''From the Choirgirl Hotel'' (stylised in all lowercase) is the fourth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. It was released on May 5, 1998, on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. The album was Amos's first to be recorded at her own Martian Engineering Studios in Cornwall, England and was self produced, with the mixing being handled by longtime collaborators Marcel van Limbeek and Mark Hawley, whom she had married in early 1998. In contrast with the sparse, minimalist sound of Amos's previous albums, ''From the Choirgirl Hotel'' features a greater emphasis on full band arrangements. Additionally, the album sees Amos integrate elements of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

, and

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

. The album marks the first appearance of

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session drummer, record producer and songwriter. He has played with various artists, including Pearl Jam, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, David Bowie, Tori Amos, Morrissey, The Wallflow ...

on drums; he has gone on to contribute to the majority of Amos's albums ever since. ''From the Choirgirl Hotel'' was commercially and critically successful. It peaked at number 5 in the US, becoming Amos's second straight top ten album in her home country, and reached number 6 in the UK. " Spark", the album's lead single, reached number 49 on the '' Billboard'' Hot 100, her highest position on the chart. Two further singles—" Jackie's Strength" and " Raspberry Swirl" / " Cruel"—were released, with the former reaching the top of the US Hot Dance Club Play chart. The album garnered two Grammy nominations – one for Best Alternative Music Performance, and another for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (for "Raspberry Swirl"). Amos promoted the album with the "Plugged '98" tour, her first with a full band. Performances from the tour were included on the live disc of her next release, '' To Venus and Back''.

Album description

The album began recording in September 1997, with mastering complete by early February 1998. Following the trend set by 1996's '' Boys for Pele'', Amos allowed several songs from the album to be remixed. Remixes of both "Raspberry Swirl" and "Jackie's Strength" were club hits. The album's theme dealt very closely with the first two in Amos's series of three

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...

s between 1996 and 1999. Thematically and conceptually, the "choirgirl hotel" of the title refers to the fictional, imaginary place where the songs "live". Amos pointed out that although the songs are recorded, they are also alive themselves – they can be re-modeled and reshaped in concert. Amos imagined the songs as living their own lives, all checking into the "choirgirl hotel" (i.e., the album) but living separate lives. In the artwork, Amos included a hand-drawn map detailing the stomping ground of these songs. The album artwork was created by the UK-based photographer, Katerina Jebb. The artwork features full-body color photocopies of Amos (in various couture outfits) as scanned by a human-sized photocopier.

Critical reception

"The kookiness isn't dominant, she's stopped the attention-seeking lyrics almost completely and, yes, her pianos don't try to be guitars too often," enthused John Aizlewood in '' Q''. "At last, she's putting the songs first, and the band-led ''From the Choirgirl Hotel'' is, by any reasonable yardstick, a glorious coming of age."

Track listing

Notes *The track 'Merman' was released as a pre-order bonus track*

B-sides

Like Amos's previous Atlantic albums, several songs recorded during the ''From the Choirgirl Hotel'' sessions were released as B-sides, and introduced into Amos's live performance repertoire. "Cooling," "Never Seen Blue," and "Beulah Land" were originally written and recorded for 1996's '' Boys for Pele'' album. Several tracks from a demo CD for the album leaked online in 2010, including "Violet's Eyes".Archived a
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Parts of this song evolved into "Almost Rosey" and "Miracle" from 2007's '' American Doll Posse''.

Personnel

* Tori Amos – Bösendorfer piano, keyboards, vocals * Steve Caton – acoustic and electric guitar; mandolin on "Black-Dove (January)" * George Porter Jr., Justin Meldal-Johnsen – bass guitar *

– drums; marimba on "Cruel" * Andy Gray – programming with: * Stewart Boyle – guitar on "Northern Lad" * Willy Porter – guitar on "Playboy Mommy" * Al Perkins – steel guitar on "Playboy Mommy" * Sinfonia of London – on "Jackie's Strength", conducted by David Firman, strings arranged by John Philip Shenale

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:From The Choirgirl Hotel 1998 albums Tori Amos albums Atlantic Records albums Trip hop albums by American artists