What does Tori Amos sound like?

Emotionally charged piano-wielding battle warrior aimed squarely at those who want to feel everything too.

The review of ‘Diving Deep Live’ by Tori Amos

Live albums work best when they capture artists that live for the stage. Some artists bash out near-perfect, rigid replicas of their album recordings. Tori is not that kind of artist. Every tour has a different arrangement, style and emotional coil that revolves around it. Every show has a different setlist and there will be unique improvisations or special covers that may only ever happen once. There is no one else I’ve seen repeatedly live that delivers a consistently enthralling live show as Tori Amos.

‘Diving Deep Live’ is a double disc live LP featuring 16 songs (12 only on vinyl) from Tori’s 2022-23 Ocean to Ocean tour. The tour covered 93 dates and focused on North American and European locations. It came after the pandemic. Tori has openly talked about how the later UK lockdowns affected her on a deeply emotional level. As someone who spent her life on tour, she missed it, and ‘Diving Deep Live’ feels like a celebratory document about making it out the other side. Alongside Jon Evans on bass and effects and Ash Soan on percussion, the trio’s photos make up the roadie artwork.

The live renditions across the LP often contain longer, extended jam sessions that open up each track. They serve as beautiful reminders of Tori’s piano playing, which is often taken for granted. Whether it is the near six-minute introduction to the epic ‘Spring Haze’ or the running cascade of rumbling notes for ‘Ruby Through The Looking Glass’, each intro jam is beautifully played and often brings Jon and Ash along for the ride too. The mixing is superb too, placing the piano front and centre so every rhythm and thud shines. These jams come over as playful and at times, virtuoso, but I also think it is to help with the vocal demands of such a tour. For this tour, Tori’s wildly dynamic vocal range had deepened and reduced, so I imagine these vocal breaks help keep the power and range as best as possible. All voices do this, and it’s clear Tori is having none of it when it comes to wringing out the emotion with every fibre she’s got.

The deeper voice means that ‘Climb’ turns into a devastating growling disdain, becoming a personal highlight on the record. The opening jam borrows from ‘Honey’, and you can hear other songs’ melodies and motifs briefly appear in their extended moments across the album. ‘Code Red’ uses all these exposed crackles and voice breaks to amp up what was already an explosive would-be Bond theme into a riotous rock anthem. ‘Lady in Blue’, with its piano lid spanking finale contains a wild yearning and pride as Tori declares “I can play too”. This might sound like a strange backhanded compliment, but as voices mature, deepen and creak, it opens up different ways of expression. These songs show that Tori is getting comfortable with this and can lean into it.

Elsewhere, the tender and raw emotion of Tori’s upper register still shines in its breathy muse. ‘Sister Janet’ is as emotionally purging today as it was in 1994 and this rendition is equally haunting. ‘Here In My Head’ is slower, more deliberate and breathless. Swapping in nods to ‘Garlands’ works magically and the song has a more hypnotic undead trance tone to it. Elsewhere ‘Crazy’, ‘Ocean To Ocean’ and ‘Mother Revolution’ all have smoother, jazzier or blues undertones to them. The softer vocals are matched with the softer bass and drums to give the tracks a dainty, warming gallop. B-side ‘Daisy Dead Petals’ is transformed into a jaunty, faster track with brushed drums, shakers and a double bass. It is gems like this that only happen a few times ever that fans will lap up to have captured in perfect audio.

The two hours of live music is sensational and I admire the approach to largely ignore the big hitters. ‘Cornflake Girl’ and ‘Silent All These Years’ satisfy the early bird crowd but this collection runs across Tori’s discography and picks up many non-singles and three b-sides. This is an absolute treasure for fans who continue to find Tori’s more recent work just as entrancing as her first five albums, and I hope others that faded away come back to experience the hypnotic charm a live performance of Amos’ brings. Now… if I may be so bold – the mixing on ‘Diving Deep Live’ is sublime. Can we start a petition for a live release from all the other tours too? Please? Strange Little Tour and the Unrepentant Geraldines tour have some absolutely wild arrangements. A man can dream.

Recommended track: Climb

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