Tori Amos: From the Choirgirl Hotel Review

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(More customer reviews)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.

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