Tori Amos. “The Big Picture.” 1988.

JUST SO YOU GUYS KNOW, THIS EXISTS.

The other night I was listening to Tori Amos’s 1996 album Boys For Pele while lying in bed. It was supposed to lull me to sleep but instead it drew me in, revealing snapshots of memories: buying the album in Albany’s Crossgates Mall, listening to it on bus trips, trying to figure out the chords to “Caught A Lite Sneeze” (nerd fact: it’s the same progression [different key] as The Cure’s “The Forest”), putting it away in the late 90s because I didn’t want her influence to seep any further into my songwriting (TOO LATE!).

What really struck me while listening to it again is her undeniable musicianship. The lady can play and compose like nobody else. No two song structures are alike. She treats her songs like tiny pieces of carefully-constructed art. She can do more with her left hand than my right hand will ever be able to do. I truly believe Tori Amos to be one of the few geniuses in popular music.

But first, there was Y Kan’t Tori Read. For anyone who thinks 1992’s Little Earthquakes was her first album: Surprise! Tori released YKTR in 1988 to dismal sales. She wrote Little Earthquakes while recovering from the embarrassment of being considered a music industry failure. (As the story goes, her label wasn’t too thrilled with Little Earthquakes when they first heard it, asking Tori to please replace all the piano parts with guitar. She politely refused.)

I discovered that YKTR existed in 1995 and found a used copy at an Albany record store, happily plunking down $35 for it based on the fact that it was out of print and I didn’t think I’d ever find another copy.

So you might be asking, “If Tori Amos is such a genius and you love Boys For Pele and her musicianship and all that, why are you posting this dumb rock video she did in 1988?” And to that I would say “Because I love this too and it’s more fun to post old stuff nobody knows exists.” And then you would say, “Oh, okay, I get it.” And I would say, “Good, now watch this video.”