Tori Amos’ six favourite albums: “I’ve been a fan since I was a child”
Following the short-lived soft rock project Y Kant Tori Read, Maryland singer-songwriter Tori Amos entered the 1990s with a run of acclaimed albums that pursued the melodic piano-thumping terrain forged by early Kate Bush with a dash of the decade’s American alternative flourish that would anticipate Alanis Morissette’s angsty-flannel pop.
Deploying her classical training and Mezzo-Soprano vocal range, Amos’ debut LP Little Earthquakes was met with positive reception, but 1994’s follow-up Under the Pink was a monster seller, lead single ‘Cornflake Girl’ a staple of ’90s radio that brimmed with Amos’ unique songwriting character.
Amos has also garnered a reputation for intrepid covers and collaborations, inviting Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor to sing backing vocals on ‘Past the Mission’ or showing her face in the dance world by singing on BT’s ‘Blue Skies’ and calling DJ Armand Van Helden to personally thank him for his chart-topping remix of ‘Professional Widow’. There’s also the slew of renditions she’s generated a second fame for, covering Nirvana, Eminem, Slayer, and as recently as last year, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Swimming Pools (Drank)’ with renowned producer Trevor Horn.
With such a storied eclectic taste, it’s hard not to want to take a peek at her record collection. Speaking to Express in 2015, Amos presented her six favourite albums, which don’t offer much in the way of surprises but offer a key insight into her musical foundations.
Starting early in life, she selected The Beatles’ self-titled double LP: “I was five years old when my older brother got me to learn these songs. I liked the mixture of melodies and attitude.” It’s a shrewd observation at such a young age, sensing the record’s fractious, uneasy energy that spells the fatal cracks to appear further down the line. And attitude it has, containing many of Lennon’s most acidic gems from ‘Sexy Sadie’ and ‘Yer Blues’ to the avant-garde concrète of ‘Revolution 9’.
Calling her style “unique and pure”, Amos bestowed high praise on Joni Mitchell’s lauded break-up album Blue: “These songs are some of the greatest ever written and are still being covered today, which is a testament to their power.” Changing tack and unable to pick just one, Amos opted for the entire Led Zeppelin box set, finding solace in their forbidden aura: “My favourite band and I’ve been a fan since I was a child. I remember the dads in my father’s church saying that their teenage girls were leaving home to follow this ‘devil music’.”
“It was like a light bulb turning on for me in terms of her arrangements,” Amos declared while explaining the power of Kate Bush’s defining Hounds of Love. Crafting a perfect marriage of artistic exploration and commercial appeal after The Dreaming‘s eccentricity, Bush’s fifth album still stands as her definitive and struck an instant chord with many budding artists: “I remember hearing ‘Running Up That Hill’ on the radio in Los Angeles then bought the album. I’d never heard a combination like it: the production, the writing and her delicate voice.”
Rounding off her selections are the soundtracks to the “dangerous and sensual yet vulnerable” Cabaret and the Tony-Award-winning Fun Home from Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, exploring lesbian sexual discovery and the protagonist’s relationship with her closeted gay father.
Tori Amos’ six favourite albums:
- The Beatles – The Beatles
- Blue – Joni Mitchell
- The Led Zeppelin Boxset
- Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
- Cabaret: Original Soundtrack Recording – Liza Minnelli, John Kander, Fred Ebb
- Fun Home – Lisa Kron, Jeanine Tesori
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