2017 - September 9 - Time

So today is the wedding anniversary of my dear, dear friends Arve and Katelijn. They went to see an old hero of mine, Tori Amos, who also happened to release a very vital album yesterday, Native Invader. I know she played my favorite song of hers, Leather, but since I've already played that, I found a cover version she did of a Tom Waits song on her album Strange Little Girls. The song is Time, and the chorus, "it's time that you love" fits really well with the still happy couple. I wish them all the best - happy anniversary!

November 20 - Hey Jupiter

It's been twenty years since Tori Amos released Boys for Pele, and it sounds just as good today as it did then. There is a new release with lots of bonus materials out, but I think I will stick with my original copy, which has been quite worn out over the years. I played this album left and right, up and down, when it was released, and digging out again now, I think my standout track and personal favorite is different than it was 20 years ago. Back then I would probably have gone for In The Springtime Of His Voodoo, which is another fantastic track, but today I feel the raw emotion in Hey Jupiter really hits the spot.

September 3 - Leather

In 1992, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden made Seattle the center of the world - and the world was ruled by grunge. And in the midst of all that, a skinny redhead from Baltimore and her piano had the audacity to cover the international grunge anthem Smells Like Teen Spirit. I loved that version - but that was not what made me listen to Tori Amos. I remember my first meeting with her music vividly. I was visiting my friend Leif, who told me I needed to listen to this - then he played me the song Leather from her Little Earthquakes album. I was hooked by the opening lines:

"Look I'm standing naked before you
Don't you want more than my sex
I can scream as loud as your last one
But I can't claim innocence. "

I am still blown away by those lines - she shows an unapologetic display of female sexuality without being vulgar. It's a song well worth listening to.

June 14 - Smells Like Teen Spirit

OK - so yesterday's version of Baby Please Don't Go set me off in a direction of cover versions. Now, Baby Please Don't Go is more part of a living blues tradition than a more modern cover version approach - while it was very common for musicians to take traditional blues tunes (also because of a much looser approach to song rights and following the pattern established with traditional music) and mold them more an more into their own style, the more modern approach to making music is more concerned with preserving recordings and the value thereof rather than passing music along organically from musician to musician. Also, when I got to work yesterday, I heard the music of Tori Amos playing Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, which further inspired me. And, finally, I really like Russian nesting dolls. Ever since I got one from my farfar (paternal grandfather in Norwegian) as a little kid, I have had a thing for them. So I am going to try to make this work this way this week: Today we have Tori Amos covering Nirvana. Tomorrow, Nirvana will cover...? It won't be a surprise, really - given my fandom status of this artist, but still... And then Thursday that person will cover someone else. I will try to avoid tribute compilations - but I don't quite know where I will end up yet, so bear with me (it's not all mapped out yet...).

So, without further ado, here is Tori Amos singing Smells Like Teen Spirit!