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April 12, 2005

Tori Amos: Return of the Cornflake Girl

by Ed Condran

On the surface it appears that Tori Amos' latest disc "The Beekeeper" features songs that are connected to one another. The quirky singer-songwriter has lined up the tunes in "gardens." But that's a bit deceiving. Amos has assembled a collection of well-constructed tracks that are their own little entities.

"Each song is a short story," Amos said. "Each song is a poem. I've assembled a collection of short stories and poems but they're happening around this one central character, this one woman. These (songs) are all of her relationships."

"The Beekeeper" is filled with compelling, melodic material and is an unusually uplifting Amos disc. The times dictated the feel of the album.

"I think the only way to combat war and depression for a nation is not to drown in the grief," Amos said. "We need to build bridges. The only way to combat destruction is to create so with this album I went back to the creation story, which is in Genesis. The core of the record is original 'sinsuality.'"

With this album, Tori visits God's mother and says, "'What do we do about what's going on this time,' and she says 'you need to eat the forbidden fruit, unlike my son suggested.' What I'm exploring is not the garden of original sin but the garden of original 'sinsuality.'"

Yes, Amos, who will perform Monday at the Kimmel Center, is one of rock's true characters. Famous for such classics as "Cornflake Girl" and "Crucify," the 41-year-old North Carolina native remains provocative, clever and always entertaining. The eccentric pianist splits time between Florida's Atlantic Coast and England. Even though she has lived in the United Kingdom longer than Anglophile Madonna, Amos has no trace of a British accent.

"I still have my American Southern mixed continental speech," Amos said proudly. "It's part of who I am."

Count on Amos' devoted fans to flock to the Kimmel Center. "I can't say enough about those who have supported me over the years," Amos said. "They come out tour after tour and I appreciate that so much."

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