Editing Tori Amos (section)

===1996–2000: ''Boys for Pele'', ''From the Choirgirl Hotel'', and ''To Venus and Back''===
[[File:Tori Amos piano.jpg|thumb|upright|Amos in 1996]]
Her third solo album, ''[[Boys for Pele]]'', was released in January 1996. Prior to its release, the first single, "[[Caught a Lite Sneeze]]" became the first full song released for streaming online prior to an album's release.<ref>{{cite web|title = SongFacts |publisher = SongFacts |url=http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6393 | access-date=July 21, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Interview – Live from Spotify NYC |date = February 24, 2015 |publisher = Spotify |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/4Q8XaEcMoyrorhTZSsWACv?si=b278df82b2f843d0&nd=1 | access-date=July 21, 2021}}</ref>

The album was recorded in a church in [[Delgany]], [[County Wicklow]], [[Ireland]], with Amos taking advantage of the church's acoustics. For this album, Amos used the [[harpsichord]], [[Pump organ|harmonium]], and [[clavichord]] as well as the piano. The album garnered mixed reviews upon its release, with some critics praising its intensity and uniqueness while others bemoaned its comparative impenetrability. Despite the album's erratic lyrical content and instrumentation, the latter of which kept it away from mainstream audiences, ''Boys for Pele'' is Amos' most successful simultaneous transatlantic release, reaching No. 2 on the UK Top 40<ref>{{cite web |title=Under the Pink |work=[[UK Albums Chart]] |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/boys%20for%20pele/ |access-date=September 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607071857/http://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/boys%20for%20pele/ |archive-date=June 7, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 upon its release.{{r|Billboard 200 p.1}}

Fueled by the desire to have her own recording studio to distance herself from record company executives, Amos had the barn of her home in [[Cornwall]], UK converted into the state-of-the-art recording studio of Martian Engineering Studios.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Tingen |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Tingen |title=Tori Amos: Inside Her Martian Engineering Studio |magazine=[[Sound on Sound]] |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb07/articles/toriamos.htm |access-date=September 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160902114220/http://www.soundonsound.com/people/tori-amos |archive-date=September 2, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[From the Choirgirl Hotel]]'' and ''[[To Venus and Back]]'', released in May 1998 and September 1999, respectively, differ greatly from previous albums. Amos' trademark acoustic, piano-based sound is largely replaced with arrangements that include elements of [[electronica]] and dance music with vocal washes. The underlying themes of both albums deal with womanhood and Amos' own miscarriages and marriage. Reviews for ''From the Choirgirl Hotel'' were mostly favorable and praised Amos' continued artistic originality. Debut sales for ''From the Choirgirl Hotel'' are Amos' best to date, selling 153,000 copies in its first week.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Garth Boxes in Billboard 200's Top Slot |magazine=[[Billboard magazine|Billboard]] |url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=951854 |date=May 14, 1998 |access-date=June 1, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019034727/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=951854 |archive-date=October 19, 2012}}</ref> ''To Venus and Back'', a two-disc release of original studio material and live material recorded from the previous world tour, received mostly positive reviews and included the first major-label single available for sale as a digital download.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ehrlich |first=Dimitri |title=Music's Digital Democracy |journal=[[Interview (magazine)|Interview]] |date=December 1, 1999}}</ref>