The March 2 - 15, 2005 (#23) issue of Frontiers News Magazine, which is based in California, includes a review of The Beekeeper.

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Thanks to Nathan for letting me know about this one. You can read the review online at frontiersnewsmagazine.com or below:

Tori Amos
The Beekeeper
(Epic)

Tori Amos says "The Beekeeper" was inspired by "the fact that the piano has realized that she has an organ" (a reference to her unique left hand-on-the-piano/right hand-on-the-Hammond B3 playing style). While she never reveals how she managed to keep this secret from her Bsendorfer in the years since her breakthrough 1992 disc, "Little Earthquakes" (with the haunting "Crucify" and "Silent All These Years"), she still has plenty of confession in her soul. Amos is the tortured genius we all knew in high school--the exotic-yet-freakish girl who wore opera gloves to gym class and only spoke in poetic performance art fashion. For Tori fans, "The Beekeeper" aims to please. Amos packs the disc with 19 tracks: 80 minutes of her cryptic lyrics, often concealing dark secrets behind lilting melodies and upbeat rhythms. Her language speaks of parasols and "the power of orange knickers" (a song that refers to the mean girls in high school who "smile kindly and rip your life to pieces"). There's plenty of pain, but it's packaged in a far more attractive sound. Musically, Amos has never been more interesting. Her voice is less shrill, more sexy. And she even manages to get a little funky on "Ireland" and "Hoochie Woman." The beauty of "The Beekeeper" is in Amos' ability to find new and inviting diverse musical soundscapes as vehicles for her metaphor-filled lyrics, obscure references and, of course, more than her fair share of heartbreak and pain.

--Larry Dean Harris