Katherine Eileen Martinez and Chris Willenbrock sent me a short review of the Great Expectations soundtrack and score that appeared in the February 25- March 4, 1998 issue of "The Met," an entertainment weekly based in Dallas/Fort Worth. The review was written by Sander Wolf with a grade of "C."

The segregation of the soundtrack to Great Expectations into two volumes provides a clear division: The Score has orchestrated movements of strings and occasional drum machines, and The Album is composed mostly of lightweight rock tunes. Oddly, Tori Amos appears on both CDs with her unremarkable wordless vocal, "Finn." More credit should go to a couple of tunes that made it to the CD but didn't actually make it to the movie, including Poe's "Today" and David Garza's "Slave." The inclusion of Scott Weiland's trampy "Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down" makes the result less enjoyable than a lovesick teen's mix tape.

Austin Chronicle

You need look no further than Ian McLagan when asked the trivia question, "What Austin resident performed onstage with the Rolling Stones last week in Houston?" Mac joined the Glimmer Quartet on Friday with some Hammond organ for a rousing rendition of "Start Me Up" (contrast that to the previous night's crowd, which got Tori Amos singing back-up on "Thief in the Night").

Richard Handal asked Tori about this during the Plugged '98 concert tour and Tori said it was NOT true. I wonder now if that was written as a joke or if the author really believed it was true. Weird!

Var. Artists: Great Expectations, the Album. Atlantic 7567-83058-2

Soundtracks of movies usually are bad bargians. Despite the mostly limited playing time they're full of worn-out melodies. Great Expectations, a movie by Alfonso Cuaron, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, is a nice exception which proves the rule. A colourful range of modern groups and artists has contributed brand-new tracks to this soundtrack. Duncan Sheik proves to be one America's greatest songwriter talents with his Wishful thinking. Reef sounds like the new Rolling Stones in Resignation and Mono brings a wonderful spring melody with the slightly older Life in mono.

The biggest surprises are the solo contributions of Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) and of the ex-singer from Soundgarden, Chris Cornell. Two sturdy guys who, at the end of the CD, get company from the classically trained Cesaria Evora and his South-American alike Besame mucho. Pulp is on it, just like Tori Amos and The Verve Pipe, old tracks from Iggy Pop and The Grateful Dead, but also soprano Kiri Te Kanawa. And still this record is, unlike most soundtracks, no mishmash. It even is the best soundtrack since the one from Trainspotting.

Nico Heemelaar

A singer in Israel named Rinat Gabai has covered the Tori song "Sweet Dreams" on her upcoming debut album. An article about this interesting singer appeared in a Hebrew publication in Israel called Pnai Plus, issue #268 for 19-25th February, 1998. Toriphile Marky has translated this article into English and also provides a photo of this new singer.

Read the article and see the photo.

Read the reviews.

Stacey Russell and Marie have told me about a letter to the editor that appears in the February 1998 issue of Spin Magazine. It is in reponse to an article they had in the past on Fiona Apple, and it responds the quote from Fiona that Tori is "a poster girl for rape." Later evidence seemed to indicate that this infamous Fiona quote was taken out of context and that Fiona really does not think that. Nevertheless, it is an interesting letter:

If tori amos is a "poster girl for rape" then that must make fiona apple a poster girl for the 70's home porn and "criminal" self-exploitation. amos should be applauded for forming the rape, abuse and incest national network(RAINN), not scroned by a spoiled brat who represents the kind of hopelessness and victimization that haunts so many girls of her generation...LA, California..

The author of this letter, who asked that I not print her name here, requested that I post actual letter she sent to Spin. It appears that Spin edited it, and in the process changed the tone of the letter. Here is the original letter:

If Fiona Apple considers Tori Amos "a poster girl for rape," then that must make Fiona a poster girl for... the 70's home-porno look (her "Criminal" video is one of the grossest things I have ever seen)? the sexuality of looking like a heroin-addicted 12 year old (were the interview's accompaning pictures suppossed to look like child pornography)? the self-exploitation of a woman's socially defined role of "victim"? Her numerous derogotery comments made over time concerning Tori Amos trouble me-- at least Tori has, and gives, hope. If being a "poster girl for rape" has allowed her to start the organization RAINN and call attention to the horror of rape, then I think she is to be applauded for this, not scorned by a spoiled brat who has decided to "die young." Fiona Apple represents the very characteristics of hopelessness and victimization that haunts girls of this generation. What are we supposed to learn from a girl who remarks "I decided if I was going to be exploited, then I would do the exploitation myself." I put your magazine down in disgust after reading Fiona's comment: "There's no hope for women..." Such really deep thoughts for such a young girl. But then again, what's so amazing about really deep thoughts?

"Various Artists: Great Expectations (Atlantic)
Let's hope that Ethan and Gwyneth have more chemistry than this jumble soundtrack, which features some New Agey Tori Amos ("Finn Runs"), a mellow acoustic Chris Cornell ("Sunshower") and Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland ("Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down")"

The rating system for the CDs in Seventeen is: "major, fun, so-so, and over it." GE received a so-so mark.

Ben Polancich and Dink inform me the February 5, 1998 issue of Rolling Stone (#779) with Mariah Carey on the cover includes a review of the Great Expectations soundtrack. Reviewer James Hunter writes: "Tori Amos opens with one of those gung-ho tunes her fans happily lose themselves in; 'Siren' is an exciting Tori rap of indecipherable words, full of independence and fire." The album got 3 1/2 stars, which is considered "good to excellent". About Poe the reviews says, "Poe sings "Today" with guitar rhythms and a suspended vocal arrangement as lovely as a 1967 shot of Marianna Faithful." The review also says, "Duncan Sheik and [Scott] Weiland...walk away with the record. Mixing strings, guitars and great bass lines into rich forests of sound, Sheik's "Wishful Thinking" laments bad decisions, finding solace in an elegantly catchy chorus. Weiland sings "Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down," a bang-up production that mates theatrical address and pop harmonics."

Great Expectations: The Album was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

Mike Gray, Richard aka Mr Microphone, Anne Leonard, and Mark H Weidman have told me that Tori's Little Earthquakes album made it to #66 on the "100 Greatest Albums In The Universe" Poll that appears in the February 1998 issue of Q Magazine in the U.K.:

66. Little Earthquakes

Tori Amos East West 1992

UK Top 20 peak: Number 14; estimated
sales: 300,000 (UK); 3m (worldwide)

"Sometimes I wonder what inspired me to record this record this LP." Probably the definitive '90's sensitive female singer/songwriter, Tori Amos quickly revealed herself as a most singular talent. Little Earthquakes is a fascinating item, within whose fractured, deeply textured tales lies a most confusing map of the human heart, merging some occasionally arresting lyrics to music that is both childlike (Silent All These Years) and prone to flourishes (China). The album's most extraordinary track remains Me And A Gun, an autobiographical tale of rape delivered with such unflinching honesty that the song sounds confrontational and, thus, quite unforgettable.

Magic Moment: The bitter lyrics to Silent All These Years.

A reader writes- "I could write a million words and still not get close." Paul Mitchell, Wells, Somerset

The cover of this issue has a background of clouds with lots of singers' heads floating in the air, and one of them is Tori (with a ponytail). The article is on page 47 with a picture of Tori in a black dress, looking serious. There is some sort of red sheet drapery behind her). The picture is an old one from the Earthquakes era. It is the photo opposite the introduction in the All These Years biography. The caption on the pic is: Tori Amos: never knowingly overdressed. It probably says this because the dress is somewhat revealing. Above the number "66" is a small pic of the Little Earthquakes Album cover.

Great Expectations: The Album

Updated film version of Dickens classic. New songs from hip sorts.

The soundtrack to a new, star-filled film interpreting the Dickens classic that's actually packed with new songs from famous people, thereby trumping most half-baked cash-ins. Tori Amos's Siren is beautiful and haunting and unsurprisingly kooky, former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell's Sunshower is 'Garden lite. Reef play Resignation with laid-back style, if only their singer would stop shouting, white Pulp's Like A Friend is almost glam rocky in it's exuberence. Not bad at all. (4 stars)

Read excerpts from the article.

Finnish Toriphile Katja Laitinen tells me that the Great Expectations soundtrack was released in Finland, and she sends me a translated portion of a review of the soundtrack that appeared in the Finnish rock magazine Rumba. The Tori part of the review is below:

It got 7 points out of 10 (***1/2) and this is what they said about Tori:

"When you take Tori Amos' bloodly (this is a Finnish metaphor and means something like very healthy or lively) sung song that is nobly magical and full of spirit and turn it into more romantic and French-stylish form, you'll get Mono."