is a record perfectly suited for the singer/songwriter in her forties -- a little studied and deliberate, perhaps a shade too classy and consciously literary for its own good, but it's an ambitious, restless work that builds on her past work without resting on her laurels. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine | | Like Tori Amos's previous studio album, SCARLET'S WALK, THE BEEKEEPER is a largely stripped-down affair that places emphasis on the singer's heavily conceptual lyrics and supple voice. The basic backing band from the former disc returns, and the musicians' ease with Amos's music gives the record a relaxed, natural feel. | | Throughout, the music is melodic, inviting, and sometimes even danceable. "Sweet the Sting" mixes church organ with an old-school soul beat and Latin percussion, resulting in a track that has less in common with Amos's usual overt sexuality and more with Barry White-style make-out music. "Sleeps with Butterflies" is a gently jazzy soft-rocker, while "Jamaica Inn" recalls the deceptively dark folkiness of Nick Drake. Lyrically, the album draws heavily from ancient religious texts, with an emphasis on women's role in Christianity a la THE DA VINCI CODE. One of Amos's most reflective albums, THE BEEKEEPER is also one of her most intensely thought-provoking outings. |
Producer: Tori Amos |
Engineer: Marcel Van Limbeek; Mark Hawley |
Musical Guests | | Damien Rice |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 02/22/2005 | | Original Release Date : 2005 | | Catalog ID : 93698 | | Label : Epic (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00827969369821 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Entertainment Weekly (No. 808, p.99)
- "[A]mos keeps the melodies and arrangements relatively pared down and gentle....THE BEEKEEPER is the Tori Amos album for those normally freaked out by Tori Amos..." - Grade: BUncut (p.102)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "Pre-Raphaelite florid, abstract or frankly sexual, this eclectic epic is her best since '94's UNDER THE PINK." Mojo (Publisher)
(p.92)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "Amos is exploring lush, steamier textures for her latest album....Here she keeps the mood focused and the music softly funky." |
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