A Piano: The Collection

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A Piano: The Collection
Box set by Tori Amos
Released	September 26, 2006 (U.S.)
Recorded	1990 – March 2006
Genre	Alternative
Label	Rhino Records
Producer	Tori Amos
Tori Amos chronology
Tales of a Librarian (2003) A Piano: The Collection (2006) American Doll Posse (2007)

A Piano: The Collection is a five-disc box set spanning the first 15 years of the solo career of American singer and song-writer Tori Amos. Released on September 26, 2006 by Rhino Records as part of the contract Amos negotiated with Warner Bros., the set consists of classics, rarities, demos, B-sides and a string of unreleased songs from album sessions.

Contents 1 Box set breakdown 2 Errors in the printed track listing 3 Track listing 3.1 Disc A 440 Hz 3.1.1 Little Earthquakes extended 3.2 Disc B 493.88 Hz 3.2.1 Pink and Pele 3.3 Disc C 523.25 Hz 3.3.1 Pele, Venus and Tales 3.4 Disc D 587.33 Hz 3.4.1 Choirgirl, Scarlet, Beekeeper 3.5 Disc E 659.26 Hz 3.5.1 Bonus B-Sides 4 B-sides and rarities not included in this compilation

[edit] Box set breakdown

The compilation's first disc includes an extended version of Amos' 1992 debut, Little Earthquakes. The original record has not only a different song sequence and alternate mixes but it features its four original B-sides ("Upside Down" and "Sweet Dreams," and alternate mixes of "Flying Dutchman" and "Take to the Sky") as well as the previously unreleased, unedited single remix version of "Crucify".

Spotlighting music recorded between 1994 and 1996, the second disc includes songs from Under the Pink and Boys for Pele. The eighteen tracks blend original and remixed versions of albums cuts with the B-side "Honey" and "Professional Widow" performed live. Also included is "Take Me With You" (music recorded in 1990, with lyrics/vocals finished in 2006).

The third disc also includes songs associated with Boys for Pele plus 1999’s To Venus and Back and Tales of a Librarian: A Tori Amos Collection. The fifteen songs feature original and remixed versions of album tracks as well as "Hey Jupiter" (Dakota Version) and "Professional Widow" (Armand's Star Trunk Funkin’ Mix). Also featured is "Walk to Dublin (Sucker Reprise)" (recorded in 1995 during the Boys for Pele sessions).

From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998), Scarlet's Walk (2002) and The Beekeeper (2005) are the focus of the fourth disc, which contains fifteen songs including original and remixed versions of tracks from the albums. Also featured is the unheard intro for "Marys of the Sea" (from The Beekeeper) as well as four previously unreleased songs: "Not David Bowie" (recorded in 2004 for The Beekeeper), "Ode to My Clothes" (recorded in 2001 in between takes for Strange Little Girls), "Dolphin Song" (recorded in 2004), and the much-mythologized "Zero Point" (recorded in 1999 for To Venus and Back), which Amos had mentioned in interviews as well as the liner notes to 1999's To Venus and Back. In the A Piano liner notes, Amos writes:

“

"Some songs seem to have a timeline for when they want to be finished and put out to the world. At the time when we were working on 'Dolphin Song', I had all kinds of ideas for her development after the basic tracking had been done. Instead she got set aside for a while. But once we started to go through the tape library we put 'Dolphin' up on the faders again, and I realized we didn’t need to record anything else; it was finished."

”

The final disc features twenty-two tracks spotlighting Amos' list of renowned B-sides and includes the exclusive digital release "Merman" from 1999 ("Merman" would later appear on No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees). It also includes popular B-sides such as "Cooling," "Purple People," "Bachelorette," and "Here. In My Head" and the unreleased "Peeping Tommi" (recorded in 1993 for Under the Pink). Amos also invites listeners into her artistic process with a medley of demos for the songs "Fire-Eater’s Wife / Beauty Queen", "Playboy Mommy" and "a sorta fairytale". Amos explains in the liner notes:

“

"I’m usually pretty reticent to expose the musical development process... The demo medley was a choice I made so that other songwriters can feel an affinity with the idea that songwriters have to push themselves and not just accept the first incarnation that you are presented with. Each of these three songs are presented here in their completed form somewhere within the box set so you can see conception to development."

”

[edit] Errors in the printed track listing

The track listing incorrectly labels "Purple People" as being the b-side version from the "Spark" single, when the version featured here is the live soundcheck version from To Venus and Back.

Likewise, the version of "Take To the Sky" featured here is a different mix than the one actually released as a b-side on the "Winter" e.p. The alternate mix on this compilation is noticeably different in that it does not have the backing vocals on the second chorus or during the outro.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Disc A 440 Hz

[edit] Little Earthquakes extended

1. "Leather" (Alternate Mix)
2. "Precious Things" (Alternate Mix)
3. "Silent All These Years" (Remastered)
4. "Upside Down" (Remastered)
5. "Crucify" (Unedited Single Version)
6. "Happy Phantom" (Remastered)
7. "Me and a Gun" (Remastered)
8. "Flying Dutchman" (Alternate Mix)
9. "Girl" (Remastered)
10. "Winter" (Remastered)
11. "Take to the Sky" (Alternate Mix - Not identified as such on packaging)
12. "Tear in Your Hand" (Remastered)
13. "China" (Remastered)
14. "Sweet Dreams" (Remastered)
15. "Mother" (Alternate Mix) (Remastered)
16. "Little Earthquakes" (Remastered)

[edit] Disc B 493.88 Hz

[edit] Pink and Pele

1. "Cornflake Girl" (Remastered)
2. "Honey" (Remastered)
3. "Take Me with You"
4. "Baker Baker" (Alternate Mix)
5. "The Waitress" (Alternate Mix)
6. "Pretty Good Year" (Remastered)
7. "God" (Remastered)
8. "Cloud on My Tongue" (Remastered)
9. "Past the Mission" (Alternate Mix)
10. "Bells for Her" (Remastered)
11. "Yes, Anastasia" (Alternate Mix)
12. "Blood Roses" (Remastered)
13. "Mr. Zebra" (Remastered)
14. "Caught a Lite Sneeze" (Alternate Mix)
15. "Professional Widow" (Merry Widow Version – Live) (Remastered)
16. "Beauty Queen/Horses" (Remastered)
17. "Father Lucifer" (Remastered)
18. "Marianne" (Remastered)

[edit] Disc C 523.25 Hz

[edit] Pele, Venus and Tales

1. "Walk to Dublin" (Sucker Reprise)
2. "Hey Jupiter" (Dakota Version) (Remastered)
3. "Professional Widow" (Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix) (Remastered)
4. "Putting the Damage On" (Remastered)
5. "Bliss" (Remixed Version)
6. "Suede" (Remastered)
7. "Glory of the 80's" (Remastered)
8. "1000 Oceans" (Remastered)
9. "Concertina" (Single Remix Version)
10. "Lust" (Remastered)
11. "Datura" (Remastered)
12. "Sugar" (Live from Soundcheck) (Remastered)
13. "The Waitress" (Live) (Remastered)
14. "Snow Cherries from France" (Remastered)
15. "Doughnut Song" (Remixed Version)

[edit] Disc D 587.33 Hz

[edit] Choirgirl, Scarlet, Beekeeper

1. "A Sorta Fairytale" (Remastered)
2. "Not David Bowie"
3. "Amber Waves" (Remastered)
4. "i i e e e" (Remixed Version)
5. "Playboy Mommy" (Remixed Version)
6. "The Beekeeper" (Remastered)
7. "Jackie's Strength" (Remastered)
8. "Zero Point"
9. "Sweet the Sting" (Remastered)
10. "Ode to My Clothes"
11. "Spark" (Remastered)
12. "Intro Jam / Marys of the Sea"
13. "Cruel" (Remixed Version)
14. "Dolphin Song"
15. "Gold Dust" (Remastered)

[edit] Disc E 659.26 Hz

[edit] Bonus B-Sides

1. "The Pool" (Remastered)
2. "Never Seen Blue" (Remastered)
3. "Daisy Dead Petals" (Remastered)
4. "Beulah Land" (Remastered)
5. "Sugar" (Remastered)
6. "Cooling" (Remastered)
7. "Bachelorette" (Remastered)
8. "Black Swan" (Remastered)
9. "Mary" (Tales Version) (Remastered)
10. "Peeping Tommi"
11. "Toodles Mr. Jim" (Remastered)
12. "Fire-Eater’s Wife / Beauty Queen" (Demo)
13. "Playboy Mommy" (Demo)
14. "A Sorta Fairytale" (Demo)
15. "This Old Man" (Remastered)
16. "Purple People" (Remastered Soundcheck Version - Not identified as such on the packaging)
17. "Here. In My Head" (Remastered)
18. "Hungarian Wedding Song" (Remastered)
19. "Merman" (Remastered)
20. "Sister Janet" (Remastered)
21. "Home on the Range" (Cherokee Edition) (Remastered)
22. "Frog on My Toe" (Remastered)

[edit] B-sides and rarities not included in this compilation

Fans may also want to note the significant number of b-sides which weren't included on this compilation. No reason has been provided for their absence, though the artist has commented on the deterioration of the original masters of various tracks -- thus the "alternate mixes" being chosen for the compilation. Here is a list of officially released b-sides and rarities which were not included:

1. "A Case of You" (b-side) (cover)
2. "After All" (b-side) (cover)
3. "Alamo" (b-side)
4. "All the Girls Hate Her (Piano Suite)" (b-side)
5. "Amazing Grace / 'Til the Chicken" (b-side)
6. "Angie" (b-side) (cover)
7. "Blue Skies" (collaboration with BT)
8. "Butterfly" (soundtrack)
9. "Carnival" (soundtrack) (cover)
10. "Do It Again" (b-side) (cover)
11. "Famous Blue Raincoat" (cover)
12. "Flying Dutchman" (original b-side version)
13. "Garlands" (bonus DVD track)
14. "Graveyard" (b-side)
15. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (b-side) (cover)
16. "Humpty Dumpty" (b-side)
17. "I'm On Fire (Live)" (cover)
18. "If 6 Were 9" (b-side) (cover)
19. "Landslide" (cover)
20. "London Girls" (b-side) (cover)
21. "Losing My Religion" (soundtrack) (cover)
22. "Mountain" (internet-only b-side)
23. "Murder, He Says" (soundtrack) (cover)
24. "Ode to the Banana King" (b-side)
25. "Only Women Bleed" (b-side) (cover)
26. "Operation Peter Pan" (b-side)
27. "Over It (Piano Suite)" (b-side)
28. "Purple People (Christmas in Space)" (b-side version)
29. "Samurai" (b-side)
30. "Siren" (soundtrack)
31. "Sister Named Desire" (b-side)
32. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (b-side) (cover)
33. "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" (b-side) (cover)
34. "Song for Eric" (b-side)
35. "Strange Fruit" (b-side) (cover)
36. "Take to the Sky" (original b-side version)
37. "Thank You" (b-side) (cover)
38. "That's What I Like, Mick (The Sandwich Song)" (b-side)
39. "Thoughts" (b-side)
40. "You Belong to Me" (soundtrack) (cover)

(plus various live tracks, remixes, and early tracks. Also of note; no tracks from Tori's album of cover tunes, Strange Little Girls, were included in the box set.)

v • d • e Tori Amos Albums Little Earthquakes · Under the Pink · Boys for Pele · From the Choirgirl Hotel · To Venus and Back · Strange Little Girls · Scarlet's Walk · The Beekeeper · American Doll Posse EPs Crucify · Hey Jupiter · Scarlet's Hidden Treasures · Exclusive Session Live albums The Original Bootlegs · Legs and Boots Compilations More Pink: The B-Sides · Tales of a Librarian · iTunes Essentials · A Piano: The Collection Singles "Me and a Gun" · "Silent All These Years" · "China" · "Winter" · "Crucify" · "Cornflake Girl" · "God" · "Past the Mission" · "Pretty Good Year" · "Caught a Lite Sneeze" · "Talula" · "Professional Widow" · "Hey Jupiter" · "In The Springtime of His Voodoo" · "Spark" · "Jackie's Strength" · "Cruel" · "Raspberry Swirl" · "Bliss" · "1000 Oceans" · "Glory of the 80s" · "Concertina" · "A Sorta Fairytale" · "Taxi Ride" · "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" · "Strange" · "Mary" · "Sleeps with Butterflies" · "Sweet The Sting" · "Cars and Guitars" · "Big Wheel" · "Bouncing Off Clouds" · "Almost Rosey" Videos Little Earthquakes · Live from New York · Complete Videos: 1991–1998 · Welcome to Sunny Florida · Fade to Red Related articles Discography · B-sides · Piece by Piece · RAINN · Y Kant Tori Read · "Blue Skies" · Delirium