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TALES OF A LIBRARIAN
(Atlantic)
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Tori Amos not only shares her life experiences through song but deals with tough personal issues like rape, miscarriage, and religion. Playing on her recent fondness for taking on alter egos, this CD-plus-DVD greatest-hits package is designed to make you feel as if you were browsing through a library: a map of the Dewey Decimal Classification system is juxtaposed with the themes of Amos’s songs. Filed in the ‘"Social Problems and Social Services" subsection, "Act of Rape"’ is her "Me and a Gun," a song about her own rape. What makes this not just another repackaging is the remixing and reconditioning done by Mark Hawley (Amos’s hubby) and Marcel van Limbeek, who add new twists and a little extra zing to each track. Preferring Armand van Helden’s much catchier remix of "Professional Widow" to her own version and adding a few bars to songs like "Way Down" is what makes this worthwhile for fans who can tell the difference from the original versions. The package includes the new songs "Snow Cherries from France" and "Angels," as well as two re-recorded rarities. The short bonus DVD has new live footage, old publicity photos, and few more songs not on the CD. A must for diehards, and good for average fans too.
