I miss Tori Amos's greatness the way I miss lost friends. But I don't think it's coming back, and the one thing she hasn't lost is her interpretive brilliance. So the other night I found myself wishing she would just walk into the studio and record an entire Joni Mitchelll album; my preference would be For The Roses, because then I could hear her versions of "See You Sometime" and "Blond in the Bleachers" and I can't even stand how superb I am certain it would be when Tori slurred "she tapes her regrets to the microphone stand" and everybody and I stopped breathing. But whatever, she could record Blue or Court & Spark and it would be a beautiful day.
But I think I understand the problem. Given the similarities that already exist between the two, I can see how Tori would be in effect admitting that she was a lesser artist than Joni; it would have the air of tribute, and for all the covers (my favorites are "For Emily Wherever I May Find Her" and "Angie"), including the cover of Joni's "River," Tori isn't really a tributary.
What to do? My idea is this: it only works if everybody's paying tribute, if everybody gets to be the alpha and beta dogs at once. So Tori does a full album of Joni, Joni does Slayer, Slayer records the second Sleater-Kinney album, Sleater-Kinnney covers Whodini, Whodini interprets Kris Kristofferson...well, you get the picture. And in the end, Chaka Khan goes into the studio and lays down every blessed verse of a Tori release; exeunt omnes. I mean, she's every woman; she might as well be Boys for Pele. Now who's with me?
Posted by jane at November 27, 2005 11:51 AM | TrackBack