Y Kant Tori Read

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Y Kant Tori Read

Y Kant Tori Read was a 1980s synthpop band, fronted by then unknown singer-songwriter Tori Amos. The band released one album, also called Y Kant Tori Read, which bombed miserably. The band originally consisted of Amos, Steve Caton, and several musicians that they worked with at the time. When they were signed to Atlantic Records through record producer Joe Chicarelli the other musicians were dropped. Kim Bullard, later of Kajagoogoo, and Matt Sorum, later of Guns N' Roses, were brought in to flesh out the band for the album. The name comes from an incident in Tori's childhood where she was asked to leave the Peabody Conservatory because she refused to read sheet music.^[1]

As a result of Amos' later success, early in her career copies of the album in its various formats would sell for thousands of dollars, particularly an unopened copy on compact disc in its original longbox. Soon after its release, however, cut-out copies on vinyl were placed on sale for ninety-nine cents. A music video for their song "The Big Picture" was made, but the only member of the band featured was Amos. As of 2006, due to the lessening of interest in Amos, the decline in music collectible sales and the increase in pirated distribution of the music, vinyl copies of the original record frequently sell on ebay for between $50-100.

Two singles were released. The first, "The Big Picture," was commercially issued exclusively as a 7" vinyl single (and without a picture sleeve.) A 12" vinyl promo did have a picture sleeve, however. The second single, "Cool on Your Island," was issued as a cassette single and 7" vinyl single, this time with a picture sleeve; and in various promo 7" vinyl singles. Neither single was successful.

Atlantic Records fully abandoned promoting the record after only two months of release. The company has since honored Amos' request that no Y Kant Tori Read material be re-released, although bootleg copies do exist.