Tori Amos’ 𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍

1. Addition of Light Divided

2. Speaking with Trees

3. Devil’s Bane

4. Swim to New York State

5. Spies

6. Ocean to Ocean

7. Flowers Burn to Gold

8. Metal Water Wood

9. 29 Years

10. How Glass Is Made

11. Birthday Baby

Thank you for letting me get this out of my system. I feel much better.

Now, I want you you bitches to tear into these songs, cunt away, and allow them to thaw your frozen pea-sized hearts.

As for me…

Why another thread?

Let me repeat my last post-

This is a great album. I am surprised at this one!!

It's her best produced since Choirgirl. Sonically its even better than Scarlets Walk.

That last track- Birthday Baby- is the one that surprised me the most. I fucking love it. Just a great hopeful, charming, sad closer.

Only clunker for me is 29 Years. And I hate to say that.

She did a nice job.

R15 I’m surprised you’re not feeling 29 Years. I love it.

29 Years- I find it really, really TRITE.

The production is beautiful and its really polished- I just am not digging it lyrically at all.

The album is a stunner. I did not expect to like this album much.

Its an album filled with deep subject matter yet its very hopeful.

R17 I find the lyrics earnest enough to be moving, yet poetic enough to be somewhat vague. I agree about the production.

It really is a gorgeous album. Concise, cohesive, and crystalline.

29 Years

No, Medusa was not always a gorgon / No, my witch isn’t always benevolent / She used me, an unwitting accomplice / On her weapon my fingerprints

How does this happen? / How does this happen? / How does this happen?

For twenty nine years / I’ve been searching for you / Twenty nine years / You, a most elusive truth / These tattered bits of me / I’ve been piecing / For twenty nine years /

How does this happen? / How does this happen? / How does this happen?

So then, Athena wanted revenge / She let Poseidon get away with it / Just like my own witch almost did / Rock tied, ready to drown my marriage

How does this happen? / How does this happen? / How does this happen?

For twenty nine years / I’ve been searching for you / Twenty nine years / You, a most elusive truth / These tattered bits of me / I’ve been piecing / For twenty nine years

(How does this happen?) / Walk with me in your bare feet / In the sugar sand / Time to diffuse / Bombs I planted / In our bed / We can heal with forgiveness / In the sugar sand / My friend

For twenty nine years / I’ve been searching for you / Twenty nine years / You, a most elusive truth / These tattered bits of me / I’ve been piecing / For twenty nine years

These victim tears / A song from my past / To twenty nine years / Yes, we are free at last / We can unleash / Ourselves from that mast / After twenty nine years

Okay- I am going to give 29 years a chance. Its kind of cool because it has many meanings. It seems to kind of include the husband in it too.. Its more than her career that she is singing about...

And I wonder if Birthday Baby was written around her birthday in August? Its a very very cool song- I just love it.

And Flowers Burn To Gold is one of the saddest songs she has ever written- and the most beautiful. Wow it give you chills.

I do not recall a "prettier" Tori album ever. Its just beautiful to listen to. But not weak.

I think Metal Water Wood is the standout. It should have been a single. It encompasses the sound and feeling of the entire record. In fact, T has said it was the first song that came to her after she scratched the initial album. It’s stunning. It serving me a dash of Hounds of Love with a soupçon of Carnival (MI2 soundtrack) and Happy Worker (Toys soundtrack).

Give me some time- I keep listening to Trees/Birthday Baby/Swim To New York State- over and over.

I haven't even gotten to touch the "DEEPER" tracks-

Devil’s Bane is effortlessly badass and sexy.

She’s playing with styles and sounds on this album that I would never have chosen for her, and she’s doing so exuberantly and with aplomb.

Some one in one of the other threads described it as a blend of Scarlet’s Walk and Native Invader. Superficially, that’s the perfect quick description, especially for fans.

Agree completely ^^

The sound is far richer than both. (And I am the HUGE NI fan)

In fact, this and NI are a great pair...

[quote] this and NI are a great pair...

Yes! NI is totally her coming to terms with change and loss album, which ends on an ambiguous note. This is her transcending pain and despondency album.

Listened to Devils Bane and loved it.

The MELODIES on these songs are killer. I think 20 years ago many of these could have charted/been singles.

This is her most radio friendly stuff ever in many ways-

Thats why I love Birthday Baby as a closer. Its very much a "To Be Continued"-

She HAS to end the shows with that one

R28 It’s also Bachelorette’s sister.

[quote] This is her most radio friendly stuff ever in many ways-

Oh, most definitely. This and Earthquakes are probably her most readily accessible records.

R29- Absolutely is- Its fantastic. And the "sometime you have to tango alone" part is just perfect.

I'm telling you - This Flowers Burn To Gold is a tear-fucking-jerker.

And when she changes the past tense to present tense- She HAS the kindest eyes.

Just a gem.

Pull that horizon down Pull that horizon down.

Chills. Oh my god, this is GOOD shit!

Jesus- I don't even hate 29 Years now.

It actually has the hottest vocals on the album, and the opening is very cool.

This could have been a piano ballad and instead she turned it into something very different. And I respect that.

Its actually sexy.

Spies is quirky and unapologetically exuberant; the doorway out of the rabbit hole, opening to a rock pathway that leads to a beach on a blustery autumn early-afternoon.

R33 I agree. It alternates between sensual and poignant.

I haven't listen to her in years. Thank you for this. This is an excellent interview. Around 5:40 she breaks talking about her mother.

She’s so raw and present this era, and the music expresses that.

And fuck- I love Spies now- Its perfectly sequenced on the album, and with headphones on, its a catchy as fuck song. The long version is so much better than the radio edit.

There is not one song on here that I do not like at this point. Fuck, Native Invader had Chocolate Song and (ducks head) I am the only "non fan" of Bang and and really did not care for Climb-other than the pretty opening 30 seconds... I found the rest of that a wasted opportunity.

And I am the NI lover!

This album is not even a return to form, because its nothing like anything she has done.

R38 You type too cute. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. It’s a balm.

I’m going I’m for dive in again while I drive.

This reviewer hits the mark with this paragraph:

[quote] What’s so striking about this album is how much these songs occupy an in-between, even liminal, space. Rather than be squarely situated in the wallows of despair or the joys of overcoming difficulties, these songs demonstrate the process of pulling through – of trying to understand your mistakes, your flaws, the losses you’ve encountered, the disconnection from yourself that grief can create. They’re about embracing these pieces of ourselves and working through them. These songs aren’t shy. They’re vehicles, above all else, of processing, struggling, and healing.

An excellent long interview.

Devil’s Bane is totally about her father. It’s such an uplifting fuck you.

It's a really great album. Its really like nothing that she has ever done- yet I've never heard an album like this from anyone else-

I am actually very, very surprised at the rich sound and great melodies. 5-6 of the songs could be radio hits.

So far my favorites are:

1) Flowers Burn To Gold

2) Birthday Baby

3)Swim To New York State

4)Addition Of Light Divided (really love this one!)

5) Speaking With Trees

6) Metal Water Wood

I love Devil's Bane too! Shame! Shame! (I cannot stop hearing this - its an earworm) And that part near the end where Tori goes low on the shame part- Wow.

This woman has never had this many HOOKS in her songs. I almost could hear Lana Del Rey singing these songs- and she has not had this many radio style hits in a long time.

Very surprised at this album.

In fact, Swim To New York state may be my FAVORITE.

Its sappy. cinematic, and when it reached that crescendo at the end-

If only for today. If only for today.

Oh wow.

I have despised her husband for years and kind of blamed him for the garbage production on most of her albums since The Beekeeper. But they have produced a beautiful work here. All is forgiven.

R44 The chorus in Ocean to Ocean gets me going. It’s so galvanizing. The whole album is perfection. I keep returning to it.

R46- Every song is good to excellent! Ironically, Ocean To Ocean is my least favorite of the entire album. My bottom 3 are 29 years, then How Glass Is Made, and then Ocean To Ocean. The rest? Absolutely fantastic. This is like some kind of Tori Amos does radio album. Deep themes. A lot of hope. And GREAT melodies. I would never even suspect that this was the same studio that put out The Beekeeper.

R47 29 Years was instant love for me. The drums and strings pulled me into this one rather quickly, while How Glass Is Made slowly snuck on me, gripping me only recently. There’s not one song I would remove from this album.

As someone noted upthread, it’s a perfect companion to Native Invader. NI is a moody and challenging meditation and change and loss, while O2O is an accessible and pop-y reflection on hope and resilience. Both are perfection.

***The drums and strings pulled me into Swim to New York State…

Is she bald now and what did she do to her face?

R50 Her hair has thinned considerably, and, in addition to growing older and thicker, she had surgery nearly two decades ago and may still be using Botox. It only makes her recent musings all the more poignant. She’s imperfect and brilliant.

Twee, dated tripe. And her 's' sound is like she's had major dental work done, or dentures. This thread is just Tori talking to herself.

R50 and R52 are the same troll and need a good kick in their flabby cunts. Or it's that bitter and fat Kate drunk in London. Or one of her hardcore fans.

Eat us, R50 and R52!!!!!

After scrapping the album she had intended to release this fall, Tori Amos wrote and recorded OCEAN TO OCEAN in a winter-to-summer flurry earlier this year, producing her most cohesive, accessible, and resplendent work in over two decades. If Amos' NATIVE INVADERS (2017) was a moody and masterful, albeit less accessible, return to form centered on coming to terms with change and loss (at the time, Amos' mother was on the precipice of death), OCEAN TO OCEAN is a startlingly kaleidoscopic burst of sonic light, color, and energy focused on hope and resilience. Of course, this is not to say that the album lacks somber moments; after all, the catalyst for this batch of songs was a debilitating depression that followed, amongst other things, the death of her mother and a third lockdown brought on by the global pandemic. However, while Amos flirts with heartbreak here, she never succumbs to it. Instead, she serves up an evocative, reflective, and, ultimately, uplifting album that manages to sidestep the trite and treacly in favor of the terse and tenacious.

From the equally pensive and propulsive opening track, "Addition of Light Divided," to the haunting and reassuring closer, "Birthday Baby," Amos' latest songs range from wistful to exuberant. Together, they occupy the liminal space between sorrow and celebration, comprising an album that is at once iridescent and salubrious. The singles "Speaking with Trees" and "Spies" are invigorating and jaunty ruminations on loss and fear-induced insomnia, while "Devil's Bane" is a bluesy, tequila-spiked, country-inspired retaliation against guilt and shame. "Swim to New York State" starts like a shimmering dirge before expanding into a dazzling orchestral affirmation. The title track makes the political personal, serving up one of the best chorus melodies on the album, which manages to turn too-obvious lyrics into something unexpectedly rousing. "Flowers Burn to Gold" is an achingly hopeful ballad, both searching and resolute, sung to Amos' mother's ghost, while "Metal Water Wood" - the album's standout - is by turns wise and whimsical, effervescent and cathartic. "29 Years" strikes an undulating balance between steamy and poignant, and the lull of the delicate penultimate track, "How Glass Is Made," is charged by a stirring bridge that links the chaotic to the crystalline.

OCEAN TO OCEAN emanates an infectious warmth, spontaneity, and effulgence that make it both comforting and galvanizing. Its distillation and transmutation of tragedy and despondency into a refreshingly poppy, sanative, and palpably resilient sonic landscape is striking. Amos' vocal deliveries are by turns subdued and confident, fragile and textured. While, occasionally, her lyrics veer close to being on the nose, it's clear that these songs are not calculated messages stemming from self-righteousness but rather off-the-cuff confessions born from a yearning to burst free and resurface from dark waters of grief. Concurrently, her signature piano-playing is rich and resonant and, along with her keyboard work, acts as the fulcrum upon which the entire production spins. She is brilliantly accompanied by longtime collaborators Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass, John Philip Shenale on strings and keyboards, and Mark Hawley (Amos' husband) on guitars. Their buoyant flourishes and adornments contribute significantly to making this an intricate, dynamic, and prismatic late-career effort by Amos.

BUMP

Exquisite review.

Her singing is really irritating. Every note is planned ahead, nothing soulful or spontaneous. And she always says 'heee-uh' for 'here'- and she says it constantly. It's her favorite word.

None of the lyrics sound like real thoughts. Just abstract, overthought drivel.

And she looks ridiculous, like a she-dwarf in a red wig.

R57 You feel better, you little anal pebble? You feel like a real haughty bitch now?

I have flamed and freaked R57 as I know he eats dirt and flashes himself on subways.

Be gone, you little cunt!