tori amos
Photographer Loren Haynes on Tori Amos: ‘She Was Going to Be a Star’
It was December 1991, in Santa Fe when I ran into Arthur Spivak. I had been living in L.A. since ‘85 and met Arthur at the Sunset Marquis when I met Steven Van Zandt to go over a photo shoot. Arthur was managing Steven at that time and Arthur knew I was working as a staff photographer with SPIN. He mentioned this new artist that he was representing with Michael Ameen and was clearly very excited about–and whose record was about to be released. I offered to see if I could get SPIN interested in doing a small piece for the magazine. First shot after the show. There would be no need for a hard sell or any sell: “I want to smash the faces/ Of those beautiful boys / Those Christian boys / So you can make me cum / That doesn’t make you Jesus.” [“Precious Things,” Little Earthquakes, 1992] I don’...
Tori Amos Unveils North American Tour Dates
In support of her record that was released last year, Tori Amos will embark throughout North America on tour. Amos is slated to kick off the tour on April 27 in Dallas and will run through June. General tickets go on sale at 10 am local time this Friday, February 4, on Amos’ website. Ocean to Ocean, Amos’ 16th studio record, was released last October. SPIN‘s Liza Lentini went on the record with Amos: “Ocean to Ocean feels like something stylistically new—big, sweeping, mythic—with a nod to her Little Earthquakes-esque earlier work.” Lucky for Amos’ fans abroad—these are just the U.S. dates she announced today. Amos also plans to go from Ocean to Ocean and will tour in the UK and Ireland later this year. Tori Amos Tour Dates 4/27: Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre4/29: San Antonio, TX @ Majesti...
Tori Amos Unveils North American Tour Dates
In support of her record that was released last year, Tori Amos will embark throughout North America on tour. Amos is slated to kick off the tour on April 27 in Dallas and will run through June. General tickets go on sale at 10 am local time this Friday, February 4, on Amos’ website. Ocean to Ocean, Amos’ 16th studio record, was released last October. SPIN‘s Liza Lentini went on the record with Amos: “Ocean to Ocean feels like something stylistically new—big, sweeping, mythic—with a nod to her Little Earthquakes-esque earlier work.” Lucky for Amos’ fans abroad—these are just the U.S. dates she announced today. Amos also plans to go from Ocean to Ocean and will tour in the UK and Ireland later this year. Tori Amos Tour Dates 4/27: Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre4/29: San Antonio, TX @ Majesti...
The 90 Greatest Albums of the ’90s
This article originally appeared in the September 1999 issue of SPIN. “You must be high.” We heard that a lot during the time we spent preparing this issue. Which is understandable. Pronouncing the 90 greatest albums of the ’90s is a somewhat presumptuous thing to do. When you’re measuring the music this decade is offering to history—the sounds we partied with, copulated to, fought about, and wept over—everyone has an opinion. That ours should be more valid than yours is debatable. But hey—it’s our magazine. What, then, you ask, constitutes “greatest”? Don’t even start. Suffice it to say that, after much heated discussion and countless veiled insults, it came down to the factors of both remarkable artistry and cultural shock value. Sometimes a record’s knock-you-off-your-Skechers impa...
The 10 Best Indie and Alternative Steely Dan Covers
Once upon a time, Steely Dan were hipsters. As frontman Donald Fagen explained in his 2013 book, Eminent Hipsters, he and Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker grew up as aficionados of pre-rock ’n roll cool, studying jazz and Beat Generation writers. During the band’s original 1970s run, they were fixtures in the Village Voice critics’ polls even as their music gradually became smoother, slicker, and more popular. “We were kind of on the cusp of the counterculture and whatever happened afterwards,” Fagen told SPIN in a recent interview about the band’s new live album, Northeast Corridor. Over the past half-century, Steely Dan have been heroes and villains in equal measure — subversive iconoclasts to some, banal elevator music hacks to others. Even as they’ve played the role of establishment...
On the Record: Tori Amos’ Ocean to Ocean
Artist: Tori Amos Album: Ocean to Ocean Number of tracks: 10 Label: Decca Records Release Date: October 29, 2021 “You need to write yourself out of this private little hell,” Tori Amos tells me, of her despair during the third UK COVID lockdown, and the message she’d received that led to her newest album Ocean to Ocean. “I think I threw my hands up in the air and said, ‘I don’t know.’ That’s where the songs began to meet me, where they said, ‘Let’s come from you’re feeling despondent, and you feel like you’re in your own private little hell because you do. You need to write from that place.’” As if by magic, Tori consistently manages to spin a thorny yarn into something artful and exquisite. From her signature crimson locks to her star sign, she isn’t a woman who’s merely walked through fi...
Tori Amos Shares New Single ‘Spies’ off Forthcoming Ocean To Ocean Album
Tori Amos dropped another track from her upcoming album that is out in a few weeks. “Spies” is dedicated to the creepy bats and rodents that would terrorize her daughter, Tash, during pandemic lockdown nights. As the whole record touches on loss during the pandemic, explores environmental concerns, and dives into personal crisis, this may be Amos’ most personal record to date. Also disturbed by the political upheaval on January 6 at the Capitol, Amos wrote the record within limited surroundings, yet nonetheless it is rooted in her earliest songwriting. Previously, Amos released “Speaking With Trees.” Ocean to Ocean is out October 29, via Decca Records. Fans can now pre-order the album, which includes a signed CD and an exclusive blue-vinyl edition at Center Stage. The vinyl release is...
Tori Amos Shares ‘Speaking With Trees’
Tori Amos dropped a single “Speaking With Trees” off Ocean to Ocean, her first album in four years. As most of the world, Amos faced some darker times and mental obstacles during the pandemic. “Speaking With Trees” releases her pent-up frustration from solitude: “I’ve been hiding your ashes under the tree house don’t be surprised I cannot let you go.” Listen to the song below. [embedded content] Ocean to Ocean consists of realizations from her time in the lockdown, and explores what she learned of love, friendship, and splitting her time between Cornwall, Florida and on the road. It also strains from the impact of the storm on the Capitol on January 6 that resonated with Amos. Ocean to Ocean is due October 29 via Decca Records. The vinyl release will follow on January 28, 2022. Fans c...
Tori Amos Announces New Album Ocean to Ocean
Tori Amos had a difficult time during the pandemic. She entered a place of personal crisis that was exacerbated by the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6. But instead of allowing it to bring her down further, the singer-songwriter channeled that energy into Ocean to Ocean — her 15th studio album and most personal work in years. “This is a record about your losses, and how you cope with them,” she said in a statement. “Thankfully when you’ve lived long enough, you can recognise you’re not feeling like the mom you want to be, the wife you want to be, the artist you want to be. I realised that to shift this, you have to write from the place where you are. I was in my own private hell, so I told myself, then that’s where you write from – you’ve done it before…” The result is an urgent, int...
To Live and Die in L.A.: Our 1996 Red Hot Chili Peppers Cover Story
This article originally appeared in the April 1996 issue of SPIN. “Los Angeles is my favorite city in the world!” declares super foxy Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro, offering as proof of his conviction the city’s name tattooed on the back of his neck. “I would never live anywhere else.” Navarro, drummer Chad Smith, and I are wedged into Newsroom, a trendy Beverly Hills restaurant/coffee house/media mill where omnipresent TV monitors serve up the latest from the E! network with your rice-milk cappuccinos. “But I feel like the bad is taking over,” says Smith, an unadulterated rock dude and Detroit native who, Navarro says, wrote the book on that city’s infamous evening of arson known as Devil’s Night. “I wouldn’t want my kids growing up here,” admits Smith, who at age 33 s...
The 35 Best Albums of the Last 35 Years
Let’s face it: With most “Best Albums” lists, you know the broad strokes of the ranking before you even click. Part of that predictability is understandable: Most iconic records earn their reputation. But these rankings shouldn’t be fossilized, and a shit-ton of amazing LPs have been shoved aside in the pursuit of maintaining the status quo. We didn’t ignore the unimpeachable on our list — you’ll see plenty of the staples you’ve come to expect. But we also hope we’ll spark your curiosity and encourage you to hunt for a title you may have missed over the last 35 years. 35. Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel of Love (1987) CREDIT: Columbia Records How does one follow up a rock album that recalibrates stadium sound systems and offers a stark look at hard times in America? With love songs, of course. ...
Tori Amos Shares ‘Better Angels’ From Upcoming Holiday EP
After announcing her new holiday EP, Chrstimastide, earlier this month, Tori Amos has released the first track just in time for the holidays with a pretty version of “Better Angels.” Promising to “try and lift people’s spirits,” the song jumps off with striking piano chords and rolling guitars. If you’re looking for a holiday song with more energy, this may be the perfect track to add to your rotation this season. [embedded content] “With ‘Better Angels’ I wanted to acknowledge the year we have all been through and know that there is hope,” Amos said in a statement. “We can find that hope within ourselves if we continue to focus our collective minds and souls. We are slowly starting to find a clearer path to transform together for the better of all.” The EP, which releases on Dec. 4 via De...
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