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Ok, I admit it! I’m a Tori Amos fan. Not just a casual Tori fan though, a die-hard old-timer Tori Amos fan who thinks her first three albums are shining examples of the best music ever put to tape. Every element of Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink and Boys For Pele adds to the overall beauty and genius of the music produced. The visual is magnificently shocking, thanks to the sheer brilliance of Tori’s collaborator Cindy Palmano. As striking and shocking as those visuals were on her first three albums, the same shock registers with how quickly and completely her visual contribution to her music has deteriorated over the years. Instead of getting a demure and beautiful Tori atop glassy ice (as on Under the Pink), we now have to endure a ridiculously photoshopped Tori with the worst wigs I have ever seen, and holding a chicken (as in the god-awful American Doll Posse.
These visual flubs are also apparent in her music videos—the few that she does release. The last great video was probably “Strange Little Girl” from her 2000 record Strange Little Girls. The video was captivating, engaging, told a story and wasn’t just random meaningless shots of Tori in her new designer dress with 10-second pauses on her Prada shoes. Watching every single video and (god help me) “visualette” since then, it’s become apparent that Tori has little to no conception of what makes for compelling visual artistry. She is all about the audio… and that’s a totally different discussion.
On the heels of her 12th studio album Night of Hunters Tori has released the official video for the track “Carry”. The song itself is quite stunning, and definitely builds hope that her fans won’t have to endure years of music similar to “Cars and Guitars” or “My Posse Can Do”. The video on the other hand is a smorgasbord of stock footage nature shots, Tori in a designer dress with desinger shoes at the piano, and some imagery of some wiccan-esque ceremony. It doesn’t fit together, and Tori looks ridiculous as she tries to fegin real emotion. It’s not surprising that this video is as bad as it is considering her shotty track record as of late, but it’s still disappointing.
Bring back CINDY PALMANO!!
