To Venus and Back

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To Venus and Back
Live album by
Tori Amos
ReleasedSeptember 20, 1999
Recorded1998-1999
Venuevarious venues during her Plugged '98 tour
StudioMartian Engineering, Cornwall, England
Genre
Length123:22
47:50 (studio)
75:32 (live)
Label
ProducerTori Amos
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
  1. "Bliss"
    Released: August 24, 1999
  2. "1000 Oceans"
    Released: September 9, 1999
  3. "Glory of the 80's"
    Released: October 11, 1999
  4. "Concertina"
    Released: February 8, 2000

To Venus and Back (stylised in all lowercase) is a

live album. The first disc, entitled Venus: Orbiting, shows Amos increasingly experimenting with elements of electronica and trip hop, and spawned the singles "Bliss" (which peaked at number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100), "1000 Oceans", "Glory of the 80's", and "Concertina". The second disc, Venus Live, Still Orbiting, was recorded mostly during her Plugged '98 tour in support of her previous album, From the Choirgirl Hotel
.

Background

To Venus and Back was originally envisioned as a live album accompanied by an album of

Cornwall, England, and features the lineup of Steve Caton on guitar, Jon Evans on bass, and Matt Chamberlain
on drums. This marks the first of many of Amos' albums to feature Evans and Chamberlain, and the last of which to include Caton.

The 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 songs find Amos's voice and piano subverted in a sonic maze of electronic washes and effects, and some tracks, notably "Juárez" and the epic "Dātura" are largely built around these effects.

"Bliss", the first single from the album, became Amos' last song to reach the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 91. The track also reached number seven on the Canadian Hot 100, her highest peak up to that point and second-highest overall (after "A Sorta Fairytale" which peaked one place higher). Describing the song in an interview with Mojo, she stated:

["Bliss" is] not just about the biological father, but also the authority figure, whoever it is that I put in that position. "Bliss" is really about control, and about certain things in our DNA that you can't use a strainer to get rid of. You can't separate completely from whoever made you, because they're a part of you.[3]

Other topics covered on the album include unsolved

Napoleon Bonaparte
("Josephine").

The renditions of "Sugar" and "Purple People" on Venus Live, Still Orbiting come from a soundcheck. Both tracks were originally released as B-sides, the former on the "China" single, and the latter on the single for "Spark". 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.[4] The liner notes of To Venus and Back state, "'Zero Point' - your time is coming", and the song was eventually released seven years later on A Piano: The Collection (2006).

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 in November 1999.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
The A.V. Club(favourable)[8]
Entertainment WeeklyB[7]
NME(mixed)[6]
Nude as the News(favourable)[10]
PopMatters(6/10)[5]
Q 11/1999 (p.116)
Rolling Stone[11]

The studio disc of To Venus and Back is recognized as one of Amos's most

electronic instruments and lack of Amos's trademark simplistic sound,[5][13] 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.[14]

Commercial performance

To Venus and Back, priced higher than Amos's previous releases because of its two-disc format, sold 112,000 copies in the US in its first week and debuted at number 12 on the

Top Canadian Albums, and number 22 on the UK Top 40,[15][16][17]
breaking her run of three consecutive UK Top 10 albums.

Two months after its release in November 1999, the album achieved

Nielsen SoundScan.[20]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tori Amos

Disc one – Venus: Orbiting
No.TitleLength
1."Bliss"3:42
2."Juárez"3:48
3."Concertina"3:56
4."Glory of the 80's"4:03
5."Lust"3:54
6."Suede"4:58
7."Josephine"2:30
8."Riot Poof"3:28
9."Dātura"8:25
10."Spring Haze"4:44
11."1000 Oceans"4:19
Total length:47:50
Disc two – Venus Live, Still Orbiting
No.TitleFromLength
1."Precious Things"Little Earthquakes (1992)7:37
2."Cruel"From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)6:47
3."Cornflake Girl"Under the Pink (1994)6:31
4."Bells for Her"Under the Pink5:42
5."Girl"Little Earthquakes4:15
6."Cooling"B-side to "Spark" (1998)5:09
7."Mr. Zebra"Boys for Pele (1996)1:17
8."Cloud on My Tongue"Under the Pink4:58
9."Sugar"B-side to "China" (1992)5:10
10."Little Earthquakes"Little Earthquakes7:37
11."Space Dog"Under the Pink5:46
12."The Waitress"Under the Pink10:24
13."Purple People"B-side to "Spark"4:11
Total length:75:32 123:22

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.

Title Length Single
"Hey Jupiter" (live) 4:32 "Bliss" (1999)
"Upside Down" (live) 5:47
"Baker, Baker" (live) 3:54 "1000 Oceans" (1999)
"Winter" (live) 6:59
"Famous Blue Raincoat" (live) 5:25 "Glory of the 80's" (UK) (1999) /

"Concertina" (US) (2000)

"Twinkle" (live) 2:48

Following the theme of the album's second disc, which is composed 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 above lists only the songs that were released as B-sides on singles from To Venus and Back.

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[35] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ "To Venus and Back". NME. September 12, 2005. Retrieved November 12, 2014. A two-CD set, one half is a live album and like all such self-indulgences it's mainly unremarkable. It does, however, with the addition of a full band, act as a compass for her new direction. Which mainly means trip-hop
  2. ^ "From an interview with Best". Best. FR. October 1999. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  3. ^ From a 1999 interview with Mojo
  4. ^ Tori Amos – A Piano: The Collection. Rhino. 2006. p. 34.
  5. ^ a b PopMatters Review
  6. ^ a b NME Review
  7. ^ Entertainment Weekly Review
  8. ^ The A.V. Club Review
  9. ^ AllMusic Review
  10. ^ Nude as the News Review
  11. ^ a b Rolling Stone Review
  12. ^ Morse, Steve (August 27, 1999). "'Venus' of the Road". The Boston Globe.
  13. ^ Goldberg, Michelle (September 22, 1999). "Sharps & flats". Salon.com. Retrieved July 27, 2008.
  14. ^ "Recording Academy Grammy Awards – Tori Amos". Grammy Awards. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  15. ^ "Mariah Scores 14th No. 1 Single". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
  16. Allmusic
    . Retrieved July 27, 2008.
  17. ^ "everyhit.com". Retrieved July 11, 2008.
  18. ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum Database". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
  19. Billboard. Archived from the original
    on October 9, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2008.
  20. Billboard
    . May 9, 2008. Retrieved July 12, 2008.
  21. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  22. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  23. ^ "Ultratop.be – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  24. ^ "Tori Amos Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  25. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  26. Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland
    . Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  27. ^ "Lescharts.com – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  28. GfK Entertainment Charts
    . Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  29. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  30. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  31. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  32. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  33. ^ "Tori Amos | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  34. ^ "Tori Amos Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  35. ^ "American album certifications – Tori Amos – To Venus and Back". Recording Industry Association of America.
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