From the Choirgirl Hotel
From the Choirgirl Hotel is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Tori Amos, released on May 5, 1998. A departure from her previous albums, it was more a heavily produced project featuring elements of electronic music and a full rock band sound. The album debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 6 in the UK. While falling short of the number 2 debut for her previous album, Boys for Pele, From the Choirgirl Hotel is Amos's strongest debut to date in US sales, selling 153,000 copies in the first week. As of 2008 it has sold 778,000 copies in US. In 1999, Amos received two Grammy nominations: Alternative Music Performance, and Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Raspberry Swirl".
The lead single "Spark" became a hit after its release in June 1998, and was followed by "Jackie's Strength" and "Cruel"/"Raspberry Swirl".
The accompanying tour, Amos's first with a full band, 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. Amos imagined the songs as living their own lives, all checking into the "choirgirl hotel" 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 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
B-sides
Like Amos's previous Atlantic albums, several songs recorded during the From the Choirgirl Hotel sessions were released as b-sides, and introduced into Amos's live performance repertoire. "Cooling," "Never Seen Blue," and "Beulah Land" were originally written and recorded for 1996's Boys for Pele album. Several tracks from a demo CD for the album leaked online in 2010, including "Violet's Eyes". Parts of this song evolved into "Almost Rosey" and "Miracle" from 2007's American Doll Posse.| B-side title | Single |
| "Purple People" | "Spark" |
| "Bachelorette" | "Spark" |
| "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" | "Spark" |
| "Do It Again" | "Spark" |
| "Cooling" | "Spark" |
| "Never Seen Blue" | "Jackie's Strength" |
| "Beulah Land" | "Jackie's Strength" |
| "Merman" | |
| "Violet's Eyes" | unreleased, leaked in 2010 |
Personnel
- Tori Amos – keyboards, vocals
- Steve Caton – acoustic and electric guitar; mandolin on "Black-Dove "
- George Porter Jr., Justin Meldal-Johnsen – bass
- Matt Chamberlain – drums; marimba on "Cruel"
- Andy Gray – programming
- Stewart Boyle – guitar on "Northern Lad"
- Willy Porter – guitar on "Playboy Mommy"
- Al Perkins – steel guitar on "Playboy Mommy"
- Sinfonia of London – on "Jackie's Strength", conducted by David Firman, strings arranged by John Philip Shenale
Charts