Articles - November 1997

Return To The Articles IndexReturn To ToriNews


Atlantic Web Site Article On Great Expectations
November 1997
    Atlantic Records has on their web site a preview of the soundtrack called Great Expectations: The Album, which includes a good article about the project. The article contains many quotes from and about Tori, including information on Tori's contribution to the album, and how she joined forces with composer Patrick Doyle to do these songs on the soundtrack. The article also verfies that Tori voice will also be heard throughout the movie and on the separate CD for the score, officially called "GREAT EXPECTATIONS: THE SCORE MUSIC BY PATRICK DOYLE."

Billboard Magazine
November 22, 1997

    There is an article in the November 22, 1997 issue of Billboard called "Atlantic Has "Great Expectations" For Set". It explains some of the details about the Great Expectations Soundtrack that is due January 6, 1998, clears up alot of the confusion about what Tori's contributions to the project are, and even has some interesting comments about Tori and a quote from her about the project! You can now read the entire article.


30th Anniversary Issue Of Rolling Stone
November 13, 1997

    Tori has a 1 page interview and a full-page photo that you see here in the November 13, 1997 30th Anniversary Issue of Rolling Stone. I will place Tori's interview on my site in a few weeks. In the time being, you can read the interview now at the Tori Dust web site!

    Tori is also quoted in an article in that issue called "The Backstage History of Women Who Rocked the World." The part of the article that mentions Tori says,

    Contrast {tina} Turner's and {bonnie} Raitt's steely reserve to the outpourings of Tori Amos, a woman of the next generation. Amos is part of the singer/songwriter vanguard now turning pain into platinum. She went public with her trauma as a rape victim in "Me and a Gun", a cut from her "Little Earthquakes" album. It was, she said, a true and powerful statement. But she had this to say about the Gen X compulsion for hand-wringing; "I think our generation loves our pain, and if you dare fucking take it away from us, we'll kill you. We like our pain. And we're packaging and selling it."

    The article goes on to say that Tori's "wry assessment" might help explain the roaring sucess of Alanis' "Jagged Little Pill".

    The Dent first heard that Tori was to be part of the 30th Anniversary issue of Rolling Stone when the Gossip section of the New York Post, as well as an article in the San Jose Mercury News, stated:

    So now we have the massive, 30th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone magazine in hand. Impressive! The issue celebrates women in music. And just to keep it girly, all the expert star profiles and histories were written by women, all the evocative photos snapped by women. It's 192 pages of female power!....We'll be quoting from this issue endlessly. All the women, from Tina Turner to Diana Ross to Ronnie Spector to Tori Amos have juicy things to say.

    You can read some of the details of this issue, and read some quotes from various female artists that have interviews in this issue, including Tori, at the Rolling Stone web site.


The Score On VH-1 Online
November 10, 1997

    Brecca has informed me that there is an article in a section of the VH-1 Online web site called The Score. The article is called Piano Pop and is from November 10, 1997. The article looks at the role of the piano in popular music over the years. Besides Tori the article focuses on Elton John, Ben Folds Five, and others. There is no really new information here. but one interesting line says, "Tori Amos is really the only female artist who consistently champions and challenges the pop/rock piano sound." They also have a quicktime video clip you can download that features Tori singing "I'm On Fire" from her appearance on VH-1 Crossroads in 1996.


Parade Magazine
November 9, 1997

    Toriphile Jeff SooHoo was the first to tell me that Parade Magazine mentioned some information about what Tori was doing for this soundtrack. They printed a small photo that you see to the left that Ears With Feet Ellen kindly sent to me. Here are all the details of the reference sent to the Tori mailing lists by Richard Handal:

    In the U.S., there's a syndicated national Sunday newspaper supplement called Parade Magazine. It's inserted into local Sunday papers in many cities around the U.S--maybe Canada, too, but I kinda doubt it. Anyhow, inside the front cover every week they have a column called Walter Scott's Personality Parade. It consists of questions readers submit pertaining to celebrities, and then the magazine prints the questions and answers-- answers usually gathered from official sources, but sometimes when it's difficult to get comments from publicists for the celebs, they reference other sources, too. (I expect most of you in the U.S. already know all that, but we're addressing the world, here.)

    Anyway, in this week's issue dated November 9, there's a question about Tori's involvement with Great Expectations, from none other than Doug Smeath, who's on the Really Deep Thoughts (Right Now) mailing list! Way to go, Doug! :-) There's also a small color head shot of Tori from the Calvin Klein news conference last December 4. (Photo credit is Renault/Globe.) Doug's question and answer below. (They got her age wrong, but what *else* is new.)

    Q I'm thrilled about the upcoming remake of *Great Expectations.* I heard that Tori Amos plays a big part on the soundtrack. Can you shed some light on this?--Doug Smeath, South Jordan, Utah

    A Tori Amos, 33, is indeed heard in this modern retelling of the Dickens classic, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke. Set for release on New Year's Eve, the film is still being scored, but we're told Amos contributes "wordless vocalizations that are very evocative and emotional." She also recorded an original song called "Siren" for a pivotal scene in the film.


Mixmag Magazine
November 1997
    Toriphile Marcus Weidman reports:

    i have a quote from the November 1997 issue of Mixmag magazine (a magazine all about electronica) that i picked up in Tower records (they put the magazine in the electronica section). Actually i have a couple of quotes. The article is titled "BT In Overdrive" by Dave Dresden. Here are the quotes:

    "two years ago, washington, d.c.'s epic house maestro brian transeau released his debut album and became a pop star in europe. while still largely unknown at home, he quietly dropped 'blue skies,' a little ditty he did with tori amos, and it blew up. there might just be hope after all."

    "before bt could say Top Of The Pops, he had released his debut album, Ima, and was working with Tori Amos, Billie Ray Martin and remixing some very high profile artists-all in the span of less than three years."

    "oddly enough, transeau almost found himself in that very situation. when kinetic released Ima, the cd included a bonus track, 'blue skies,' a collaboration with tori amos. a labor of love between the two artists who became friendly after transeau remixed several of Amos' songs from Boys for Pele, she insisted on returning the favor by singing on one of his songs. singing her vocal parts impromptu over an unreleased version of Ima track 'Divinity,' transeau took the 15 minutes of random singing and turned it into a breathtaking four and a hlaf minute pop song complete with bass, guitars and drums. as the track started to gain steam at radio, transeau's label received an order from Amos' people to stop promoting 'blue skies' at once. while many artists would seem upset by this, transeau looked at the situation as a gift horse. 'if you put soething out that's massive and you have no prior reputation, you have such huge expectations put on your shoulders that there's often no room to grow within those expectations-you have to do what's expected of you over and over again. if i had to do another 2,000 records that sounded like 'blue skies' i'd have killed myself. so rather than see himself perennially perched in the top 10, he's happier taking the long road in his homeland. 'with blue skies i was put in a position where there's a great deal of awareness about what i'm trying to do, and i've won many die-hard people that are really into what i'm doing, and those are the kinds of people i want listening."


Cosmopolitan Magazine
November 1997

    The November 1997 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine contained a feature called Celebrity Hand Signals on page 252. In it, psychic Jack Olmeda takes photos of celebrities where you can see their palms (like the one of Tori you see here which appears in the magazine) and then tells their future. For Tori he says:

    "Tori's head line goes straight down into the creative part of her palm--she's definitely in the right field. I sense she'll write a song that another female performer will sing and that will make her a lot of money. There's a major cut in her left line, so she has to be careful with her health. Tori will either marry or live with a singer of a popular band."


Vox Magazine
November 1997

    The November 1997 issue of Vox Magazine reviews a video tape from Warner Music Video called "Tori Amos Live In New York." which shows the RAINN concert that took place in January 1997.

    Read the entire review.


Spin Magazine
November 1997

    Melissa Pierorazio was the first to tell me that Tori was briefly mentioned in the November 1997 issue of Spin (w/Fiona Apple on the cover - "The Girl Issue")...There was an article called - "Everything and the Girl" on pages 74-80...Tori was mentioned and pictured on page 77. There was a small picture (shown here) and in the article it said...(small excerpt)

    "... Their songs often angrily or sarcastically exposed the abuse they'd suffered, but the music sounded like the opposite of laying back and taking it. "Was she asking for it?" taunted Courtney Love, standing with her legs splayed beneath her torn chiffon dress like every pedophile's nightmare. Polly Harvey turned on her torturer: "I'll make you lick my injuries," she growled in "Rid of Me." Tori Amos's concerts peaked with "Me and a Gun," a fierce a cappella account of her own rape that turned testimony into a tool for survival."

    Rebecca has alerted me to another Tori reference that I missed in this issue. There is an article called Flesh For Fantasy by Laura Miller which analyzes sexual images of young girls today and the sexual abuse education movement in the U.S. To understand this reference in full, you need to read the entire article. The article in part analyzes Fiona Apple, and on page 122 says:

    While Tori Amos managed to talk openly about being raped wihout being typecast, Apple is seen as terminally damaged. But Amos was in her late 20s when she made her revelation, while Apple is at an age at which, according to conventional belief, she has no sexual agency.

    There was an article/interview in this same issue on Fiona Apple. The article mentioned that Fiona considers Tori "A poster girl for rape". and included some rather gloomy comments from Fiona, like her belief that she will die young. Later evidence suggested that these comments were not as bad as they first seemed and may have been a classic case of Fiona just being unclear or misunderstood. Fiona herself wrote a letter to her mailing list where she explained that she does not think that Tori is the poster girl for rape, but that she meant to highlight the danger "in both of us being honest about our personal experience, when, as public figures, there is a tendency of the media to label us and reduce our music to simply a reflection of one cultural ill." She also stated that she did not want to die.


Q Magazine
November 1997

    The November 1997 issue of Q Magazine reviews a 90 minute video tape from Warner Vision of the RAINN concert that took place in January 1997. The video is called Tori Amos - Live From New York.

    Read the entire review.

Return To The Articles IndexReturn To ToriNews

Please give me feedback, comments, or suggestions about my site. Email me (Michael Whitehead) at mikewhy@iglou.com