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Track Listings
| 1. Flavor |
| 2. Yes, Anastasia |
| 3. Jackie's Strength |
| 4. Cloud On My Tongue |
| 5. Precious Things |
| 6. Gold Dust |
| 7. Star of Wonder |
| 8. Winter |
| 9. Flying Dutchman |
| 10. Programmable Soda |
| 11. Snow Cherries from France |
| 12. Marianne |
| 13. Silent All These Years |
| 14. Girl Disappearing |
Product Description
Review
This wilful streak has never really left Amos. Since breaking through with 1992's Little Earthquakes, the flame-haired piano maven has always danced to her own tune. She's released concept albums, tinkered with electronica, covered an Eminem single, and even had a spell as a club diva. Last year, Amos returned to her classical roots with a "21st century song cycle" called Night of Hunters.
For this new album, Amos is looking back. Gold Dust features 14 tracks from her past, re-recorded with new arrangements courtesy of the Netherlands-based Metropole Orchestra. These songs are based on, says Amos, "conversations I've had with people over the years". As concepts go, it's loose as a kaftan, and with 12 previous albums to pick from, Amos won't have struggled to make up the numbers.
In practice, she ignores too many classics to make Gold Dust a ‘best of’: for a start, there's no Cornflake Girl or Crucify. However, there is some method to her selections. These songs span 20 years of recordings, and draw from 10 of those 12 albums. Most feel at least partly autobiographical.
And since many had prominent string arrangements to begin with, Gold Dust isn't filled with radical reinventions. A 1994 epic called Yes, Anastasia – originally nine minutes long – gets sliced in half. Flavor, from 2009, loses its programmed beats. But most of these songs are just plusher, more refined versions of their former selves – and actually, that's no bad way to age.
Throughout, there are welcome reminders of Amos's songwriting gifts. Jackie's Strength, a cryptic song about marriage, becomes more poignant than ever. So all things considered, Gold Dust works as an introduction to Tori Amos, though an imperfect one. It should also persuade a few lapsed fans to get reacquainted.
--Tom Hocknell
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
Customer Reviews
I did go and see Tori live this month when she was touring in London with the Metropole orchestra, and it was a beautiful concert - Tori's voice was very clear, and the strings complimented her vocals and piano playing perfectly. The songs sounded much better live than they do on this record, because in concert, the orchestra gave unique intros to each song, and there were lots of dramatic little pauses. Unfortunately, this album doesn't quite match up to the live show, and I would rather have bought a live recording of the concert.
That's not to say that Gold Dust is a bad record at all, just that if you've been following Tori for a long time, you might find that it doesn't quite meet up to expectations. But if you are relatively new to Tori's music, or you enjoy classical music in general and would like something a little alternative, then I would reccommend Gold Dust.
I'd say that the two major tracks that do stand out on this album are the first track Flavour, which sounds much more upbeat and more emotionally stirring than it did on Abnormally Attracted to Sin, and the final track Girl Disappearing, in which Tori puts much better pronunciation on the lyrics than she did in American Doll Posse. I find that the messages and stories behind both tracks come across so much better in their revamped forms on this record.
These are wonderful reworkings of already wonderful songs sure, but there is a point to this. Read more
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