Tori Amos—Under The Pink

Release info:

1994—East West/Atlantic—7567-82567-2

Availability:

in print

Ecto priority:

Essential

Group members:

Tori Amos

Guest artists:

George Porter Jr., Carlo Nuccio, Paulinho DaCosta, Steve Caton, Eric Rosse, Paul McKenna, Trent Reznor, Merry Clayton, J. P. Shenale. Strings arranged by John Philip Shenale and conducted by Scott Smalley

Produced by:

Eric Rosse, Tori Amos

Comments:

I like this album much better than Little Earthquakes, which I liked a lot. It's more mature, more certain of itself, more allusive and elusive, which are all qualities I admire. It's as strong as Little Earthquakes, too. "Bells for Her" is my favourite song on this—haunting. Some people have found this one a little too abstract, particularly lyrically, for them. Not me—I love all the hints and glimpses into a very individual mind and heart. (Neile)

Every time I want to listen to one of the songs I have to listen to the whole album. (Dirk.Kastens@rz.Uni-Osnabrueck.DE)

Little Earthquakes was straightforward lyrically, but Under the Pink's lyrics are often, at best, obscure. (I *love* obscure.) When the album came out, Tori gave lots of interviews ostensibly explaining the songs, though I rarely saw much if any resemblance between the words she sang and what she said they meant. (jzitt@humansystems.com)

there's lots that i love about Under the Pink, but i think in several ways it's a lesser work than either Little Earthquakes or Boys for Pele. (dmw@mwmw.com)

I'm in agreement with those who rank Under the Pink as the least of Tori's albums. Make no mistake, I do love it, but I don't think it measures up to the other three albums...maybe because it's the only one that didn't have some powerful emotional trauma as the catalyst for its creation. (mcurry@io.com)

I think Under the Pink is a nice collection of songs, but they don't add up to a cohesive whole. With Tori's other albums (including from the choirgirl hotel) when I'm done I get the feeling of a journey completed. At the end of Under the Pink I get the feeling that the CD just stopped spinning. (meth@smoe.org)

Under the Pink is my favorite Tori album whenever I'm listening to it. Little Earthquakes is my favorite the rest of the time. I also tend to play Under the Pink more often than any of the others, because it's an album I can work to. It's, with obvious exceptions, more upbeat and energetic than the others. There isn't one song I'd skip over, whereas Little Earthquakes has a few, one in particular that darn near ruins the album for me if I don't get to the CD player in time to skip it. Under the Pink is as brilliant to me as some people say Boys for Pele is to them. Granted though, I never got into Boys for Pele, and only listened to it a couple of times. I keep meaning to try try again until I too "get it" but I always seem to think "ah, not now" and reach for Under the Pink instead. I just *LOVE* from the choirgirl hotel but I still don't think I'll ever like it more than Under the Pink. (vickie@enteract.com)

Release info:

1994—East West—7567-80607-2

Availability:

This is a special Australia/New Zealand 2cd Tour Edition of Under the Pink. Presently available as a collector's item though at one time it was available in many stores simply as an import. Apparently still available at some Australian cd stores.

Ecto priority:

Recommended—this is the only legal collection of many of the B-sides from Tori's singles.

Comments:

The set consists of Under the Pink and a second cd which is a compilation of various B-sides from Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink. This second cd includes: "A Case Of You", "Honey", "Daisy Dead Petals", "Sister Janet", "Sugar", "Take to the Sky", "Upside Down", "Flying Dutchman", "Here. In My Head" (live), "Black Swan", "Little Drummer Boy". All of these are songs worth having, so if you don't already have these songs from the singles, you might try to track this down. "Little Drummer Boy" is the only song not on the singles, though it was available as a promotional single and on some Christmas compilations. (Neile)

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)
• American Doll Posse (2007)
• Live at Montreux (CD/DVD, 2008)
• Abnormally Attracted to Sin (2009)
• Midwinter Graces (seasonal, 2009)
• Night of Hunters (2011)
• Gold Dust (re-recording compilation, 2012)
• Unrepentant Geraldines (2014)
• The Light Princess (Original Cast Recording, Tori Amos's music and lyrics and two bonus tracks by her, 2 CDs, 2015)
• Native Invader (2017)
• Christmastide (seasonal EP, 2020)

• The Under the Pink singles
• The full singles page

The main Tori Amos page

Thanks to Art Liestman for work on this entry.