A Piano: The Collection

"A Piano Collection" is definitely a great collection. If your a Tori fan this collection is a great set to have. A little taste of all the best. A must have for any true fan.

I used to run around exploring just about every CD store I came across (when the world was plentiful with such things). I would search endlessly for Tori bootlegs that had these B-sides and now here they are, all in one place. Reminds me of all the fun I had on my journies while discovering them for the first time...

If you are a Tori Amos fan you will love this collection! It's my favorite!

Okay, yes, I did only buy 'Flying Dutchman' and 'Take to the Sky', but they were..well, they seemed too good to be B-sides! Flying Dutchman was mind blowing, and Take to the Sky was just so...there's really no word for it. I say: Buy the ones that don't come on other albums [Flying Dutchman, Take to the Sky, Zero Point, Here. In my Head, etc.] and save money instead of getting the whole shebang with the songs you already know and love. :)

Excellent!

Pro the First: If there's any modern artist around worth creating a box for, it's Tori Amos. Con the First: Amos has way too much material to easily make a good box set - something essential will be left out regardless of the final cut. But on quality and diversity and range of material alone, you couldn't pick a better artist. At last count, Amos had over 100 b-sides that didn't relate to singles, EPs or albums. You could make a box set out of those alone (and, I would probably buy it). So, this box isn't it in the sense of being the collection that has everything you couldn't get a hold of otherwise. But the b-sides that make it are essential in defining the artist, her style, and her musical path. There's not a single one you could argue with for any substantial reason. So, all's well there, as much as possible. Amos liberally sprinkles in Alternate Mixes and Remixes, and although most of them don't show a siginificant amount of difference between themselves and the originals, many of the subtle differences highlight the music rather effectively, and gives one a glimpse into Tori's way of hearing things. The ones that are radically different are worth hearing, in that they present the music at a different angle, but in an important way. The material Amos wrote for the booklet is extremely good; in it, Amos presents her creative process as it is as well as her perceptions of the different processes and results as they were. She goes for honesty here; she writes critical, intelligent, and fair assessments of her work while freely admitting the errors that she makes/has made. She doesn't puff up her own ego or anyone else's - she lays out some of the processes in bare yet detailed explanations that give you a flavor not only into how she hears the music but how the music has affected her and her world around her. This is so rare as to have been believed to be non-existant - up until now, anyway. The one flaw the box has is that several pieces of great material were left off the set (though they are available on the original releases - certainly worthy of independent investigation regardless). This is mainly because out of all her material, 5 CDs just won't cut it. But it holds together fairly well as a box, so it's probably for the best that much has been left off. It's also easier to understand why once you've seen the way the discs lay out: here, she writes her history as it actually happened, as opposed to what the record companies think. Many could learn from this example. The running order isn't great, but it's hard to put together a great running order for a box set regardless of the control you have over its contents and your catalog. It's a LOT of music to take in. I wouldn't start you here. But HERE is absolutely the place if you want the artist's perspective from the beginning. And what the running order lacks in flow is more than compensated by the sheer quantity, the density, the quality and the power of the music within the set. And that's what it's about, after all. It points to Amos's future while giving a fun, playful, respectful nod to the past. It's also, quite simply, a great collection of music - worth getting into from every level.

I'm relatively new to Tori Amos and had recently only a few of her CDs ("Little Earthquakes", "Under The Pink" and "Crucify-EP") prior to acquiring this brilliant collection. The "Little Earthquakes Extended" arrangement with the additional 4 B-sides and apparently re-sequenced the way TA had initially intended, alone is IMO well worth the price of admission. Just a few personal highlights... "Sugar" and "The Waitress" both Live versions on disc 3 and "Past The Mission" on disc 2 are several of my current favs. This entire set will entertain for a very, very long time as I have a playlist of TA songs in constant rotation. I'm tickled pink to own this outstanding compilation of remarkable recordings and highly recommend it.

A stunning display of musical accomplishment. The Little Earthquakes extended disc alone is worth the purchase.

LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!! LOVED HER BOOK!!! LOVED THIS ALBUM EVEN MORE!!!

This a good mix of all of Tori,s Greatest Hits