Released May 5, 1998 Release date 5 May 1998 | Length 57:00 | |
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Genres Alternative rock, Pop music Nominations Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album Similar Tori Amos albums, Pop music albums | ||
From the Choirgirl Hotel is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Tori Amos. A departure from her previous albums, it was more a heavily produced project featuring a full rock band sound (instead of Amos's usual minimalist piano sound). Upon its release in May 1998, the album debuted at number 5 in the US and number 6 in the UK. While falling short of the number 2 debut for her previous album, Boys for Pele (1996), From the Choirgirl Hotel is Amos's strongest debut to date in US sales, selling 153,000 copies in the first week. Amos received two 1999 Grammy nominations: Alternative Music Performance, and Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Raspberry Swirl".
Contents
The lead single "Spark" became a hit after its release in June 1998 (becoming her last UK Top 40 hit to date, as well as her highest charting US single, reaching number 49), and was followed by "Jackie's Strength" (September 1998) and "Cruel/Raspberry Swirl" (November 1998).
The accompanying tour, Amos's first with a full band (using the album's personnel of Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass, and long-time collaborator Steve Caton on guitar), was known as the "Plugged '98 Tour" and took Amos through most of 1998.
Album description
The album began recording in September, 1997, with mastering complete by early February 1998. Following the trend set by 1996's Boys For Pele, Amos allowed several songs from the album to be remixed. Remixes of both "Raspberry Swirl" and "Jackie's Strength" were club hits. The album's theme dealt very closely with the first two in Amos's series of three miscarriages between 1996 and 1999.
Thematically and conceptually, the "choirgirl hotel" of the title refers to the fictional, imaginary place where the songs "live." Amos pointed out that although the songs are recorded, they are also alive themselves - they can be re-modeled and reshaped in concert etc. Amos imagined the songs as living their own lives, all checking into the "choirgirl hotel" (i.e. the album) but living separate lives. In the artwork, Amos included a hand-drawn map detailing the stomping ground of these songs.
The album artwork was created by the UK-based photographer, Katerina Jebb. The artwork features full-body color photocopies of Amos (in various couture outfits) as scanned by a human-sized photocopier.
Critical reception
"The kookiness isn't dominant, she's stopped the attention-seeking lyrics almost completely and, yes, her pianos don't try to be guitars too often," enthused John Aizlewood in Q. "At last, she's putting the songs first and the band-led From the Choirgirl Hotel is, by any reasonable yardstick, a glorious coming of age."
Track listing
All tracks written by Tori Amos.
B-sides
The album, as with most of Amos's albums, is also known for its collection of original b-sides. Amos recorded a host of songs that did not make the album, but were released as b-sides to various singles or performed live in concerts. The songs "Cooling," "Never Seen Blue," and "Beulah Land" were originally written and recorded for 1996's Boys for Pele album. In 2010, several tracks from a demo CD for the album leaked online, including a new track entitled "Violet's Eyes". Parts of this song were included in two tracks on 2007's American Doll Posse, "Almost Rosey" and "Miracle".
Personnel
with:
Charts
Songs
1Spark4:13
2Cruel4:07
3Black-Dove (January)4:39