To Venus and Back

To Venus and Back
Studio album by Tori Amos
Released	September 21, 1999
Recorded	Cornwall, 1999
Genre	Alternative rock, electronica
Length	Disc one: 47:52 Disc two: 75:33
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Tori Amos
Professional reviews
Allmusic link EW (B) 9/24/1999 (p.145) The Music Box link NME (5/10) link Nude as the News (favourable) link PopMatters (unfavourable) link Q 11/1999 (p.116) Rolling Stone 823 Salon.com (unfavourable) 9/22/1999
Tori Amos chronology
From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998) To Venus and Back (1999) Strange Little Girls (2001)
Tori Amos live chronology
To Venus and Back (1999) The Original Bootlegs (2005)
Singles from To Venus and Back
"Bliss" Released: 1999 "1000 Oceans" Released: 1999 "Glory of the '80s" Released: 1999 "Concertina" Released: 2000

To Venus and Back, the fifth album released by singer and songwriter Tori Amos, is a two-disc album set including a studio album and a live album. The first disc, titled Venus: Orbiting, features eleven original songs that finds Amos experimenting heavily in electronica. It spawned the singles "Bliss" (August 1999), "1000 Oceans" (August 1999), "Glory of the 80's" (Europe only, November 1999), and "Concertina" (U.S. only, February 2000). The lead single, "Bliss", is the first major-label single available for sale as a digital download.^[1] The second disc, Venus Live: Still Orbiting, is a thirteen-track album compiling live tracks recorded from her Plugged '98 tour. This is the first official live release of Amos' career.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Amos. 

Background

To Venus and Back, which began life as a proposed B-sides album, is sparser both in production and arrangement than From the Choirgirl Hotel, but is similar to its predecessor in that it features overt electronica influences and a relatively subdued piano sound. The album finds Amos' voice and piano subverted in a sonic maze of electronic washes and effects, and some songs, notably "Juárez" and the epic "Dātura," are largely built around these effects. Topics covered on the album include unsolved murdered female maquiladora workers in Ciudad Juárez on the U.S.-Mexico border, hallucinogenic plants, and Napoleon Bonaparte.

In November 1999, Tori Amos was quoted by Pulse Magazine as saying that this record says a lot about the shadows and the shadow world.

B-sides

Given the conditions under which the album was created, To Venus and Back is unique in that it does not have any studio tracks that serve as B-sides. Instead the album's singles are backed by live tracks recorded from the previous year's tour.

Following the theme of the album's second disc, which is comprised of live tracks arranged similarly to an actual concert, the B-sides that appear on the album's singles are live songs performed solo with Amos on the piano. The chart on the left lists only the songs that were released as B-sides on singles from To Venus and Back.

The sole track recorded during the To Venus and Back recording sessions that does not appear on the album, nor as a B-side, is the nine-minute "Zero Point". Of the song's exclusion from the album, Amos has said that the song wasn't intentionally left off the album, rather an over-sensitivity about a certain gardening issue led "Dātura" to being included instead.^[2] Interestingly, the liner notes to To Venus and Back state, "Zero Point - your time is coming". The song was released seven years later on A Piano: The Collection (2006).

Reception

The studio disc of To Venus and Back is recognized as one of Amos' most experimental yet melodic, and received mixed reviews. Some critics praised its originality, innovation and unpredictable song structures,^[3][4] with one reviewer describing the album as having, "some of the best vocals of her career, embedded in modern, special-effects-laden soundscapes that move from electronica-spiced piano pop and hip-hop to ambient space music",^[5] while others begrudged the album because of its overuse of electronic instruments and lack of Amos' trademark simplistic sound,^[6][7] most present on albums such as Little Earthquakes (1992) and Under The Pink (1994).

The album received two 2000 Grammy Award nominations: Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Bliss" and Best Alternative Music Album.

Sales

To Venus and Back, priced higher than Amos' previous releases because of its two-disc format, sold 112,000 copies in the US in its first week and debuted at # 12 on the Billboard 200, # 18 on the Top Canadian Albums, and # 22 on the UK Top 40,^[8][9][10] breaking her run of three consecutive UK Top 10 albums.

Two months after its release in November 1999, the album achieved RIAA Certification, reaching Gold and Platinum sales status simultaneously,^[11] due to the release being a double CD set. To Venus and Back remained on the Billboard 200 for 11 weeks, with its final position at # 189 for the week of January 8, 2000, before falling off the chart.^[12] As of May 2008, the album has sold 458,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[13]

Charts

Album

Singles

Tour

The album was supported by a short tour in 1999, the "Five and a Half Weeks Tour", which Amos co-headlined with Alanis Morissette beginning a month prior to the release of To Venus and Back. Many referred to Amos as the "opening act" for Morissette because she always performed first; however, this was due only to the logistics of setting up a grand piano for performance. An Amos-only stint, the "To Dallas and Back" tour, also took place, but promotional plans were cut when Amos suffered her third miscarriage, again at three months, on November 11, 1999.

References