TALES OF A LIBRARIAN

This is a compilation up to the year 2003 in Tori's career, and to my opinion it's just about as good as it can be. As many as 20 songs have been fit in, two of them brand new if I remember right. (And they are very good too.) Choices are perhaps unsurprising if you know her discography well, but at least to me this selection represents the kind of Tori Amos that I like. Of course it won't be enough for any other than an occasional listener, but it leaves one free to continue to all directions - and from 2004 onwards there wouldn't even be any overlaps, starting from the very recommendable Scarlet's Walk.

An interesting feature is the way Tori has "categorized" her songs into the Dewey classification system used in libraries, and the whole classification (the hundred divisions) is seen in the leaflet. Examples: 'Me And A Gun' > 360 Social Problems and Social Services > 36.2 Act of Rape. 'Way Down' > 150 Psychology > 154 Subconscious and Altered States. 'Cornflake Girl' > 170 Ethics > 177 Ethics of Social Relations (Betrayal). This is much more original and listener- activating way to reveal some topics of her songs than to write a sentence or two of each track.

As a starting point compilation this is very recommendable, but not a total waste of money to a fan either.