I don't understand what the controversy is all about. Tori has ballads on all of her albums, and should. It's what a complete, well-rounded artist does-create a complete repetoire. As individuals, we all have our preferences, and I prefer ballads. And Tori's ballads, like all of her music, are special. 1000 Oceans is a beautiful, stripped down ballad, where her voice is unmarred by techno gadgets. It's in the same genre as Tear in Your Hand, Baker, Baker, Hey Jupiter, and Northern Lad, which I'm amazed that any Tori fan can find Lad uninspired and unexciting. It gives me the chills everytime I hear it! To each his/her own!

I first heard this song played live, on a french music station where Tori was giving an interview and performance. This song took my breath away. She has such a beautiful voice and ability to write stunning melodies. I can't say enough about Tori. Definately check this song out.

Tori Amos has recorded several songs in her career. In an album alone, there were 19 cuts ("Boys for Pele"). If there are some returning themes, its only because she feels very strongly about a subject and would like another perspective this time. Such is the case with "1000 Oceans". Its different. Get over it. Its beautiful. Accept it. There are few songwriters out there that really capture emotional intensity with vocals and musical orchestration. Tori Amos is one of those songwriters.

"1000 Oceans", while musically similar perhaps to "Northern Lad" is really not very much like it otherwise. While, everyone is entitled to their opinion, I still cannot see why you'd automatically dismiss something because it sounds a little like something else. If this was the case for everything, there'd be no bubblegummers or rap artists, so that logic just doesn't work.

Just because it sounds slightly like something else doesn't make it bad. Kudos for Tori Amos, who takes a classic idea and still melds it into something new and different.

As for "Baker, Baker"? Smashing!

Also look for the "Bliss" single if you've not heard it. It is similarly amazing.

Tori does it again. Just when you think you have her (kinda) figured out, she does it again. This wonderful composer, singer, lyricist, artist, goddess, this gift to us from the song faeries throws us yet another curve. Tori gets us all thinking her piano wants other friends to play with - guitar, bass, drums, all that "band" stuff - and then delivers a thoughtful, meditative poem about crying and caring that leaves us with tears and that little half-smile, the one we get when we're so happy and sad at the same time that we can't tell what flavor the tears are.

It's just not fair, how Tori gets all this talent and the rest of us can only stand at the glass of the window to her soul, wondering how to get in. The faeries have chosen, and chosen wisely. Their conduit to all things wonderful and special and beyond the grasp of us mere mortals is perfect. It enables us to dream, if even for a second, of what could be.

As a bonus, Tori takes my personal favorite, Baker Baker (the song that's helping to make me whole again), and delivers a live rendition that has all the emotion of the original, wrapped in the breathless desperation that the lyrics suggest. You just want to hug her and tell her that it will all be ok, even if you know deep down that maybe it won't.

I'm not sure if I will ever be whole again. But Tori sure helps me to at least put all the broken pieces in the same place at once.

"1000 oceans" was the second single off of Amos's fifth solo album, "to venus and back." Just as the second disc of the album is a live collection of mostly band songs, the "1000 oceans" single offers a further look into Amos's live solo performances, played during "secretime" of her 1998 concert tour. The offering here is a heart-breaking version of "Baker Baker" (performed here in Pennsylvania). But before you go and buy this single, you might want to reconsider. There were two versions of this single released: the regular single and maxi-single. This is the regular version, and it only has two tracks (the title track and one b-side), whereas the maxi-single has another bonus track not available on the album: a gorgeous live rendition of "Winter." Bottom line: for just a couple of bucks more, buy the maxi-single instead. You'll be much happier with your purchase.