"He was going to show me spring."

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So maybe I'm not dying, but it certainly feels like it :( I look like a hamster, dammit!

So, Tori has a new album out on Monday - the Beekeeper. I hope everyone is planning on going out and buying a copy! I've pre-ordered mine from Amazon, because there's nowhere in Bangor to get new CDs from (WHSmiths and Woolworths are the only places that might sell it, but not on the day it came out). Some people who pre-ordered theirs from Amazon have received their copies already, but apparently Tori doesn't love me enough :(

I would love to make a harpsichord record. But sometimes I make certain decisions because I go, "You know, if I do this, then I might be touring tiny little 50-seaters in Germany." And to be quite honest, I don't really like the food in Germany. So the harpsichord has to be just a fragment of the next record. You have to make your choices knowing that there are going to be consequences. Just say, "I can't get fucked off if KROQ doesn't want to play my harpsichord record." If you want to do that 12-tone album, then do it. but take responsibility for it.

I wish she had. Boys for Pele is my favourite Tori album, it's amazing - and moreso because of the harpsichord, which is sexy and deep and spooky, all at the same time. It blows me away every time. It's an even better album with my slight modifications:
Deleting of the Professional Widow remix - putting it in the middle of the album was such a stupid idea. Whoever thought of that should be shot, or at least lose their job. It completely ruins the flow of the album. If you must keep it, it can go at the end as a bonus track (which would make much more sense, to be honest).
Addition of In the Springtime of His Voodoo, inbetween Doughnut Song and Putting the Damage on. I don't know why they decided to take this off the newer copies (I know mine doesn't have it), as it fits really well. Doughnut and Damage are both quite depressing, slow break-up songs, putting Voodoo inbetween them stops you from wanting to slit your wrists at the end.
and keeping the Talula Tornado mix inbetween Little Amsterdam and Agent Orange - the original just isn't as good. And putting it as track 12 (between Way Down and Amsterdam) just didn't work.

You can also get rid of Horses/Beauty Queen, and have Blood Roses as the beginning track - which to me makes much more sense. They're good songs, but they just have too much silence at the beginning to make them good start tracks. You need to start an album with a strong, catchy song, which is what Blood Roses is. It works with all her other albums - you don't mess with a winning formula. I tend to skip Horses everytime I listen to it.

Stand out tracks? Well. it's better to ask what ones I don't like. Not the Red Baron (the beginning bit bugs me), Agent Orange (it just seems pointless), Twinkle (far too slow) and Marianne (it bores me). I would get rid of Twinkle as the last track, but it seems depressing to end the album on "you're just so pretty, when you're putting the damage on." Somehow, ending it with some strange crap about watching stars (no, I don't actually have a clue what it's about, which is another reason why I don't like it so much :P) is just a lot better - more positive. It makes it seem like there is hope out there, it's not the end of the world type of thing. I love the way the CD just builds up the anger. Doughnut Song is so powerful. She doesn't sound angry or shout (like Blood Roses), but you can tell she's angry all the same ("Happy for you, and I am sure that I hate you"), leading to sadness - "I guess I'm way beyond the pale" - which makes sense to me, whenever I get angry I end up crying afterwards.

This album is what inspired me to learn piano in the first place (so I could learn harpsichord). I really cannot wait for Monday to arrive :D Her book has really built up my anticipation of it, she talks about it a lot and it sounds really good. Organs! I've read so many positive reviews of it, too, which is always good. I don't like the single, Sleeps with Butterflies, much, but it does actually sound better when performed live, and apparently it's not a very good representation of the whole album anyway. You can download a copy of Garlands here, one of the bonus tracks from the new album. 8.20 long! It's okay, it's good to hear Tori alone with her piano again, but it's not my favourite song of hers.

I'm going to stop there, before I sound like I'm really obsessed. :p
lol, I do actually think about other things that don't involve pianos or Tori! Honest.

In other news, it's exactly one month til I come home! woot. I've got to get another driving test booked today, too (although I also need money to cover driving lessons, since I can actually barely afford the test). I have to revise for my tests this week too. No mumps means I actually have to do them. Crap.