After touring nonstop since the
  release of from the choirgirl
  hotel this past spring, Tori
  Amos has decided, after five
  records and four world tours, to
  take a brief respite from recording original material.
  Instead, Amos is contemplating the release of a live
  and B-sides compilation for Christmas 1999.

  "There will be nine or 10 years of material represented
  in one kind or another," Amos tells Wall of Sound.
  "Some of the things I'm thinking about aren't fleshed
  out enough yet, so we'll have to work with them a little.
  But I really wanted to take a break from having new
  work, my writing, put under the microscope one more
  time. That can be exhausting."

  Amos is also considering taking a break from recording
  original material because, after bringing her music to a
  full band for the first time on the new album and the
  current tour, she feels she's at something of a
  crossroads as an artist and songwriter. "I don't really
  know where I'm going right now," she admits. "That's
  why I'm not acting on anything. Playing live and
  capturing the live performance is where I have always
  integrated the records. Then what's next?"

  As an intuitive and poetic performer, Amos is quite
  insightful and cautious about her work, and wants to
  make sure the next step feels comfortable to her as an
  artist. "After I make a record, it takes me a while to
  make it a part of my own body map," she says.
  "Sometimes I'm so detached from it after touring--even
  though a thread of me is in it--that it takes me a while
  to pull back and find out what it's about again, to make
  it meaningful. It's important to find out what these
  songs are trying to tell me, not just about my own
  experience but about a more universal experience. A
  lot of times you're translating your own songs and
  saying, 'OK, I know this sounds right, but I haven't
  really quite experienced this or I haven't seen that yet.'
  So sometimes I have to step back. That's why I'm
  thinking about this live and B-sides project, to give
  myself a little time to step back."

  Amos releases her Complete Videos to stores today
  (Nov. 17). -Bob Gulla