Boys for Pele
Encyclopedia
Boys for Pele is the third studio album by American singer and song-writer Tori Amos
. Preceded by the first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze
", by three weeks, the album was released on 22 January 1996, in the United Kingdom
and on 23 January, in the United States
. Despite the album being Amos’ least accessible material to radio to date, Boys for Pele debuted at # 2 on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Top 40, making it her biggest simultaneous transatlantic debut, her first Billboard top 10 debut, and the highest-charting US debut of her career to date.
Boys for Pele was recorded in rural Ireland
and Louisiana
and features 18 songs that incorporate harpsichord
, clavichord
, harmonium
, gospel
choirs, brass band
s and full orchestras. Amos wrote all of the tracks, and for the first time, she served as the producer for her own album. For Amos, the album was a step into a different direction, in terms of singing, songwriting, and recording, and is experimental in comparison to her previous work.
(1994), Amos' longtime professional and romantic relationship with Eric Rosse, who co-produced a considerable amount of her pre-Pele work, disintegrated. That loss, combined with a few subsequent encounters with men during the Under the Pink promotional tour, forced Amos to re-evaluate her relationship with men and masculinity. Amos explained, "In my relationships with men, I was always musician enough, but not woman enough, I always met men in my life as a musician, and there would be magic, adoration. But then it would wear off. All of us want to be adored, even for five minutes a day, and nothing these men gave me was ever enough."
Songs began appearing in fragments, often while on stage during the Under the Pink tour. After a trip to Hawaii
and learning about legendary volcano goddess Pele
, the album began taking shape and the songs represented stealing fire from the men in her life as well as a journey to finding her own fire as a woman. From there, Amos explained, the songs just came. "Sometimes the fury of it would make me step back, I began to live these songs as we separated. The vampire in me came out. You're an emotional vampire, with blood in the corner of your mouth, and you put on matching lipstick so no one knows."
Along this journey, Amos, who has openly discussed her experiences with hallucinogenic
drugs, particularly in relation to Boys for Pele, took drugs with a South American shaman and claimed to visit the devil. Such experiences led her to write the track "Father Lucifer."
The album would ultimately consist of 14 full-length songs and four short "interludes". As Amos was finding "parts and pieces of myself that I had never claimed" on this journey, the 14 primary songs represent the number of body parts of the Egyptian god Osiris
that his wife, the goddess Isis
, had to find to put his body back together in Egyptian mythology
. The arrangement of the songs on the album reflects the progression Amos intended to achieve on the double vinyl LP of the album; each of the four sides of the album on vinyl would open with an interlude track that leads into the rest of the three or four songs on each side. The vinyl release is the only occurrence when the interludes ("Beauty Queen," "Mr. Zebra," "Way Down," and "Agent Orange") are not numbered and when "Beauty Queen" and "Horses" are not combined into one track.
(2009). Considering the album deals with the role of women in religion and relationships, particularly with Eric Rosse who served as producer for her previous two albums, it is fitting that Amos chose to have complete control over producing Boys for Pele, as a "bid for independence". Of her first self-produced album, Amos said, "I was at the point I could not answer to anybody. I'd been answering my whole life to some patriarchal figure."
from Little Earthquakes
(1992), "God"
from Under the Pink), but her viewpoint takes a particularly feminist slant on this album. "The feminine part of God has been circumcised out of all religions... God (is) a patriarchal force, a very masculine energy, with the feminine having been subservient, either being the mother, the lover, the virgin, but never the equal, never to have the whole." "Muhammad My Friend", the eight track on the album, best represents this aspect of the album's theme with the line, "It's time to tell the world/We both know it was a girl back in Bethlehem."
Amos derived the album's title from the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Pele, with the "boys" representing the men in her life. "First I wanted to sacrifice all these guys to the volcano goddess and roast them like marshmallows, then I decided they gave me a really wonderful gift," Amos said of the title. Amos herself has described the album as a novel
, as a "story of the descent of a woman to gain her passion and gain her compassion," chronicling a woman's self-discovery in a male-dominated world, looking for fragments of herself and being suppressed. Songs such as "Blood Roses," "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Hey Jupiter," "Doughnut Song" and "Putting the Damage On" deal directly with the aftermath of a break-up and a woman's reflection on the failed relationship.
"Blood Roses", which Amos had initially intended to serve as the opening track to the album, finds the singer scorned over a failed relationship, belting out lines such as, "can't forget the things you never said" and "I've shaved every place where you've been boy". Regarding "Caught a Lite Sneeze", Amos says, "the whole current is doing anything so that you don't have to face yourself. Nothing is enough"; her previous relationships with men being the song's backbone with lines like, "boys on my left side, boys on my right side, boys in the middle and you're not here, I need a big loan from the girl zone."
because "there's a hiddenness [sic] about the South, and I wanted to go back there because it was similar to how I felt in my relationships with men," but the bulk of the record was recorded in a church in County Wicklow
, Ireland
, as well as in New Orleans, Louisiana
. Given her religious upbringing, Amos was drawn to record in a church, not in anger, but "with the intention of wholeness and of bringing a fragmented woman back to freedom."
Amos chose to record the album in a church because it was about searching for an energy current,
about claiming the passionate aspect of womanhood that the church teaches is wrong, “the idea of speaking my truth, no censorship, in a place that did not honor anyone's truth unless it was the church's truth,” “so I figured if I was going to claim my womanhood, my passion, and sing this record - which, for me, was claiming fragments that I had suppressed for a long time - then I was going to go back to a church, back to the old world, to do it.”
Aside from the symbolic reasons to record in a church, the decision was also a technical one to augment the acoustics of the music. Amos' sound engineer came up with the idea of enclosing Amos and her instruments in a box, along with a makeshift Leslie cabinet
. Due to the logistics of the space, Amos stood to perform on the harpsichord and piano. The time it took for her to turn around accounts for the break in music heard in "Caught a Lite Sneeze" when switching between instruments. Amos can be heard entering the box at the beginning of the first track, "Beauty Queen", and the Leslie effect is made obvious as it is switched on and off during different parts of "Horses", itself a continuous piano piece, allowing for a clear comparison in the piano's sound with and without the cabinet.
The album’s first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze", was released commercially and to radio stations on 2 January 1996, a full three weeks prior to the album’s release. This is a marketing tactic often used to build anticipation for a forthcoming album, and a sticker accompanying the US single blatantly acknowledged this: "Hear the first new music from Tori in over 2 years!"
From the start, Amos’ marketing team has made use of the Internet to market and promote new music. Since the Internet was more sophisticated in early 1996 when Boys for Pele was released than it had been two years earlier upon the release of Under the Pink, it was an essential marketing tool for promoting the album. Some reviews provided links to the Atlantic homepage or to Amos’ homepage to listen to audio clips from the album, while others provided telephone numbers to call to listen to audio clips. "Caught a Lite Sneeze", was groundbreaking in that it was one of the first songs ever to have its worldwide release on the Internet as a free download.
written in Greek", while Rolling Stone went as far to bluntly say that most of the album's lyrics are "ultimately mystifying and, well, bad".
One reviewer observed that Amos' unfettered creativity from serving as her own producer cost the album its accessibility. For Amos, it's not about making radio-friendly music with universal lyrics, she explained, "a song is only part lyrics and, for me anyway, more than 50% music, easy. There's so much subtext in the music that's part of the story."
The chart on the left lists only the songs that were released as B-sides on singles from Boys for Pele.
Many songs written and recorded for Boys for Pele were released in conjunction with subsequent albums or have yet to be released. Three such songs, "Cooling", "Never Seen Blue" and "Beulah Land", were recorded for inclusion on Boys for Pele, but were kept off the album, later released as B-sides on the "Spark" (1998) and "Jackie's Strength
" (1998) singles.
Other songs were partially written during the Boys for Pele era and finished and released later: "Snow Cherries from France" appears on the Tales of a Librarian
(2003) compilation, her final release with Atlantic
; "Apollo's Frock" appears on Scarlet's Hidden Treasures
(2004); and "Walk to Dublin", which was left off the album after disagreements over the musical structure of the song between Amos and her label, then revisited again during the From the Choirgirl Hotel
(1998) recording sessions, was not released until A Piano: The Collection
(2006).
Another song, "To the Fair Motormaids of Japan", was also recorded during the Boys for Pele recording sessions, but has yet to be released.
The Hey Jupiter
EP includes live performances of some of Amos' previously-released B-sides, including a cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow
" [sic]. Amos covered "Famous Blue Raincoat" for the Leonard Cohen tribute album, Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen and "I'm on Fire," "Landslide," and "Over the Rainbow" on VH1 Crossroads.
, selling 102,000 copies in its first week, and going on to achieve RIAA Gold certification
in the US by early March. The album debuted at # 2 in the UK as well, making it the highest-charting transatlantic debut of any of Amos' albums. Prior to its release, the album achieved BPI Silver certification
in the UK, followed by BPI Gold certification
in March. By May, US sales were already nearing Platinum certification status when "Talula," the album's second US single, which also appeared in the Steven Spielberg film Twister, was released and accompanied by a sticker that read, "From Tori's new album Boys for Pele - 900,000 and climbing!". Dance remixes of "Professional Widow" were released in July and by the end of the month the single reached # 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts in the US, the UK Dance Chart, and the Official UK Singles Chart. The successful releases of "Talula" and subsequently "Professional Widow" surged albums sales enough that Boys for Pele achieved RIAA Platinum certification
in August, the day after the US release of the Hey Jupiter EP.
The success of remixes from this album led to the album being reissued in both the US and the UK. In the US, the original version of "Talula" was replaced by "Talula (The Tornado Mix)," which incorporates a minor dance beat. In the UK, "Talula (The Tornado Mix)" replaced the original version of the song and a remix of "Professional Widow" was added to the album, immediately following the original version of the song. As a result of the extra "Professional Widow" track, the song "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" was removed completely.
"In the Springtime of His Voodoo" was also remixed and released as a dance single, but was a much smaller club success. Interest in the album resurfaced when Amos sang vocals on "Blue Skies
", another club and dance hit by dance music artist BT that reached # 1 on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart exactly one year after the release of Boys for Pele.
Boys for Pele remained on the Billboard 200 for 29 weeks throughout 1996, before falling off the chart in mid September. According to Billboard Magazine, the album ranked # 100 on the Year-End Album Charts of 1996 in the U.S. in December. To date, Boys for Pele is Amos' third-best selling album in the U.S.
∞ - Denotes position on Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
¤ - Denotes sales position on Billboard 200
for Hey Jupiter
EP
ψ - Denotes position of "Hey Jupiter/Professional Widow" double A-side single
. In 2008, The Guardian
listed Boys for Pele on its list of 1,000 Albums To Hear Before You Die.
(*) designates readers' or listeners' lists.
∞ Denotes reissue
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
. Preceded by the first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze
Caught a Lite Sneeze
"Caught a Lite Sneeze" is a song by Tori Amos, released as the first single from her 1996 album Boys for Pele. It reached #60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Singles Charts, and is one of the most recognized songs by Amos and a fan-favourite...
", by three weeks, the album was released on 22 January 1996, in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and on 23 January, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Despite the album being Amos’ least accessible material to radio to date, Boys for Pele debuted at # 2 on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Top 40, making it her biggest simultaneous transatlantic debut, her first Billboard top 10 debut, and the highest-charting US debut of her career to date.
Boys for Pele was recorded in rural Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and features 18 songs that incorporate harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
, clavichord
Clavichord
The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...
, harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
choirs, brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
s and full orchestras. Amos wrote all of the tracks, and for the first time, she served as the producer for her own album. For Amos, the album was a step into a different direction, in terms of singing, songwriting, and recording, and is experimental in comparison to her previous work.
Origin
During the recording of her previous album, Under the PinkUnder the Pink
Under the Pink is the second solo album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Upon its release in January 1994, the album peaked at US #12 and on the back of the hit single "Cornflake Girl", the album debuted at UK #1, her highest-charting UK album debut to date. It had sold around 220,000 copies in the...
(1994), Amos' longtime professional and romantic relationship with Eric Rosse, who co-produced a considerable amount of her pre-Pele work, disintegrated. That loss, combined with a few subsequent encounters with men during the Under the Pink promotional tour, forced Amos to re-evaluate her relationship with men and masculinity. Amos explained, "In my relationships with men, I was always musician enough, but not woman enough, I always met men in my life as a musician, and there would be magic, adoration. But then it would wear off. All of us want to be adored, even for five minutes a day, and nothing these men gave me was ever enough."
Songs began appearing in fragments, often while on stage during the Under the Pink tour. After a trip to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and learning about legendary volcano goddess Pele
Pele (mythology)
In the Hawaiian religion, Pele is the goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes. She is a popular figure in many stories of ancient Hawaii known as Hawaiian mythology.-Legends:...
, the album began taking shape and the songs represented stealing fire from the men in her life as well as a journey to finding her own fire as a woman. From there, Amos explained, the songs just came. "Sometimes the fury of it would make me step back, I began to live these songs as we separated. The vampire in me came out. You're an emotional vampire, with blood in the corner of your mouth, and you put on matching lipstick so no one knows."
Along this journey, Amos, who has openly discussed her experiences with hallucinogenic
Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants
This general group of pharmacological agents can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. These classes of psychoactive drugs have in common that they can cause subjective changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness...
drugs, particularly in relation to Boys for Pele, took drugs with a South American shaman and claimed to visit the devil. Such experiences led her to write the track "Father Lucifer."
The album would ultimately consist of 14 full-length songs and four short "interludes". As Amos was finding "parts and pieces of myself that I had never claimed" on this journey, the 14 primary songs represent the number of body parts of the Egyptian god Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
that his wife, the goddess Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
, had to find to put his body back together in Egyptian mythology
Egyptian mythology
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a multitude of deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature...
. The arrangement of the songs on the album reflects the progression Amos intended to achieve on the double vinyl LP of the album; each of the four sides of the album on vinyl would open with an interlude track that leads into the rest of the three or four songs on each side. The vinyl release is the only occurrence when the interludes ("Beauty Queen," "Mr. Zebra," "Way Down," and "Agent Orange") are not numbered and when "Beauty Queen" and "Horses" are not combined into one track.
Production
Boys for Pele is Amos' first self-produced album, a trend that would continue for a decade through Midwinter GracesMidwinter Graces
Midwinter Graces is the 11th solo studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Released on November 10, 2009 , through Universal Republic Records, it is the first seasonal album by Amos, and is also notable for marking her return to a more classical, stripped-down, baroque sound with various...
(2009). Considering the album deals with the role of women in religion and relationships, particularly with Eric Rosse who served as producer for her previous two albums, it is fitting that Amos chose to have complete control over producing Boys for Pele, as a "bid for independence". Of her first self-produced album, Amos said, "I was at the point I could not answer to anybody. I'd been answering my whole life to some patriarchal figure."
Theme and lyrical content
Two underlying currents run through Boys for Pele: exploring the role of women in both patriarchal religion and relationships. Amos had previously written songs in a religious and/or theological context ("Crucify"Crucify (song)
"Crucify" is a song by American singer-songwriter and musician Tori Amos. It was released as the fifth single from her debut studio album Little Earthquakes. It was released on May 12, 1992 by Atlantic Records in North America and on June 8 by EastWest Records in the UK.-Background:The song served...
from Little Earthquakes
Little Earthquakes
-B-sides:The album is also known for its collection of B-sides. The four songs recorded with Davitt Sigerson that did not make it to the final version of the album were included on the singles released from Little Earthquakes....
(1992), "God"
God (Tori Amos song)
"God" is a song by American singer-songwriter and musician Tori Amos. It was released as the second single from her second studio album Under the Pink...
from Under the Pink), but her viewpoint takes a particularly feminist slant on this album. "The feminine part of God has been circumcised out of all religions... God (is) a patriarchal force, a very masculine energy, with the feminine having been subservient, either being the mother, the lover, the virgin, but never the equal, never to have the whole." "Muhammad My Friend", the eight track on the album, best represents this aspect of the album's theme with the line, "It's time to tell the world/We both know it was a girl back in Bethlehem."
Amos derived the album's title from the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Pele, with the "boys" representing the men in her life. "First I wanted to sacrifice all these guys to the volcano goddess and roast them like marshmallows, then I decided they gave me a really wonderful gift," Amos said of the title. Amos herself has described the album as a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, as a "story of the descent of a woman to gain her passion and gain her compassion," chronicling a woman's self-discovery in a male-dominated world, looking for fragments of herself and being suppressed. Songs such as "Blood Roses," "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Hey Jupiter," "Doughnut Song" and "Putting the Damage On" deal directly with the aftermath of a break-up and a woman's reflection on the failed relationship.
"Blood Roses", which Amos had initially intended to serve as the opening track to the album, finds the singer scorned over a failed relationship, belting out lines such as, "can't forget the things you never said" and "I've shaved every place where you've been boy". Regarding "Caught a Lite Sneeze", Amos says, "the whole current is doing anything so that you don't have to face yourself. Nothing is enough"; her previous relationships with men being the song's backbone with lines like, "boys on my left side, boys on my right side, boys in the middle and you're not here, I need a big loan from the girl zone."
Recording
Amos had initially planned to record the entire album in the American SouthSouthern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
because "there's a hiddenness [sic] about the South, and I wanted to go back there because it was similar to how I felt in my relationships with men," but the bulk of the record was recorded in a church in County Wicklow
County Wicklow
County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, as well as in New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Given her religious upbringing, Amos was drawn to record in a church, not in anger, but "with the intention of wholeness and of bringing a fragmented woman back to freedom."
Amos chose to record the album in a church because it was about searching for an energy current,
about claiming the passionate aspect of womanhood that the church teaches is wrong, “the idea of speaking my truth, no censorship, in a place that did not honor anyone's truth unless it was the church's truth,” “so I figured if I was going to claim my womanhood, my passion, and sing this record - which, for me, was claiming fragments that I had suppressed for a long time - then I was going to go back to a church, back to the old world, to do it.”
Aside from the symbolic reasons to record in a church, the decision was also a technical one to augment the acoustics of the music. Amos' sound engineer came up with the idea of enclosing Amos and her instruments in a box, along with a makeshift Leslie cabinet
Leslie speaker
The Leslie speaker is a specially constructed amplifier/loudspeaker used to create special audio effects using the Doppler effect. Named after its inventor, Donald Leslie, it is particularly associated with the Hammond organ but is used with a variety of instruments as well as vocals. The...
. Due to the logistics of the space, Amos stood to perform on the harpsichord and piano. The time it took for her to turn around accounts for the break in music heard in "Caught a Lite Sneeze" when switching between instruments. Amos can be heard entering the box at the beginning of the first track, "Beauty Queen", and the Leslie effect is made obvious as it is switched on and off during different parts of "Horses", itself a continuous piano piece, allowing for a clear comparison in the piano's sound with and without the cabinet.
Marketing and promotion
In late 1995, Atlantic released a promotional-only CD in Germany and America simply titled "Tori Amos", under catalog number PRCD-6535-2. "New Music from Tori Amos..." appeared on the front cover, and upon opening the jewel case, "...is coming soon" appears on the back of the insert. The release is a 9-track promotional compilation of Amos’ singles from her first two solo albums, meant for radio stations to play to generate interest in the forthcoming album. The track "Precious Things" is mislabeled as "These Precious Things" on both the CD and the back cover whilst "Crucify (Remix)" is listed when in fact the album version features. The cover photo features Amos in a green tank top sporting an armband tattoo and lying on a camouflage blanket.The album’s first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze", was released commercially and to radio stations on 2 January 1996, a full three weeks prior to the album’s release. This is a marketing tactic often used to build anticipation for a forthcoming album, and a sticker accompanying the US single blatantly acknowledged this: "Hear the first new music from Tori in over 2 years!"
From the start, Amos’ marketing team has made use of the Internet to market and promote new music. Since the Internet was more sophisticated in early 1996 when Boys for Pele was released than it had been two years earlier upon the release of Under the Pink, it was an essential marketing tool for promoting the album. Some reviews provided links to the Atlantic homepage or to Amos’ homepage to listen to audio clips from the album, while others provided telephone numbers to call to listen to audio clips. "Caught a Lite Sneeze", was groundbreaking in that it was one of the first songs ever to have its worldwide release on the Internet as a free download.
Reception
Aside from the overall praise of the album's expanded instrumentation, and warm reception to the acoustics that recording the album in a church afforded, reaction to the album was polarized particularly with regard to the lyrics. Boys for Pele is more lyrically dense than Amos' two previous albums, taking poetic obscurity to new heights. Some critics praised its ultra-personal lyrics while others panned its overt and excessive self-indulgence and "ozone-layer lyrics" described as unfathomable, impenetrable, and personally opaque. One scathing review suggested skipping the album, instead reading something "a little bit more intelligible--like maybe Gravity's RainbowGravity's Rainbow
Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28, 1973.The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military, and, in particular, the quest...
written in Greek", while Rolling Stone went as far to bluntly say that most of the album's lyrics are "ultimately mystifying and, well, bad".
One reviewer observed that Amos' unfettered creativity from serving as her own producer cost the album its accessibility. For Amos, it's not about making radio-friendly music with universal lyrics, she explained, "a song is only part lyrics and, for me anyway, more than 50% music, easy. There's so much subtext in the music that's part of the story."
Track listing
The UK version of the album substituted the original version of "Talula" for the remixed version that was released as a single. It also included the hugely successful remix of "Professional Widow", but excluded "In The Springtime of His Voodoo".B-sides
The writing process and recording session for Boys for Pele is one of Amos' most prolific. Between the songs that were included on the album, included as B-sides, and included in later compilations, Amos composed and recorded approximately 35 songs during this time.| Title | Length | Single |
|---|---|---|
| "Graveyard" | 0:56 | "Caught a Lite Sneeze Caught a Lite Sneeze "Caught a Lite Sneeze" is a song by Tori Amos, released as the first single from her 1996 album Boys for Pele. It reached #60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Singles Charts, and is one of the most recognized songs by Amos and a fan-favourite... " (1996) |
| "Hungarian Wedding Song" | 1:00 | |
| "London Girls" | 3:20 | |
| "Samurai" | 3:03 | |
| "That's What I Like Mick (The Sandwich Song)" | 2:59 | |
| "This Old Man" | 1:44 | |
| "Toodles Mr. Jim" | 3:09 | |
| "Alamo" | 5:11 | "Talula Talula "Talula" is a song by Tori Amos, released as the second single from her 1996 album Boys For Pele. It reached #22 on the UK Singles Charts and appears in the Jan de Bont film Twister.... " (1996) |
| "Amazing Grace/Til The Chicken" | 6:48 | |
| "Frog On My Toe" | 3:40 | |
| "Sister Named Desire" | 5:29 | |
The chart on the left lists only the songs that were released as B-sides on singles from Boys for Pele.
Many songs written and recorded for Boys for Pele were released in conjunction with subsequent albums or have yet to be released. Three such songs, "Cooling", "Never Seen Blue" and "Beulah Land", were recorded for inclusion on Boys for Pele, but were kept off the album, later released as B-sides on the "Spark" (1998) and "Jackie's Strength
Jackie's Strength
"Jackie's Strength" is a song by Tori Amos, released as the second single from her 1998 album From the Choirgirl Hotel. It reached #54 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart. The remix single, released the following year, reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the U.S...
" (1998) singles.
Other songs were partially written during the Boys for Pele era and finished and released later: "Snow Cherries from France" appears on the Tales of a Librarian
Tales of a Librarian
-Live:-Others:-Charts:...
(2003) compilation, her final release with Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
; "Apollo's Frock" appears on Scarlet's Hidden Treasures
Scarlet's Hidden Treasures
Scarlet's Hidden Treasures is an EP that accompanied the Welcome to Sunny Florida live DVD set released by singer/songwriter Tori Amos in 2004. The EP features six non-LP tracks, though several were featured on a web project called "Scarlet's Web"...
(2004); and "Walk to Dublin", which was left off the album after disagreements over the musical structure of the song between Amos and her label, then revisited again during the From the Choirgirl Hotel
From the Choirgirl Hotel
From the Choirgirl Hotel is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Tori Amos. A departure from her previous albums, it was more heavily produced and a very radio-friendly project featuring a full rock band sound . Upon its release in May 1998, the album debuted at US #5 and UK #6...
(1998) recording sessions, was not released until A Piano: The Collection
A Piano: The Collection
A Piano: The Collection is a five-disc box set spanning the first 15 years of the solo career of American singer and song-writer Tori Amos. Released on September 26, 2006 by Rhino Records as part of the contract Amos negotiated with Warner Bros., the set consists of classics, rarities, demos,...
(2006).
Another song, "To the Fair Motormaids of Japan", was also recorded during the Boys for Pele recording sessions, but has yet to be released.
The Hey Jupiter
Hey Jupiter
"Hey Jupiter" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It served as the fourth single from her album Boys For Pele and was Amos' first EP since 1992's Crucify. The Hey Jupiter EP features a remixed version of "Hey Jupiter" followed by 4 live tracks recorded during her...
EP includes live performances of some of Amos' previously-released B-sides, including a cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Over the Rainbow
"Over the Rainbow" is a classic Academy Award-winning ballad song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. It was written for the movie The Wizard of Oz, and was sung by Judy Garland in the movie...
" [sic]. Amos covered "Famous Blue Raincoat" for the Leonard Cohen tribute album, Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen and "I'm on Fire," "Landslide," and "Over the Rainbow" on VH1 Crossroads.
Remixes, reissues and sales
The album debuted at # 2 on the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, selling 102,000 copies in its first week, and going on to achieve RIAA Gold certification
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in the US by early March. The album debuted at # 2 in the UK as well, making it the highest-charting transatlantic debut of any of Amos' albums. Prior to its release, the album achieved BPI Silver certification
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
in the UK, followed by BPI Gold certification
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
in March. By May, US sales were already nearing Platinum certification status when "Talula," the album's second US single, which also appeared in the Steven Spielberg film Twister, was released and accompanied by a sticker that read, "From Tori's new album Boys for Pele - 900,000 and climbing!". Dance remixes of "Professional Widow" were released in July and by the end of the month the single reached # 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts in the US, the UK Dance Chart, and the Official UK Singles Chart. The successful releases of "Talula" and subsequently "Professional Widow" surged albums sales enough that Boys for Pele achieved RIAA Platinum certification
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in August, the day after the US release of the Hey Jupiter EP.
The success of remixes from this album led to the album being reissued in both the US and the UK. In the US, the original version of "Talula" was replaced by "Talula (The Tornado Mix)," which incorporates a minor dance beat. In the UK, "Talula (The Tornado Mix)" replaced the original version of the song and a remix of "Professional Widow" was added to the album, immediately following the original version of the song. As a result of the extra "Professional Widow" track, the song "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" was removed completely.
"In the Springtime of His Voodoo" was also remixed and released as a dance single, but was a much smaller club success. Interest in the album resurfaced when Amos sang vocals on "Blue Skies
Blue Skies (BT song)
"Blue Skies" is a song by BT with featured vocals by Tori Amos. Released as a single in the United Kingdom in October 1996, it hit number one on the United States Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in January 1997. "Blue Skies" also appears on the Party of Five soundtrack...
", another club and dance hit by dance music artist BT that reached # 1 on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart exactly one year after the release of Boys for Pele.
Boys for Pele remained on the Billboard 200 for 29 weeks throughout 1996, before falling off the chart in mid September. According to Billboard Magazine, the album ranked # 100 on the Year-End Album Charts of 1996 in the U.S. in December. To date, Boys for Pele is Amos' third-best selling album in the U.S.
Album
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Top 200 (U.S.) | 2 |
| Official UK Album Chart (UK) | 2 |
| ARIA Album Chart (Australia) | 6 |
| Austrian Album Chart (Austria) | 9 |
| Belgian Album Chart | 6 |
| Dutch Album Chart (the Netherlands) | 6 |
| Finn Album Chart (Finland) | 13 |
| New Zealand | 15 |
| Norway Album Chart (Norway) | 27 |
| Swedish Top 60 | 4 |
| Swiss Album Chart (Switzerland) | 14 |
Singles
| Year | Song | Peak positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
Hot Dance Music/Club Play |
UK Top 40 |
Top 100 Australian Singles ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
||
| 1996 | "Caught a Lite Sneeze Caught a Lite Sneeze "Caught a Lite Sneeze" is a song by Tori Amos, released as the first single from her 1996 album Boys for Pele. It reached #60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Singles Charts, and is one of the most recognized songs by Amos and a fan-favourite... " |
60 | 13 | — | 20 | 51 |
| 1996 | "Talula Talula "Talula" is a song by Tori Amos, released as the second single from her 1996 album Boys For Pele. It reached #22 on the UK Singles Charts and appears in the Jan de Bont film Twister.... " |
119∞ | — | — | 22 | — |
| 1996 | "Professional Widow Professional Widow "Professional Widow" is a 1996 song written by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It was originally a harpsichord-driven rock dirge included on her 1996 album Boys for Pele, but it gained international popularity after being remixed by house music producer Armand van Helden... " (remix) |
108∞ | — | 1 | — | — |
| 1996 | "Hey Jupiter Hey Jupiter "Hey Jupiter" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It served as the fourth single from her album Boys For Pele and was Amos' first EP since 1992's Crucify. The Hey Jupiter EP features a remixed version of "Hey Jupiter" followed by 4 live tracks recorded during her... " |
94¤ | — | — | 20ψ | 17ψ |
| 1996 | "In the Springtime of his Voodoo" (remix) | 125∞ | — | 6 | — | — |
| 1997 | "Professional Widow Professional Widow "Professional Widow" is a 1996 song written by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It was originally a harpsichord-driven rock dirge included on her 1996 album Boys for Pele, but it gained international popularity after being remixed by house music producer Armand van Helden... (It's Got To Be Big)" (remix) |
— | — | — | 1 | — |
∞ - Denotes position on Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
The Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It lists the top 25 singles below number 100 that have not yet charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Sometimes, however, singles halt their progress on this chart, and never appear on the Hot 100...
¤ - Denotes sales position on Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
for Hey Jupiter
Hey Jupiter
"Hey Jupiter" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It served as the fourth single from her album Boys For Pele and was Amos' first EP since 1992's Crucify. The Hey Jupiter EP features a remixed version of "Hey Jupiter" followed by 4 live tracks recorded during her...
EP
ψ - Denotes position of "Hey Jupiter/Professional Widow" double A-side single
Acclaim
Despite receiving mixed reviews upon its release, Boys for Pele has gone on to become a strong-selling album and to be cited as having been critically underrated. The album was nominated for a Grammy in 1996 for Best Alternative AlbumGrammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative rock genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
. In 2008, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
listed Boys for Pele on its list of 1,000 Albums To Hear Before You Die.
| Source | Accolade | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Spin | Best Albums of 1996 | 13 |
| Spin | Best Albums of 1996 | 4* |
| WXPN Philadelphia | Best Albums of 1996 | 11* |
| Billboard Magazine | Best Album Sales of 1996 | 100 |
| The War Against Silence | Best Albums of 1996 | 4 |
(*) designates readers' or listeners' lists.
Musicians
- Tori AmosTori AmosTori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
– Vocals, BösendorferBösendorferBösendorfer is an Austrian piano manufacturer, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha. The brand is known for producing pianos with a uniquely rich, singing, and sustaining tone...
pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, HarmoniumHarmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, clavichordClavichordThe clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...
, HarpsichordHarpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard... - George Porter, Jr.George Porter, Jr.George Porter, Jr. is a musician best known as the bassist and singer of The Meters. Along with Art Neville, Porter formed the group in the mid 60's and came to be recognized as one of the progenitors of funk. The Meters disbanded in 1977, but reformed in 1989...
– BassBass (instrument)Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles... - Steve CatonSteve CatonSteve Caton is a professional guitarist/singer, song writer, producer, and visual artist, whose career has spanned almost three decades.Catons first time in a band was in Tedd Armstrongs' band "PEGASUS" in the late 1970s into early 1980s. Even as a beginner, Caton's talent as a lead guitarist was...
– GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, Electric Guitar, MandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, swellsExpression pedalAn expression pedal is an important control found on many organs and synthesizers, as well as in the pedal steel guitar, that allows the volume of the sound to be manipulated... - Manu KatchéManu KatchéManu Katché is a French musician of Ivorian origin, born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés on 27 October 1958. He is a drummer and songwriter.-Career:Session musician...
– DrumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Additional musicians
- Marcel van Limbeek – Delgany Church Bells
- James Watson – TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, Brass conductor - The Black Dyke Mills BandBlack Dyke BandThe Black Dyke Band, formerly the Black Dyke Mills Band, is one of the oldest and best-known brass bands in the world. The band has won many prizes and competitions over the years...
– BrassBrass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips... - The Sinfonia of LondonSinfonia of LondonThe Sinfonia of London is a session orchestra based in London, England. Muir Mathieson, the director of music for Rank Films, founded the ensemble in 1955 specifically for the recording of film music...
– StringsString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones... - Philip Shenale – string arrangement
- Peter Willison – string orchestrator and conductor
- Alan Friedman – drum programming
- Clarence J. Johnson III – Soprano Sax, Tenor Sax
- Mino CineluMino CineluMino Cinelu is a French musician. He plays multiple instruments. He is a composer, programmer and producer; and is most often associated primarily for his work as a jazz percussionist.-Biography:Cinelu was born in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine...
– percussion - Darrly Lewis - persussion
- Mark Mullins – TromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, Horns - Craig Klein – SousaphoneSousaphoneThe sousaphone is a type of tuba that is widely employed in marching bands. Designed so that it fits around the body of the musician and is supported by the left shoulder, the sousaphone may be readily played while being carried...
- Michael Deegan – BagpipesBagpipesBagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
- Bernard Quinn – Bagpipes
- Nancy Shanks – Additional vocals
Production
- Tori Amos – record producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
- Mark Hawley – mixerAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Marcel van Limbeek – mixer
- Rob van Tuin – mixer
- Bob LudwigBob LudwigBob Ludwig is an American mastering engineer.He is a well known and respected figure within the music industry. His name is credited on the covers of albums released across the world, and he has won numerous awards....
– masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced... - Cindy Palmano – artworkCover artCover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
, photography, art direction - Paddy Cramsie – graphic designGraphic designGraphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
- Paul Chessell – graphic design
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue number(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
22 January 1996 | East West East West Records East West Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, and operates under WMG's Independent Label Group.-History:... |
CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
82862-2 |
| Cassette Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel... |
82862-4 | |||
| LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
82862-1 | |||
| 10 February 1997 | CD∞ | 80696-2 | ||
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
23 January 1996 | Atlantic Atlantic Records Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz... |
CD | 82862-2 |
| Cassette | 82862-4 | |||
| LP | 82862-1 | |||
| Jun 1996 | CD∞ | 82862-2 | ||
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
24 January 1996 | East West | CD | 8286223 |
| Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
25 February 1996 | Atlantic | CD | AMCE-918 |
∞ Denotes reissue