Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos [Paperback]

Jay S. Jacobs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2006

How did the shy and conflicted daughter of a minister become one of today's most important artists? Tori Amos is a unique voice in rock. She is an artist, a poet, an emotional chanteuse, a wordsmith, a pianist, and most of all, an entertainer who has opened herself up to her audience in a way most musicians would never dare. Tori Amos was a musical prodigy, so talented that she was the youngest child ever to be admitted to one of the world's most prestigious musical academies - and so rebellious that she was eventually thrown out. She is a feminist who questions the core values of feminism. She was a little girl who played piano in gay bars. She is a pioneering businesswoman. She is a rape victim who has transcended tragedy, and has drawn inspiration from the darkest incidents of her life. Tori Amos is a complex artist in a complex world. "I'm an acquired taste," she once told Rolling Stone magazine, but her fans are obsessive in their love. Jay S. Jacobs has written a detailed and passionate portrait of this controversial, kooky, and multifaceted singer. Pretty Good Years is an honest and comprehensive look at this bracingly original performer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423400224
• ISBN-13: 978-1423400226
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,171,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am the author of the books "Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits" and "Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos." I am also an editor and writer for the pop culture web magazine www.popentertainment.com. I have also written hundreds of articles for magazines such as Creem, CD Review, Rockpile, Concert News, Underground Press, New Review and many others. I have written liner notes for CD projects from Warner Brothers and Universal Records. I have also written four motion picture screenplays which have been ignored or rejected by some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unimpressive, October 7, 2006

By 

Jeremy E. Mitchell "Riot Poof" (Salt Lake City UT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos (Paperback)

I was excited to finally have a full length biography of Tori, but upon reading this book, I found myself disappointed. The content was fairly detailed, but early in the book, I began to be annoyed by some minor factual errors. As the book went on I found the unnecessarily subjective opinions of the author becoming more common, and was bored to tears as he went through a song by song description of every single album, saying what he viewed the songs were about (usually with some basis in fact) and his opinion. I never thought I could be bored by this subject matter. As a very avid tori fan, I knew I had to own it anyway, but if you are anything but the most obessive collector, just pick up Tori Amos: Peice by Piece and wait for a more specific biography to come out that will be more interesting.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Proofreader, please?, September 13, 2006

By 

Keri Walters (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos (Paperback)

Tori Amos is my favorite musician/songwriter, and if this applies to you as well, you already own this book. You can't resist it. If you are casually interested, or a new fan, I would recommend "Tori Amos: All These Years" by Kalen Rogers instead, as it is her authorized biography, and it is wonderfully done. This book is an interesting read for the Tori fan. Although most of the information in it I already knew, there are some interesting tidbits here and there, and lots of wonderful Tori quotes. I particularly enjoy how it is arranged in chronological order by album release date, and I also enjoy the author's stab at a theoretical analysis of the songs. However, I have one complaint about the book, which is my pet peeve: why did no one apparently proof read this book? There are typos and grammatical errors throughout. Sentence structures have gone awry. It is very distracting to me and to others as well, I imagine. It also gives the book the feel that it was thrown together at the last minute, although that obviously is not the case, as a tremendous amount of research was done to write this book. Please, proofread! It would have been a simple thing to do that would make the book a lot less distracting and a lot more enjoyable. On the whole, I give this 3 stars and it is essential (and irresistable) for any true Tori fan.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now you can better understand..., July 24, 2006

By 

Arena Connery "Arena" (Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos (Paperback)

This book is a must-read for any Tori Amos fan, but also an interesting read for those new to her music. Jacobs uses his own interviews with Tori, as well as countless others with various magazines to give us a better idea of her creative processes. So many quotes from Tori herself make this even more genuine. He describes her personal struggles (including rape) as well as her many successes.

Two-thirds of the book is biography, including a section of color photographs (basically publicity photos - nothing out of the ordinary). But then, for almost 50 pages, Jacobs provides probably the most detailed list of Tori's compositions/covers/other artists covering her material/etc. that you're likely to find anywhere. CDs, video concerts, guest appearances, it goes on and on. His bibliography is also quite comprehensive.