Personnel: Tori Amos (vocals, piano, Mellotron, synthesizer, sound effects); Steve Caton (acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin); Stewart Boyle, Willy Porter (guitar); Al Perkins (pedal steel guitar); The Sinfonia Of London (strings); Matt Chamberlain (marimba, drums, percussion); George Porter Jr., Justin Meldal-Johnsen (bass); Andy Gray (programming).

FROM THE CHOIRGIRL HOTEL was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. "Raspberry Swirl" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

Personnel: Tori Amos (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, Kurzwell synthesizer); Steve Caton (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin); Stuart Boyle, Willy Porter (guitar); Matt Chamberlain (marimba, drums, percussion); Andy Gray (programming).

Audio Mixers: Mark Hawley; Marcel VanLimbeek.

Recording information: Martian Engineering Cornwall, England.

Photographers: Martina Hoogland; Katerina Jebb.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Mark Hawley; Sinfonia of London Orchestra.

Shortly before she began work on From the Choirgirl Hotel, Tori Amos suffered a miscarriage. While she was recording the album, she married her long-term boyfriend. As expected, both events cryptically wind their way into the album, which arguably has Amos' most personal lyrics since Little Earthquakes. The surprise is, From the Choirgirl Hotel is considerably more accessible than its immediate predecessor, Boys for Pele. Tori has opened up her sound by working live with a full band, bringing an immediacy to her sound that has never been heard before. Added to that are samples and drum loops, ballads supported by eerie, sweeping strings and heavy guitars -- everything she played with on Pele has come to fruition here. All the while, she's kept the perversely cryptic, convoluted lyrics that have always marked her work, yet the lines that connect have more power and savage wit than ever. Besides, Amos' songs have an interior logic of their own. Until now, it seemed that she could only deliver them on her own, supported by her piano, a guitar, or strings. With From the Choirgirl Hotel, she proves that with a little aural experimentation and muscle, she's as potent and powerful as any modern rock artist. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

With her abstract lyrics, idiosyncratic piano playing and quirky arrangements, Amos has rewritten a good deal of the post-Laura Nyro poet-gal-with-a-piano rule book since 1992's LITTLE EARTHQUAKES. As her legions of fans can attest, she's already made it plain that she can do the intellectual artiste thing with aplomb. What she proves on FROM THE CHOIRGIRL HOTEL is that she can also rock out with the best of them.

This recording finds her retreating a bit from the singer/songwriter-with-backing-band approach of her previous recordings in favor of a more band-oriented approach. Though the songcraft here is up to her usual standards, many of the tunes sound as if they were the product of Amos working closely with her musicians and feeding off their inspiration, rather than cloistering herself away with her diary and piano. It is this development that makes CHOIRGIRL HOTEL such a refreshing change of pace, and marks the next chapter in the continuing evolution of Tori Amos.

Rolling Stone (5/14/98, pp.55-56) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...Amos comes clean with the rock & roll that's always driven her....A woolly jam dynamic pervades HOTEL....Amos throws herself and her various keyboards into bass-drum-guitar ensembles augmented by percussion loops and string sections..."

Spin (1/99, p.91) - Ranked #13 on Spin's list of "Top 20 Albums of '98."

Spin (6/98, pp.127-128) - 8 (out of 10) - "...Even when she's not singing about religion--and on her new album...she barely does at all--Amos achieves a kind of ecstatic holiness in songs. She's that rare rocker who can build a racket not out of dissonance but through euphonic intensity..."

Entertainment Weekly (5/8/98, p.75) - "...For a good chunk of FROM THE CHOIRGIRL HOTEL, she nestles her piano and melodies in the sinewy thump, junkyard percussion, and guitar noir of trip-hop. And what an ideal match: Amos' vocal quirks, trills, and orgasmic-soprano moans add personality to what can often be dull music..." - Rating: B+