Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
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Free Music Notes for Little Earthquakes
Free Music Review: So beautiful ....
Hit: 5 Stars
I have been learning piano for about two years now and learnt music (vocals) for two years. It is so amazing to hear someone sing using a piano so beautifully with so much grace. The songs are so meaningful and very different from the usual pop genre. This album is a must buy for all music lovers and I can't wait to hear other albums by Tori Amos. Free Music Review: The Beginning of a Beautiful Fanaticism
Hit: 5 Stars
Picture it: Spring of 1992. Bush Sr. is still in power, rounding out a mediocre presidency in an age of recession and general boredom that at the time seemed dreadful but now seems nearly paradisical in 20/20 hindsight, from the vantage point of our current age of chaos. There was no internet, only a few people had cell phones, which were nearly the size of your cable T.V. remote, and we were so bored with the dominant forces of hair-metal and the King of Pop (by that, I mean Pepsi) that music audiences all over the nation screamed for regime change, which came in the form of a strange, oddly sweet yet violently self-hating man-child from rural Washington state and his two cohorts, whom we immeditaely, to his great shock and reluctance, set about proclaiming the messiah. It seemed, for a time, to a large part of my generation that Kurt Cobain would save us from the only true sin in this culture: dullness. Even the old fogies at Rolling Stone were ready to proclaim him the Christ-child of Rock, which they translated as 'The voice of Generation X.' Well, I was almost seventeen, and though I liked the music, all I saw in the videos was a scared kid with a talent too big for his ego. I wasn't looking for a saviour, or for an artist who could speak the words in my secret soul on a major public stage. And yet, around the same time, and through the same medium, I found one. . .
It was a buzz clip on MTV, in that spring after Nirvana, that showed me the way. It was bright white, interrupted with flashes of even brighter red and deep, electric blue. The music was different: unlike the usual violent screech of guitars and harsh voices, the thunder of bass and beats, the cadenced shouting of grunge and rap that filled the air most of the time MTV was on in those days (yes, kids, MTV, you see, played music when I was young), this music came with a near-whisper of soft, melodic piano, and a voice of paranormal beauty. Whenever this song came on, all the anger and volatility that filled both the airwaves and my own mind at the time would miraculuosly drain away, and I would sit, transfixed, unable to move or turn away for the song's all-too-brief duration. And at the end, the entire frame was filled with her face, her amazing red hair, her sly, sweet smile, and eyes that perfect shade of blue that they say the Mediterranean reaches by midday; it was a face that could be trusted, believed; one that made me forget all bad things, the way the song also could. No matter how horrible, stressed, angry or frightened I felt, that song and that face had the power to turn my vitriol to honey and pain into peace. At the beginning and end of the video, MTV was of course kind enough to inform me that this was 'Silent All These Years,' and that the Goddess responsible for it was named Tori Amos. Shortly thereafter, another video arrived, one that was just as mesmerising and powerful, only the song in this one, 'Crucify,' had a quicker tempo and as much rhythm as melody. Either way, I was caught, hook, line and sinker. Soon thereafter, I made one of the best decisions I've ever made in this life: I bought the record, Little Earthquakes.
It was this record that made the Summer of 1992 one of the best I can remember; it brought light to my hermit's life in Bloomfield, New Mexico where ther had been little of that precious commodity before. I was a freak and a dropout who had nothing to do with the unpleasant, ignorant, backward society around me, and as yet had seen little evidence that there was much out there for odd creatures like me. Little Earthquakes was like a message from home, sent to a long-term exile who had long believed that there was no such place as home anymore; it had been destroyed by the cretins in power long ago. Tori stood as living evidence to my battered senses that this was not so. From 'Crucify,' 'Girl' and 'Silent All These years,' I received the calm and consolation I so badly needed; the passionate anger of 'Precious Things' was one I knew well, growing up surrounded by the same sort of arrogant hypocrisy that she railed against; 'Winter,' 'China' and 'Mother' possessed me with such aching beauty and honesty that I have yet to hear their equal or to be driven to such heights of emotion by any song or drug- I expect true love will exceed it one day, but who knows? The whistling-past-the-graveyard whimsy of 'Happy Phantom' still delights me, as does the sardonic sweetness of 'Leather;' 'Tear In Your Hand' still speaks volumes about past relationships and experiences I only like to think about from this great distance in both time and space; 'Me and A Gun' reminds me that even though I think more or less like a woman, I'm still not one, and there are some experiences and pains that I'll likely never endure (knock wood). If this song does not provoke an empathic experience in your heart, you don't have one.
At last, we come to the title track and grand finale, a near-seven-minute catharsis that leaves the listener feeling cleansed, freed from pain and fear, eerily calm and out of the proverbial woods, ready to face the inanities and idiot evils of a society that cares only for money, disregarding manners utterly, full of people in a hurry to do nothing that really matters and can't see past their own noses- aahhh! Sounds like I need to play that record again.
Either way, pardon my gushing, but this record means a lot to me (Can you tell? Have I been too subtle?); as a rather feminine personality in a male form who grew up in a variety of backward, small-town Christian hell-holes, I found it to be a lifeline and held to it like a drowning rat on a floating 2x4. It came to me at a time when I was just starting to free myself from Christian guilt, and just beginning to deal with my own identity issues (not gay but still rather girlish, which rather deeply confused both me and those around me). Now, living in comfortable surroundings, with good friends, in a downtown condo in Austin, TX., I can remember that kid who lived as a hermit in the middle of nowhere, knew no one outside of his family and immediate neighbourhood for several years, and laugh. This record saved his life, giving him the time and comfort he needed to grow into me, and I'm pretty damn cool. Thank you, Tori. I can never thank you enough.
Free Music Review: Tori's best!
Hit: 5 Stars
Tori is my favorite female singer ever!!!
Little Earthquakes is my favorite Amos cd with Hotel close behind.
I could do without several songs on LE, so if this were put down to 9 or 10 songs, it would be in the top 15 cd's ever. It's pretty close anyhow!
I think FROM THE CHOIRGIRL HOTEL is more diverse, but Little Earthquakes is so good at what is does, it's mesmerizing!
My favorite songs are:
CRUCIFY
GIRL
SILENT ALL THESE YEARS
PRECIOUS THINGS
CHINA
TEAR IN YOUR HAND
Those 6 are so beautiful!!!
Listen to this on a good system and escape to a magic place!
Free Music Review: Her first , and prolly best.
Hit: 5 Stars
Tori Amos is just incredible. Period.
And ' Earthquakes ' just may be the best of her records,
but ......well they are ALL so good that its hard to decide.
Roger Daltry once said that he hoped that Pete Townsend never
regained his sanity because his mental pain was what made him
such a songwriting genius. I guess Tori is the female rock
equivalent of Pete. Sort of like Heart is to Zeppelin and
Sheryl Crowe is to McCartney. Bottom line is that thank god
some CHICKS are out there representin' by playing and writing
some good pop music instead of ruining the biz by
dancing around in their underwear and lip synching to pre-recorded tracks ( I won't mention any names here - you get the picture
Free Music Review: I Hope She's Been To Barbados Since '86
Hit: 5 Stars
Though this is Tori's first album (besides Y Kant Tori Read), it was the third one of hers I received, after The Beekeeper and Under the Pink. So I had a little time to get used to her. And I'm glad I did, otherwise this album would probably be in the garbage can.
Crucify used to scare me, back when I first heard it on the radio. It was four years ago, and I was eight. It's interesting how Tori Amos is now my favorite artist, and that's an honor, because I am extremely picky about music. The only other singers whom I will let into my CD collection are Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Eva Cassidy and Alicia Keys.
My favorite tracks on this album are Little Earthquakes, Tear In Your Hand, Girl, and Happy Phantom. Please, fellow Toriphiles, forgive me because I love Tear In Your Hand. I hear that it's mainstream and boring, and everyone's entitled to their opinions, but I personally find it relaxing and nice break from all the intensity of this album. Girl is a very cool song, although it sounds a little old-fashioned. The lyrics always remind me of Merope Gaunt from the book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-a girl whom everyone thinks will amount to nothing and is brought down by low opinions of her. Happy Phantom is cute and jaunty -kind of a Mr. Zebra-The Wrong Band combination. It sounds like it could have been in The Wizard of Oz, and not just because of the reference to Judy Garland. Precious Things is abrupt and brash; always making me think of those little cherub angels-possibly from the line "I want to smash the faces of those beautiful boys/Those Christian boys". A few lines in Silent All These Years have Tori's voice sounding like that of Eleanor Audley, my all-time favorite actress. Me And A Gun is straightforward, not leaping around the fire but plunging right into it. And lastly, the title song-wow! It has the most distinctive sound of anything I've ever heard. It begins with faint strains of electric guitar, then opening up into a full, echo-y sound that is incredibly calming.
This is a spectacular album. But if you're a new Tori fan, you probably shouldn't start with this one. Start with Scarlet's Walk or The Beekeeper. Start with Under The Pink or Boys For Pele if you must, and definitely do NOT start with From The Choirgirl Hotel. Start with one of her least enigmatic albums, and slowly work your way up the Yellow Brick Road.