The March 2005 issue of the British magazine Mojo includes a review of The Beekeeper. Click to read the review.
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Thanks to BarbaraKirk for sending this to me. You can read the review below:
Tori Amos
The Beekeeper (Epic)
Tori combines Hammond organ with her Bosendorfer piano for a rootsier sound.
After the back to basics feel of 2002's Scarlet's Walk, Amos is exploring lush, steamier textures for her latest album. Here she plays seductive Southern soul grooves on tracks like Sleeps With Butterflies and Sweet The Sting, incorporating vintage Hammond organ, Afro-Cuban drums and a gospel chorus. She sings about women in love, women scorned and women waiting in the wings, moving with characteristic ease from sensual, loping backbeats to busy notes in the upper keys.
This record has a ribald edge - from the sarcasm of Cars And Guitars to the brooding comedy of The Power of Orange Knickers (a duet with Damien Rice). But there's also a ghostly spirituality in the standout title track, and on Marys of the Sea, a new folk epic complete with bodhran drum and Gaelic lyrics.
Amos has been criticized in the past as being wilfully winsome - here she keeps the mood focused and the music softly funky.
(Lucy O'Brien)