Tori Amos: Tales of A Librarian

Rating:
Summary: Great for Tori-philes
Review: Here's a rundown of the Tales of a Librarian songbook:

All the songs in this collection can be found on at least one previously published Tori Amos songbook, with the exception of "Angels" and "Snow Cherries from France." These two new songs were surprisingly difficult to play despite their easy key signatures (G and F, respectively). They are pure accompaniment, with a few notes here and there matching the melody.

All the other songs seem to have the same arrangements as the original songbooks in which they appeared. "Professional Widow," of course, is the Boys for Pele album version, and not the remix version found on the TOAL album. Some notes in "Mary" are just a little different than The Bee-Sides version, and the editor corrected the spelling from "Jimmy" to "Jimi." "Way Down" is not expanded as it is on the TOAL album. The background lyrics are not included in the lines of the songs.

The first couple pages list the songs in that Dewey decimal system layout, alongside a few pictures from previous albums. The next 13 pages feature many pictures from Tori's career and the complete lyrics to all the songs on the album. (Some pictures were new to me.) Surprisingly, there is only one TOAL picture featured in this book: the cover pic.

One important note is that all the songs from the DVD are included, too. All FOUR of them: "Pretty Good Year," "Honey," "Northern Lad," and "Putting the Damage On."

Overall, I'm somewhat disappointed with this songbook, mainly because I was hoping for revised arrangements. But if you're one of those "ears with feet" who buy the songbooks because they need all things Tori, you'll be satisfied.