Album Review: Night of Hunters by Tori Amos

I remember going to see Tori Amos in concert back in Philadelphia around 1996 and thinking how odd it was that the place was packed with 14 year old girls. My guess is that Amos felt the same way because Boys for Pele was that last mainstream album she made. That was some ten albums ago.

Her latest is perhaps the most ambitious project she's undertaken and in an odd way it plays perfectly to what Amos best offers the music world. She was commissioned to create a song cycle inspired by classical works. In response she created a 14 song cycle about the demise of a relationship, framed by music taken from nuggets of a variety of classical composers.

This venue gives a chance for Amos to do the two things she does so well. First, is play the piano and write complex arrangements for said piano. Second, is to delve into the mind of a character and look at the world through that character's eyes with the odd lyrical vision that is so uniquely Amos. Lyrically Amos is at her best when her music is at its best and so I think here the instrumental construction has helped to focus Amos on her lyrical content.

For the most part this is a quiet and complex album and it takes some commitment to really enjoy it for what it is. That being said this album is a reminder of what a brilliant talent Amos is.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.