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American Doll Posse
by Tori Amos

Tori Amos reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 69 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.6 out of 10
based on 19 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 104 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The singer-songwriter-pianist's ninth studio album is political, confrontational, and lengthy (at over 20 tracks)--and also falls under the dreaded "concept album" category, as its songs come from the viewpoints of five different characters.

LABEL: Sony
RELEASE DATE: 01 May 2007
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Alternative, Rock, Singer-Songwriter

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Spin
Trading obscure metaphors for assertive personae, Amos sings with a remarkably forceful focus. [Jun 2007, p.92]
88
Los Angeles Times
"ADP" is often fun but sometimes overwrought, and non-fans may find it too much.
Read Full Review
80
PopMatters
If American Doll Posse would have been edited into a shorter, more concise record, it could have been Amos’s best. Instead, it fits nicely alongside her best work, but is a little bit too bogged down with its sometimes preachy, non-descript politics and too many of the usual suspects in the mix.
Read Full Review
80
The New York Times
A message to lapsed Tori Amos fans: come back. You won’t be bored.
Read Full Review
80
The Guardian
Some of her best work in years is here... There's far too much, though; cut to 10 tracks it would have been her one of her most significant records.
Read Full Review
80
Hot Press
Imagine an amalgam of The White Album, The Kick Inside and Professor Longhair, all conceived as an off-Broadway extravaganza directed by Julie Taymor.
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80
Blender
Texturally, it's a middle ground between her searing early album Under the Pink and the sun-dappled 2005 The Beekeeper. [Jun 2007, p.105]
80
musicOMH.com
If American Doll Posse sees her remain an acquired taste, those who have already been converted are in for a treat.
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80
Boston Globe
Grand conceit aside, "American Doll Posse" is a great art-pop album.
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70
All Music Guide
Her musical vision and production skills are almost astonishing in places. [But] American Doll Posse is a work that has its problems due to its sprawling nature.
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70
Slant Magazine
If still too uneven and entirely too overstuffed to rank among her most essential albums, American Doll Posse is certainly Amos's most ambitious record, both for the breadth of its sound and for the scope of its driving concept.
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60
Billboard
Despite it being more rock-oriented than 2005's "The Beekeeper," this album isn't much of a sonic progression, and it takes a while for "Posse" to find its voice. [5 May 2007]
60
Rolling Stone
In typical Tori fashion, there's way too much conceptual malarkey surrounding the songs, but if you can ignore her fake posse, you'll find this is Amos' best album in many years.
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60
Uncut
American Doll Posse sounds like a return to more conventional songwriting form. [Jun 2007, p.87]
60
Mojo
Here's a concept Tori: less is more. [Jun 2007, p.108]
58
Entertainment Weekly
Too bad Posse is a conceptual wreck, because it benefits from some of the beefiest, most borderline-glam-rock moments Amos has put on record.
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40
NOW Magazine
Ambitious, high-concept albums are one thing, but Posse's just a boring mess.
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40
Austin Chronicle
The touches of old Tori ("Girl Disappearing," "Body and Soul") are fairly solid, but most often she gets lost in her mental "posse."
Read Full Review
33
Stylus Magazine
Adding a set of young female characters to this drab mix only accentuates that a concept is needed to bolster the actual music.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 104 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John R gave it a9:
Not as good as Scarlet's Walk but much better than the Beekeeper. You won't like it on first listen, which is a good thing.

Jamie G. gave it a9:
Really great album, and a step, not a reproduction of past successes for Tori. Some truly spectacular tracks (Digital Ghost, Teenage Hustling, for example), and then some others that haven't grabbed me. All in all, its become one of those albums I listen to consistently and always enjoy to the point of distraction.

Bobby S. gave it a0:
i wish this woman could take a step back and realize how ridiculous she looks/sounds. she went off the deep end but wound up with nothing deep.

Ck gave it a4:
Big fan, but I just don't get this one. There are a couple of great tracks, but for the most part, ADP falls completely flat for me. While the Beekeeper was also not her best - can someone tell me which songs on ADP are better than Barons of Suburbia, Mother Revolution, or the power of orange knickers? Anyone rating this album above a 5, is seriously kidding themselves.

john j gave it a3:
It's overstuffed, bloated and full of mediocre songs. Unfortunately, like The Beekeeper, there is no progression or growth whatsoever. The music sounds dated and stale. Too bad. I'm a big fan of hers.

a lapsed tori fan gave it a7:
I stopped listening to tori around the choirgirl era, but i'm diggin this new stuff. it's good to be back!

DJ A. gave it a9:
At first listen, its good. Second, its too heady, you sense she's tried to hard. Third time, you still sense its worthiness. Fourth, you get it. Fifth listen and then on its a guilty pleasure and one it hooked. Amos worked harder than most to create this piece but at the end of it all its good music and when you can understand them, intelligent lyrics.

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