Abnormally Attracted to Sin
 

http://www.yessaid.com/pic/2009_aats_cover.jpg

TORI AMOS
ABNORMALLY ATTRACTED TO SIN
(UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC)
Released: May 2009
Chart: UK No.20 / US No.9

• Give
• Welcome to England
• Strong Black Vine
• Flavor
• Not Dying Today
• Maybe California
• Curtain Call
• Fire To Your Plain
• Police Me
• That Guy
• Abnormally Attracted To Sin
• 500 Miles
• Mary Jane
• Starling
• Fast Horse
• Ophelia
• Lady in Blue

Non-album b-side:

• Oscar's Theme (UK)

I'm drawn to questioning what traditional authorities have defined sin to be. As a minister's daughter, I've been exposed to the traditional belief system. [Sin] has been used to shame and control people. If you're controlled by a religious structure, then you're going to have a very different outlook on life and what you're open to than if you're not controlled by these old, crumbling concepts. http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12...32_636x300.jpg



____

THE VISUALETTES



I'm calling them "vignettes" because it's more akin to a mini-film. This all started on tour last time, when we were filming the live shows. The director was putting together montages, and as I saw the montages, new music was already coming. I started to put the new music to the mini-films that were being made out on the road.

I still enjoy this one. I think we all agree that it could have been edited, but there is a little bit of magic in this CD. It's probably the best production we have had from Tori since 2000. I'm talking sonically. I love it. It's flawed, but I love it.

edit: seeing the cover again, it has actually grown on me quite a bit. I think the horrendous MWG cover makes this one look like a piece of classic art.

I hated it when it came out but now I love it. I love the experimentation with sound and song structure that she does on this one. It would have been better if she left out a few tracks, but overall, I find it to be an enjoyable listening experience.

Give, Flavor, Police Me, Fire To Your Plain and AATS are among my favorites. Great album to listen to when I'm in the mood for something different.

WARNING - I don't like this album that much. I don't want to offend anyone though, I'm just venting and sharing my opinion. If you like the album, that's completely valid.

I just don't like this album. I LOATHE the title. (The title track itself as a song is decent). Maybe it's because I've followed Tori's career so closely but I am so over all the puns on sin and all the sort of Marilyn Manson-esque baiting of Christianity. You know, it was cute when girls in my high school wore shirts that said "Recovering Christian" when they were sixteeen - but at forty-six it's a bit sad. Come up with something else. I'm not "shocked" by atheism (I speak as an atheist) and taking little cutesy pot shots has long since worn thin. The glamour zombie artwork photos are really terrible. I think the packaging of the album really turns me off before I even get to the music.

Give - Well, otoh I like the opening guitar textures (and I do like Tori's image of a bunch of huge pianos swaying their 'hips' to the music), but the sound of "Give" just isn't what I crave from Tori. The lyrics sink the song though, I think they are random and trivial. The music is decent though.

WTE - I like it. The lyrics are head-scratchers in some points (bang a tango) but there's some actual rock bite that's reminiscent of "Spark" and the melody is decent. The Mac N Cheese guitar is DREADFUL though. I didn't even really notice how awful Mac's electric work is until I joined @, but everyone pointed it out so clearly and now in some songs IT'S ALL I CAN HEAR.

SBV - Generic, don't like it. The Kashmir strings sound fake and trying to hard. Trying to sound tough ("shut your mouth") and it doesn't work. "She's Your Cocaine" had some rock bite but it was also campy and funny, I don't think T can really pull off a straight ahead rock song very well. (That's not an insult btw).

Flavor - It's okay but it sounds like something that would be on YKTR to me. It's a good sort of poppy song. Sounds Alanis Morriseette-esque in a way. But I expect better from Tori. Alanis is not on her level.

Not Dying Today - I actually kind of like it! I like the bass work. The Mac guitar once again is ATROCIOUS. I also liked parts of the visualette when they were traveling and this was playing. It does evoke a road trip for me. It's not a good song but I think it's catchy.

Maybe California - I feel the same as most people. Fake emotion, schmaltzy. It's not awful but it's not sincere and the tie in with the economic crisis was really ill-advised

Curtain Call - My feelings about this song are known. I think it's one of her worst.

Fire to Your Plain - Hate it. Awful Paula Abdul sounding or something. People have said it sounds like Sting. I guess. I just don't like it. Where's the piano? It's too airy, too cheesy.

Police Me - Grown on me a lot. I don't "like" it per se, but I think it's legitamtely weird and has some great moments in it. The "loaded/full of winter" bits are among my favorite on the album

That Guy - Hate it. Cheesy. This is not Tori Amos music. I don't even know what it is - Sade meets I'm Breathless era Madonna ballad I guess. I just don't like it,

AATS - Pretty good. Again, like "Give" - it's not really the sound I want from Tori (I like classical Tori), but it's a pretty good song with some great lyrics and clever turns of phrase

500 Miles - I surprisingly like it. I mean it's beyond embarrasing and poppy, but it's good poppy. If it came on the radio I would leave it on and enjoy it. But thats how I feel about Vanessa Carlton, not Tori Amos!

Mary Jane - I don't hate it. T and Bo basically can't go wrong. It sounds like an improv but with more thought out lyrics

Starling - Possibly the best on the album. Not a fan of the bridge. Amazing lyrics, some truly dark and powerful sentiments and musical motifs happening here. Pretty good.

Fast Horse - A forgotten SW's song, yeah. Also pretty decent like "Starling." Some of the lyric's are head scratchers, and it doesn't have the darkness or bite of SW, but it's still decent

Ophelia - T and Bo. I like it. I get now that the "Ophelia/I feel you" bit is ridiculous. But there's still some great moments. This resonated with me.

Lady in Blue - Okay. The production is good. The guitar at the end doesn't sound that good though to me. It sounds better than normal Mac n Cheese but it's no where near what Adrian Belew might have done with it. The guitar basically just sounds like "guitar is happening here" - it doesn't add anything to the sonic story or create atmosphere.

Oscar's Theme - I've barely listened to it. I don't like it all that much. I'd have to listen more.

In summation - when I look at the track list for this album, I don't even know where to go. Almost every song is terrible. At least on TBK and ADP there's some respites along the way (Parasol, Bouncing off Clouds, Father's Son, The Beekeeper), but AATS is just a gigantic mound of drek.

The cover is plain awful and doesn't reflect the album itself at all, which is actually her best since Scarlet. It has many strong tracks but the problem is that there aren't many enough to make it truly a great album. Strange how people rave on about Lady In Blue, which I personally find a dragging bore with annoying drum clacks, just don't see the glory in that one. However, Welcome To England is the best lead single since ASF and Curtain Call, while it serves nothing new, is classic Tori. At its worst (Maybe California, Ophelia) the album slides into pointelss fluff but the stronger tracks (Flavor, Fast Horse, AATS) keep the whole thing afloat.

I don't even know what to think anymore. I thought it was a move in the right direction at the time of the release. I still like AATS, Fast Horse, Give, Police Me, Lady In Blue and Oscar's Theme. I haven't listened to it in a while (or to be honest not after two months of the release).

I love it, it's my favourite of her 2000s album and I listened to it a LOT. I still put it on regularly and love it, although I basically listen to my edited version of the album (minus Fire to your plain, 500 Miles, Mary Jane, Maybe California and Not Dying Today, which are all okay at least, but basically bsides material to me). It contains so many Tori classics for me that I just can't put it away (Curtain Call, Flavor, Lady In Blue, Ophelia, That Guy especially). She should've just tagged Fire To Your Plain and Maybe California to the Welcome To England single, tagged Mary Jane to the should've been single Flavor (with remixes), and tagged 500 Miles, Oscar's Theme and Not Dying Today to the should've been single Curtain Call. It would've looked something like this:

Album
1. That Guy
2. Abnormally Attracted to Sin
3. Flavor
4. Welcome to England
5. Police Me
6. Fast Horse
7. Strong Black Vine
8. Starling
9. Curtain Call
10. Lady In Blue
11. Ophelia
12. Give

Welcome To England single
1. Welcome To England
2. Fire To Your Plain
3. Maybe California

Flavor single
1. Flavor
2. Flavor remix
3. Abnormally Attracted to Sin remix
4. Mary Jane

Curtain Call single
1. Curtain Call
2. 500 Miles
3. Not Dying Today
4. Oscar's Theme

And with all these videos already MADE for the album (no matter how crappy some of them actually turned out to be... however much I love the album, these clips are sometimes just too ridiculous to bear), she should have released more singles from this album. What does it cost to put up a single on itunes?

[rant]

I can respect somebody saying they don't like this album or think it's crap. It's all a matter of taste after all. But when people say "this is not Tori Amos" or "where's the piano, T?" is when they lose me.

I know we all have our expectations for a new album before its release. That's the reason I hated ADP and AATS when they came out. But then I realized that Tori is an artist that makes the kind of music she wants to make, not the kind of music I want her to make. And in the end, I always end up coming around and saying "this is actually good stuff...it might not have been what I wanted but it's good."

I guess that's why she's my favorite artist: she always manages to surprise me and she rarely repeats herself. A lot of fans fawn over LE and UTP but I barely listen to those albums. I don't want her to make another LE, UTP, BFP, FTCH, SW or whatever. She already made those albums. If you miss the piano-heavy music, listen to the early albums or Scarlet's Hidden Treasures.

Anyway, I'm glad Tori is trying out new things and not becoming stale and boring like most artists who have 11 albums under their belt. She still manages to surprise me, and I think that's a good thing. Even if I end up hating the next album and not coming around to even liking it, I'll still respect her for making the kind of music she wants to make.

[/rant]

Well, I like that Tori explores too. I loved Strange Little Girls. I was okay with Tori brancing out and utilizing a band during the FTCGH era. And I actually like ADP pretty much (though I have some issues with it). But AATS is a failed experiment (for me). And I don't know how you could even "succeed" at making bland pop songs like "Maybe California." Experimenting is one thing but making an album in a putrid schmaltzy genre is something else. Tori Amos represents empowerment for me - and singing lines like "will we make up? will we break up?" in a babykins voice is not what I want to hear. Tori once said it herself: the "hold me tonite, make it all better" pop routine gets old. Making bland adult contemporary is not taking risks.

But again these are all just my opinions. I do like a few tracks (a few) on AATS and I respect that others like different tracks for their own reasons.

I am listening to this album now. Listened to ADP and AATS back-to-back for direct comparison, and the production on AATS is leagues better. I think with ADP for the most part she was focused on trying to limit how ethereal and atmospheric her music can sometimes be, but in the process it became far too dry and airless. With AATS, things have room to breathe, there's much more sonic variation, and she remembered to use some effects on her voice.

However, ADP is energetic, vigorous, and fun, three words I wouldn't use to describe AATS. I like it and I think it has some great material ("Give," "Abnormally Attracted To Sin," "Starling," "Fast Horse" for instance) but for the first time for me it can feel like a slog listening to it all the way through in one sitting, whereas her other long albums overall aren't like that for me. I think I can attribute that to a mid-album sag with a run of songs that I think are OK but not at her best level.

hahahahaha so true.

I love AATS. I liked it on first listen and besides MWG, it's the only Tori album in which I like every single song. It's the only album I listen to as a whole as well.

Now, while I like all the songs and the album as a whole, I think Mary Jane, 500 Miles, Fire to your Plain, and Not Dying Today should have been b-sides or bonus tracks. Not because they inherently suck, but because they don't fit the tone or sound or theme of the album.

500 Miles is so weird. The first half is so cheesy, but the end is so freaking awesome and different from the first. It's totally split personality. And it's so pretty live.

I bought the deluxe edition and watched the visualettes once. I still don't get that whole thing, but whatever.

It was refreshing to have an album with a clear concept without it being shoved down our throats.

I wish she had continued doing Legs & Boots for this tour. Do her and her people realize we don't absolutely have to have them 48 hours after the show? We have very little high quality audience recordings this time.

I still love this. I kicked off Police Me and Not Dying Today and the rest is good to great. I listen to it more than any other album at the moment. My faves are Curtain Call, Lady In Blue, Welcome To England, Give and Flavor. Also enjoy Fire To Your Plain and Fast Horse and the title track.

I like That Guy but I see it as a song from the musical and so it doesn't really count somehow. I think she makes a good go of it but I always imagine it being better sung on stage by someone with a more powerful voice and in the context of the story.

Oh, and where are my official Flavor and AATS remixes? I suspect they'll never see the light of day. I'd much rather we never hear about this stuff (fair motormaids, learn to fly, the song with Michael stipe, fear of a black planet, like a virgin) than to know it might be out there, ready to hear, locked away to wither and die.

Good post.

I can remember specifically when Welcome To England hit the web. I think a radio station had played it, and some fans managed to record it. I probably could have keeled over with excitement as soon as those opening notes started. It was just so... smooth and, dare I say, magical.

The coolest thing about AATS is that each song stands so well on its own. Which may account for why so many people complain about its flow. It's truly an album of songs. The concept is just thin enough so that it is present, but doesnt overshadow or color the music. And it's interesting, because I'm an constantly surprised.

Give is a fantastic opening track. A friend of mine who is familiar with Tori, but not a huge fan, thinks Give is one of the prettiest/coolest songs ever. I've belly danced to Give because it moves me in a way that is so much different than any other Tori track.

Favorite Tracks: Give, Welcome to England, SBV, Flavor (a powerhouse collection of opening songs) Curtain Call, Fire to Your Plain, Police Me, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, 500 Miles, Starling, Fast Horse, Lady In Blue.

Which is, quite frankly, a HUGE percentage of the album. Even the lesser-loved tracks are still fantastic, IMO, and make for a great listening experience every time.

That's the thing I've noticed as well. There are some really jarring (for me, anyway) transitions in this album. Police Me > That Guy > AATS > 500 Miles > Mary Jane is the one I have the most problems with when I'm listening to the whole album.

(Oh, and I remember seeing a belly-dance video to Give on YouTube awhile back. If that was you, good job! I love Give...I love the mood/atmosphere it exudes. And I loved seeing it live. It was probably my favorite part of the show I saw.)

AATS > 500 > MJ and Flavor > NDT are easily among the worst transitions in her career. On a more positive note, Starling > Fast Horse and the first four tracks are awesome transitions.

I really hate this album, but I will say the handful of songs that are good are really good. Like, the title track and Fast Horse, for example -- those are in the 'best since Venus' category. I just wish there wasn't stuff like 500 Miles and Not Dying Today, which are in my 'absolute worst ever' category. So I guess I feel like AAtS is Tori's most inconsistent record.

Am I the only one who loves Police Me? I love its weird movements and quirks. It's the only song on AATS that I still choose to listen to.

Oh oh, and does anyone notice how well the title track and Police Me flow into each other? Perfect.

The middle half of the album desperately needs to be resequenced and/or edited. Not Dying Today into Maybe California and FTYP into Police Me are also terrible transitions. The middle part of the record can't gain any momentum or stay in a consistent mood and that makes it a much less enjoyable listening experience. I do like the Police Me/That Guy/AATS combo, the vocal on That Guy makes the AATS vocal work whereas in another spot it would be too jarring.

Overall I thought this record was an improvement on ADP, especially in terms of production. I think it's obvious Tori was also pushing to explore a bit musically as well and that gives me hope for the coming records as well since some of the best tracks on AATS are when she's doing unusual things. It's another record that benefits enormously from an edit, and I think if it was a 12-track album it would've been received well by both critics and fans.

i agree. especially STARLING>FAST HORSE. sometimes i just listen to the transition and not to the songs them selfhttp://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...es/biggrin.gif