Tori Amos—The Beekeeper

Release info:

2005—Epic Records—EK 93698

Availability:

Wide

Ecto priority:

Recommended

Group members:

Tori Amos—Bösendorfer, B3 Hammond organ, Hammond Chord organ, hand claps, vocals

Guest artists:

Matt Chamberlain—drums, handclaps
Jon Evans—bass, upright bass, Hammond bass pedals, hand claps
Mac Aladdin—acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, 12 string guitar
London Community Gospel Choir—background vocals (2, 8, 11, 16)
Damien Rice—additional vocals (3)
Kelsey Dobyns—additional background vocals (9)
Alison Evans, Chelsea Laird—hand claps

Produced by:

Tori Amos

Comments:

I'll just say that it's a very good album. Time will tell where it ranks overall, but if you liked Scarlet's Walk you should like this one quite a lot too. So far my favorite song is "Witness", which is Tori's version of what would happen if Yes were a funk band.
     Be prepared: it's *long*! (meth@smoe.org)

Most of this album is the kind of sweet, predictable pop of "1000 Oceans" from to venus and back. I find this kind of music doesn't interest me much. There are four or five tracks here that I find a more interesting than that, but in an album of this length I would say this is quite a disappointment. I don't mind sweetness so much as I mind that the sound is so predictable—for an artist capable so much power and creativity this is painfully bland to me. For the most part I have trouble telling the tracks apart. That's never been a problem with her melodies and sound before.
     I actually found this album difficult to listen to—it just got on my nerves—so I finally traded it away. (Neile)

For what it's worth, let me start by saying that I absolutely love The Beekeeper. Yes, it's a more quiet, mature album...but it's so lovely, and has some really poetic moments. I'm not out to tell anyone they're wrong for disliking the album, but I'm very surprised at how negatively so many people feel towards it. (lasherboy@gmail.com)

Tori Amos' other recordings:

• Little Earthquakes (1991)
• Under the Pink + More Pink (1994)
• Boys for Pele (1996)
• from the choirgirl hotel (1998)
• to venus and back (1999)
• Strange Little Girls (2001)
• Scarlet's Walk (2002)
• Tales of a Librarian (2003)
• The Beekeeper (2005)
• Original Bootlegs (live set, 2006)
• A Piano: The Collection (compilation, 2006)

• The singles page

The main Tori Amos page