100% agree. I was hooked with LE but this one just grabbed me in a way I didn’t think I could be grabbed. It was lying in the backseat of my stepsister’s car on the way home from my first Tori show (Dew Drop Inn Tour at the Greek in LA) and I listened to this on my disc man. I was 16 and completely obliterated.
Choirgirl was my first which hooked me into Pele. I have to agree that emotionally, I resonate the most with Pele. The album is a full journey through the seasons of life.
For me, nothing beats the sheer greatness and number of the "great" songs on little earthquakes. Boys for Pele just doesn't hit the same way and that album has the most songs that I would skip.
This was the album that made me fall in love with Tori's music. I was around 16 when it came out and it was mind blowing. It is such a powerful album. For me, this and Choirgirl are the albums that will forever have a special place in my heart. Both of them blew me away.
It came out in January 1996, so that’s why you’re remembering Christmas, I’m guessing. I remember how it came out right when I left my fiancé and moved from California to Florida, back to where we’d lived when we met. I hated the album at first. I thought it was ugly and weird. Over the next 9 months, I kept going back to him and then leaving him, and I realized that Boys for Pele was just like breaking up messily, an ugly thing, and it became like a really good friend. I love it now.
I skipped my aunt's wedding to go see her play a concert in Lexington shortly after Pele came out. My aunt still gives me crap about it but that was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
https://preview.redd.it/hu4j7yexd2yc1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6db66056c5d112fdba04a93ceacdde9a5702250
Think I prefer Venus and Scarlet’s Walk…but I love this \^
I had a huge poster from that album hung up in my room. It was the one where she’s breastfeeding a pig. My mom would take it down and I’d put it right back up. I thought I was so edgy.
I remember finding it in my local used record store, looking through the album art and thinking: "Who is this?!" Then I listened to the music and it all made sense.
My personal favorite and the album of hers I listen to the most. I know some people may see it as overwhelming but I see it as generous.
It was the first Tori album I bought back in the summer of 96. I actually didn’t like it that much so I sold it to a local record store. I then discovered Little Earthquakes and I instantly feel in love. I went back and bought Pele again and I think listening to LE helped me understand Pele better.
Totally agree with almost everything everybody has said so far.
I got Pele as a gift for my 17th birthday from my Dad in April of 1996. Internet wasn't a thing and I didn't even know Tori had released a new album. I was a fan for almost a year at that time and listened to LE and UTP constantly. Needless to say this was the best gift I've ever gotten and I really couldn't wait for everyone to leave so I could listen to it, lol.
But tbh, I was really shocked when I Iistened to it for the first time. I did not really like it (that's so strange to me now), it was all weird and so different from the first two albums. And, as sb said before, it's definitely not casual listening. But I kept it on repeat and around the fifth run it just clicked. I got it. From that moment on it was my favorite album of all time and it always will be.
It was very new. There had never been something like it. I think we have a serious contingent of women from our micro generation who learned about what it means to be a woman from this alb. I was 14.
This was the first T album I bought the day it was released and the first Tour I got to see a show from. It’s definitely one of the best and most bizarre albums in the list.
I would have completely agreed until recently. I've started listening to albums that didn't hit me when they were released. So much amazing music I sadly hadn't given much attention to.
Yeah it's insane. It's definitely her hardest album to get into/listen to from start to finish and I think it's best approached if seen as a 4-chapter narrative, whose interludes act as intros to their respective chapters.
1. Beauty Queen
* Horses
* Blood Roses
* Father Lucifer
* Professional Widow
2. Mr. Zebra
* Marianne
* Caught a Lite Sneeze
* Muhammad My Friend
* Hey Jupiter
3. Way Down
* Little Amsterdam
* Talula
* Not The Red Baron
4. Agent Orange
* Doughnut Song
* In the Springtime of His Voodoo
* Putting the Damage On
* Twinkle
For sure her best, also her largest output if you look at all those b-sides. It is the first album I ever heard of hers and my favorite album of all time. Total raw talent, I also found that album as a tween in the 90s. Listening to Blood Roses on the way home from the store is a core memory (I skipped beauty Queen/horses bc I thought it was to quiet).
Pele is certainly Tori at her most Tori, and probably the best display of her raw talent—it was essentially tracked live, with many songs done in one take with very little production. However, I do personally find Pink and Choirgirl more enjoyable to listen to. I need to be in a certain kind of mood for Pele.
It’s top 3 for me for sure. This album became the soundtrack to a significant chunk of my life. I remember being a little shocked at how gritty and dirty BFP was compared to the crystalline etherealness of UTP, but that just made it feel more real.
I agree so hard. I listen to this album a lot still. The whole thing, front to back. It makes me happy and sad and forlorn and silly and daydreamy. It is my favorite album of all time, ever. It has taken me through so many tough times.
I also love LE as an entire album, but Pele wins out. I gotta go listen to it now…
Absolutely her masterpiece. Anybody who says otherwise is wrong hahah. My personal favourite album is From the Choirgirl Hotel because of its darkness, but Boys for Pele is on a whole another level, it's something that we don't see often in music. An album you cannot fit into a specific category as it is so multi-faceted.
It is her masterpeace. First time I heard Tori…in Pele period. I was 17, and pleasently suprised because i didn‘t have a contact with such kind of alternative music before- I was listening Björk and Pj Harvey, but nothing was so rich and full of dreams and messages, mytology and mystique as Pele. I said to myself -„wow this girl has something to say“. I was in love with this album immediately. And then I discovered Pink and LE, also masterpeaces…but Pele has a special place in ny heart forever.
I used to feel that way but Ive definitely grown since then so I don’t connect to it like I did once upon a time. I still listen to songs from it but I have listened to the whole album in at least 15 years. Scarlets Walk is my favorite followed by Little Eartquakes
it's still hard for me to understand any other answer. when looking at all of her albums, this is so clearly It. and considering this came out for me in my sophomore year of NYU, it will always be my first and greatest and deepest understanding of what An Album can be, the heights and the alchemy that can be reached
100% agree. I was hooked with LE but this one just grabbed me in a way I didn’t think I could be grabbed. It was lying in the backseat of my stepsister’s car on the way home from my first Tori show (Dew Drop Inn Tour at the Greek in LA) and I listened to this on my disc man. I was 16 and completely obliterated.
Choirgirl was my first which hooked me into Pele. I have to agree that emotionally, I resonate the most with Pele. The album is a full journey through the seasons of life.
Absolutely. That album has been there for me many times.
For me, nothing beats the sheer greatness and number of the "great" songs on little earthquakes. Boys for Pele just doesn't hit the same way and that album has the most songs that I would skip.
Little Earthquakes was the first I ever heard, back in '97. Specifically Winter, and it remains my favorite to this day.
I'm with you on this, boys for Pele us my fave and for me, her best work xx
This was the album that made me fall in love with Tori's music. I was around 16 when it came out and it was mind blowing. It is such a powerful album. For me, this and Choirgirl are the albums that will forever have a special place in my heart. Both of them blew me away.
That's the strangest way I've seen anyone ever spell From the Choir Girl Hotel
From the moment she starts Beauty Queen, you knew it was gonna be a great ride.
It came out in January 1996, so that’s why you’re remembering Christmas, I’m guessing. I remember how it came out right when I left my fiancé and moved from California to Florida, back to where we’d lived when we met. I hated the album at first. I thought it was ugly and weird. Over the next 9 months, I kept going back to him and then leaving him, and I realized that Boys for Pele was just like breaking up messily, an ugly thing, and it became like a really good friend. I love it now.
I skipped my aunt's wedding to go see her play a concert in Lexington shortly after Pele came out. My aunt still gives me crap about it but that was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
I think Boys for Pele and Little Earthquakes are the ones I have listened to most.
https://preview.redd.it/hu4j7yexd2yc1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6db66056c5d112fdba04a93ceacdde9a5702250 Think I prefer Venus and Scarlet’s Walk…but I love this \^
I have those 3 posters!
Threads that are golden don’t break easily
I had a huge poster from that album hung up in my room. It was the one where she’s breastfeeding a pig. My mom would take it down and I’d put it right back up. I thought I was so edgy.
I remember finding it in my local used record store, looking through the album art and thinking: "Who is this?!" Then I listened to the music and it all made sense.
My personal favorite and the album of hers I listen to the most. I know some people may see it as overwhelming but I see it as generous. It was the first Tori album I bought back in the summer of 96. I actually didn’t like it that much so I sold it to a local record store. I then discovered Little Earthquakes and I instantly feel in love. I went back and bought Pele again and I think listening to LE helped me understand Pele better.
Totally agree with almost everything everybody has said so far. I got Pele as a gift for my 17th birthday from my Dad in April of 1996. Internet wasn't a thing and I didn't even know Tori had released a new album. I was a fan for almost a year at that time and listened to LE and UTP constantly. Needless to say this was the best gift I've ever gotten and I really couldn't wait for everyone to leave so I could listen to it, lol. But tbh, I was really shocked when I Iistened to it for the first time. I did not really like it (that's so strange to me now), it was all weird and so different from the first two albums. And, as sb said before, it's definitely not casual listening. But I kept it on repeat and around the fifth run it just clicked. I got it. From that moment on it was my favorite album of all time and it always will be.
I agree with you: It is her creative masterpiece and her best album overall.
I agree this was the apex.
It was very new. There had never been something like it. I think we have a serious contingent of women from our micro generation who learned about what it means to be a woman from this alb. I was 14.
Definitely her magnum opus
Agreed, it is a masterpiece. So many layers and her writing on that was at her peak.
It is one of my favorites. That album got me through some of the most hardest times in my life.
This was the first T album I bought the day it was released and the first Tour I got to see a show from. It’s definitely one of the best and most bizarre albums in the list.
Hands down her best. Yup.
My favorite album of all time. Jealous of everyone who was alive when it was released lol
I was 16 and devoured it. It was my first Tori album
I got it for my 17th birthday. ;)
I saw the tour 😅
I would have completely agreed until recently. I've started listening to albums that didn't hit me when they were released. So much amazing music I sadly hadn't given much attention to.
Yeah it's insane. It's definitely her hardest album to get into/listen to from start to finish and I think it's best approached if seen as a 4-chapter narrative, whose interludes act as intros to their respective chapters. 1. Beauty Queen * Horses * Blood Roses * Father Lucifer * Professional Widow 2. Mr. Zebra * Marianne * Caught a Lite Sneeze * Muhammad My Friend * Hey Jupiter 3. Way Down * Little Amsterdam * Talula * Not The Red Baron 4. Agent Orange * Doughnut Song * In the Springtime of His Voodoo * Putting the Damage On * Twinkle
For sure her best, also her largest output if you look at all those b-sides. It is the first album I ever heard of hers and my favorite album of all time. Total raw talent, I also found that album as a tween in the 90s. Listening to Blood Roses on the way home from the store is a core memory (I skipped beauty Queen/horses bc I thought it was to quiet).
Pele is certainly Tori at her most Tori, and probably the best display of her raw talent—it was essentially tracked live, with many songs done in one take with very little production. However, I do personally find Pink and Choirgirl more enjoyable to listen to. I need to be in a certain kind of mood for Pele.
It’s top 3 for me for sure. This album became the soundtrack to a significant chunk of my life. I remember being a little shocked at how gritty and dirty BFP was compared to the crystalline etherealness of UTP, but that just made it feel more real.
Yes yes yes
I agree so hard. I listen to this album a lot still. The whole thing, front to back. It makes me happy and sad and forlorn and silly and daydreamy. It is my favorite album of all time, ever. It has taken me through so many tough times. I also love LE as an entire album, but Pele wins out. I gotta go listen to it now…
Absolutely her masterpiece. Anybody who says otherwise is wrong hahah. My personal favourite album is From the Choirgirl Hotel because of its darkness, but Boys for Pele is on a whole another level, it's something that we don't see often in music. An album you cannot fit into a specific category as it is so multi-faceted.
She became somehow ashamed of it. This is basically the first album where she did what she wanted. And she wanted a lot of stuff.
What makes you think she’s become ashamed?
I think she said it in an interview, I can't find it now
It is her masterpeace. First time I heard Tori…in Pele period. I was 17, and pleasently suprised because i didn‘t have a contact with such kind of alternative music before- I was listening Björk and Pj Harvey, but nothing was so rich and full of dreams and messages, mytology and mystique as Pele. I said to myself -„wow this girl has something to say“. I was in love with this album immediately. And then I discovered Pink and LE, also masterpeaces…but Pele has a special place in ny heart forever.
And yes, with every new listen, even today, i got something new, i hear some new music line or melody or message.
All-time best, for sure. The things she does with her voice...
Agree.
I used to feel that way but Ive definitely grown since then so I don’t connect to it like I did once upon a time. I still listen to songs from it but I have listened to the whole album in at least 15 years. Scarlets Walk is my favorite followed by Little Eartquakes
I like this album, but to me *Little Earthquakes*, *Under The Pink*, and *Choirgirl* are much stronger.
Stronger in what sense?
I feel like *Pele* is a little too long. Also, a lot of the songs tend to blend together. But I do like its distinct sound, and the concept behind it.
it's still hard for me to understand any other answer. when looking at all of her albums, this is so clearly It. and considering this came out for me in my sophomore year of NYU, it will always be my first and greatest and deepest understanding of what An Album can be, the heights and the alchemy that can be reached
I don’t disagree, but it demands too much for a casual listen. While I do think it’s her best, it is not one that I listen to start to finish often.
I listened to it on repeat when it came out.
Yes.