Although she's an American, the album was released only in the UK at first; the US version was delayed until late February. Apparently the thinking was that she might not be as appealing to Americans. The concern was unnecessary.More — with videos — at the link.
It's hard to express what a brilliant artist Tori Amos is. She does three things and is stellar at each one: songwriting (alternating between frankly confessional and slyly cryptic), singing (at its most mellifluous on this album but capable of being much more raw) and piano playing (classically trained but with pop and jazz sensibilities).
January 6, 2017
"Tori Amos released her first solo album, Little Earthquakes, on January 6, 1992 — 25 years ago today."
My son John Althouse Cohen writes:
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Amazing at playing on only the black keys and bonkers use of the sustain pedal.
@Ann Althouse:
Do you know if your son is a fan of Kate Bush's? I always found Amos, who I'm a fan of, to be very derivative of Kate Bush, down to her peculiar vocal tics while singing.
Favorite song on Little Earthquakes was "Me and a Gun," a haunting a cappella recounting of the rape Amos suffered at the hands of a fan after a concert. The incident led Amos to support and be the first spokesperson for RAINN, a sexual abuse referral service that I have worked with numerous times in my career.
p.s. I suppose I could just pop over to John's blog and ask him directly myself.
She got early career support from Al Stewart - he had her sing backup on a few songs from an album he was recording down the hall from her studio for that album. He also worked on a few songs with her. One that he recorded came out of those sessions - "Charlotte Corday".
"It's hard to express what a brilliant artist Tori Amos is."
Agree, but for very different reasons. Just as a highly skilled draftsman might not be a brilliant artist, but perfectly suited for, say, commercial illustrations.
I was just going through a Tori Amos kick myself earlier last year. Amazing talent and artist. I saw her live once. A wild feminist kept yucking it up with her friend adjacent and throwing her lightly curled hair back into my lap with every punch line or happy memory. Rows are closely clustered together in old college music halls. Anyway, yeah - she is awesome. But totally lamenting her age nowadays, which is sad - especially with all those stupid surgeries. I guess I can't blame her, though - she was literally one of the sexiest women of all time back in the day. Watching her go from those really low piano notes to screeching high vocals and everything in between, all while straddling that piano bench... Man, she was something. They don't make 'em like her. Not anymore, anyway.
I was on a big Tori kick in the mid 2000s to early 2010s, but the last few years have left me cold. Her orchestral stuff is meh.
I like her music very much.
"...she was literally one of the sexiest women of all time back in the day."
Different strokes.
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