Customer Reviews

Tori Amos: From the Choirgirl Hotel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Choirgirl offers pianists a few challenges while mostly avoiding the daunting key signatures and compound time found on efforts like Under the Pink. Compared to the books for Little Earthquakes and Under The Pink the omissions here are few and mostly forgivable, and a few songs that could have turned out unplayable are spared by judicious compositing.

There are two unqualified highlights in the book: a fantastic "Pandora's Aquarium" and a faithful "Spark." Both songs are eminently playable while offering a few instances where you might need to pencil in your fingering. A serviceable trio of "Liquid Diamonds," "Jackie's Strength," and "Black Dove" follows them closely in quality.

However, the latter two tunes plateau at a particular difficulty, omitting a few killer passages that are just slightly defter than the rest of the song. A careful listen will reveal what's missing (and, if you have a good ear, will help you to fix it).

The problem is much more more glaring on "Raspberry Swirl." Where Tori occasionally departs from big block chords the book always stays with them. Also, there are some instances where the book could have indicated some of the additional keyboards from the song. Finally, it omits the ad-libbed solo running through the outro.

Simple "Playboy Mommy" is - puzzlingly - the worst offender. The book displaces simple figures from where they ought to be, and repeatedly ignores sparse right hand work in favor of continuous vocal melody. It plays okay, but it's clearly not the same thing Tori is doing. The same goes for a middling version of "Northern Lad."

Choirgirl includes some songs where piano isn't the most prominent fixture of an arrangement - songs are driven by keyboards, or Tori just supports the rhythm section. The book approaches these songs in a number of ways, because providing a verbatim keyboard part isn't always the best solution ... much of "Hotel" is very accurate to what Tori performed on tour, but at points it sounds peculiar when you play it by yourself.

The best-adapted band arrangement is "She's Your Cocaine." It mostly sticks to what Tori plays, but it adds some bass to the left hand and gives the melody to the right where it would be tacit. The additions don't sound wrong, and they're easy to identify and eliminate if you choose. "Iieee" does it's best to composite an occasional piano with with keyboards and bass guitar. It's a solid arrangement, and with a little ad-lib it can match perfectly to the disc. By contrast, "Cruel" could very well be what Tori is playing on keys and we'd never know it - the mix of the song obscures almost everything. The book errs in favor of bass notes and melody for most of the arrangement. It's not very fun to play.

Only one truly serious omission is made: the amazing "doing oh so well these days" section of "Liquid Diamonds" is completely absent. Also, the second verse piano is lost to a repeat sign, and Tori is clearly doing something different (more simple?) than what is notated in the chorus. Balancing these errors are a nearly flawless intro and first verse. Overall the song is playable and sounds fine.

The only other omission is that the "how many fates" bridge in "Spark" is clearly simplified. Otherwise, the brief piano bridge of "Black Dove" is close to accurate, as are most of the outstanding compound-time solos in the middle of "Hotel." And, as already mentioned, the arrangement of "Pandora" is excellent.

The book features no background vocals, which leaves Tori's unintelligible and sometimes operatic efforts to the imagination. The loss isn't too objectionable since nothing could really be counted as a dual-lead on this disc (as opposed to the bridges of "Space Dog" and "Father Lucifer").

Choirgirl might be the best Amos book for guitarists - the chord frames offer logical choices, nothing requires a capo (though try first on "Swirl" and fourth on "Black Dove"), and the songs all lend themselves to adaptation. A guitarist who reads a bit of music will be able to incorporate many key riffs or arpeggios that are perfect for guitar or bass (see "iieee," "Playboy Mommy," and "Jackie's Strength"). Inventive players will even be able to adapt songs for solo performance using alternate tunings (try a drop-D variation such as DADGAD for "Hotel").

Choirgirl is perhaps the Tori album that could most benefit from a full score, as it uses her band to the utmost. However, even as just a piano folio it's a strong set of songs that sometimes benefit from careful adaptation. If you're planning to just buy one Tori book based on the strength of the piano transcriptions you may want to opt for Pink, Pele, or Scarlet's before coming back to this one. If you're collecting Tori's entire series of sheet music you should buy it ASAP, as has been out of print for quite some time.

As Tori Amos sheet music goes, is this as good as it gets? Obviously it's difficult to get exact transcriptions of Tori's material (she's too damn good at the piano!) but this book makes a decent stab at it. Basically it's as good as the Boys for Pele book, which was the closest I'd seen. The difference with this book really lies with the way Tori recorded this album. from the choirgirl hotel was extremely band oriented, therefore the piano transcriptions suffer most with Cruel, She's Your Cocaine and Hotel. The definite highlights are the introductions to Black Dove and Pandora's Aquarium. Spark is transcribed well and Jackie's Strength is excellent. Northern Lad seems to have been simplified, but with a little improvisation and listening to the record it's fine. Raspberry Swirl follows a basic chord pattern repeated, and the piano break of hotel captures the flowing signature of the record. Playboy Mommy is essentially pretty simple anyway and is definetly the most accessible transcription. Go there first!

In conclusion the book is a must for fans, and is excellent at opening up the album for people.

Go get it!

We know that we're never gonna get the exact transcriptions of Tori's playing (she's too good you see) so is this book as good as it gets? Boys For Pele was the closest transcriptions of her music I'd seen, so I had high hopes for this album. However, although it's not as good, it's not really the the arranger's fault.

The problem lies within the way the album was recorded, there is a lot less emphasis on the piano than in previous albums.

Highlights include Jackie's Strength, the piano break of Hotel, Pandora's Aquarium and Northern Lad. Cruel is virtually impossible to play on the piano unless you improvise a whole lot, and this problem seems to afflict the book too much - many of the arrangements sound flat without the backing of the band.

It's still an essential purchase for any fan though, and is worth the extra effort to draw the tunes out. I also found it useful in opening the album out for me. I suggest all Toriphiles to go get it!

I bought the book expecting to "play like Tori." that was my first mistake. She just goes TOO many places, and that's very noticeable in this book. As has been said before the Piano took a back seat to the other instruments, and so playing without the other instruments just doesn't give the feel; however, it is fun to turn on the CD and play along, especially with Raspberry Swirl. But other than that, there isn't the fluidity that other Tori books have. The chords are so blocky and sustained (ie Jackie's Strength: held bass notes throughout the entire song) that I just couldn't capture what I was looking for. Not my first choice for a Tori sheet music book, but still not a bad buy if you like to play along.

Although some versions of songs are not as technically sound as Tori herself plays on From the Choirgirl Hotel, the versions provided in this book are very similar to the album versions. For the person who likes to attach phrases to the aural sensation of Tori's music, this book is for you. I myself found some fabulous underlying rhythms to staples of the album that I had never heard before. With Tori's music, you hear things a bit differently each time.

Book includes all the tracks on the album and some vivid imagery as the artwork for it. If you're a Tori fan, consider buying this even just for the glossy photos.

Wow is all I can say with this book. Tori is extremely excellent in this book. Some of the songs aren't perfect, but you can really make most sound great! I happen to be a rather good piano player so it is easier on me, but if you are just starting.....then go with 'boys for pele' yet if you are pretty good this is the songbook for you. Her music is really good on the songs 'Spark' and really good on 'Jackie's Strenght'! BUY THIS!

The book has decent enough transcriptions of the songs, however they are not as accurate as some of her other songbooks. Still a must have for all die hard Tori Amos fans.

Choirgirl Hotel is probably my favorite album. Of course, her girls are changing all the time (what do you expect? all of us grow older) so when I really say it's my favorite, it more refers to what this album means to me and what musically maturing is. Also, because we are changing all the time, our favorites really could change from day to day. Would you really listen to Boys for Pele end-to-end if you just found the perfect love of your life?

At the time of the album's release, the music world was experience new trends, especially an explosion in Electronica/Ambient/Trance (well, these were not necessarily new, but newly popular). This album, to me, seemed to follow this same trend of altering the sounds coming from acoustic instruments and by using ethereal voices along with repetitive/hypnotic lines. We also start seeing Tori using a synthesizer in her live shows. So many of these sounds can't be produced with just the piano -`I guess you go to far when pianos try to be guitars.' Regardless whether this trend was intentional on her part, or if was just something she needed coming out because she is finally admitting to herself that it's time to turn the page, she openly admits she did put Bose in the back seat. So if the piano does not have a big role in the concept of this album, how can we have the expectation it's going to have one in the song book?

Yes, I admit I was very excited to take my new purchase home and start playing these songs I immediately fell in love the first time I ever heard the album, but when I sat down to play, my piano had seemed to loose it's voice. So not to betray Tori, I left the book out as much as I could, but it eventually no longer was considered something good enough to be in the bench seat (It went into long-term storage).

However, just about a month ago, when I received the Stimulas check without any knowledge as to what is was or why, I found myself with some extra cash. I bought a new synthesizer to replace the one I've had for years (the one with the second C# that no longer works, and the electrical cord had a short). Of course, I have had many different residences since Choirgirl came out, so when I received my keyboard, All my music was in one place, so luckily they got a chance to possibly come out and play. With some of these new features on keyboards these days, you can do some really cool stuff...and to pieces where you really need the additional `stuff'

Anyway, I'm just now experiencing some ways I can reproduce some of these songs in a way that still captures Tori's original intent.

This songbook really isn't just for a girl and her piano. But you could put on a nice big-bottom beat and add some interesting arppegiated harmonies to the music and still feel like you're singing in the Choir.

The Choirgirl Hotel album features many overdubbed instruments and one can't reasonably hope to play every layered melody with only their two hands and a piano. However, I will say that David Pearl's arrangement is questionable at the very least. Most of the songs seem reasonable but I was struck by how off the main melody for 'Spark' is. I understand that it's a treated piano played through an effect rig, but Pearl's interpretation is...just...crazy. The first half of the second measure is completely wrong. He's got something like "d a f# a f# a" when it's closer to "d f# a b g a".
Spark is the only song I've yet to really analyze, so I don't know if this is an isolated mistake, or what.

Yes, I'm picky, but the man has a tin ear.