After splitting into five separate personalities for 2007's American Doll Posse, Tori Amos pulls herself back together again on her latest. The result is a set of prog-inspired balladry with less bounce than her last disc. The plodding "Strong Black Vine" has Amos saving folks from "that evil faith" over strings straight out of Zeppelin's "Kashmir," and "Police Me" is a multitracked mess of percussion, orchestration and New Wave synth lines. Among the standouts: the ballad "Maybe California," a tender show of empathy for a mother about to throw herself off a cliff.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.