Little Earthquakes
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| Little Earthquakes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Missing image Lecover-big.jpg Album cover | ||
| Album by Tori Amos | ||
| Released | 1992 | |
| Recorded | 1990-1991 | |
| Genre | ??? | |
| Length | 56 min 54 s | |
| Record label | Atlantic Records | |
| Producers | Tori Amos, Eric Rosse, Davitt Sigerson and Ian Stanley | |
| Professional reviews | ||
| Q Magazine | 66th greatest album of all times. | |
| Tori Amos Chronology | ||
| Little Earthquakes (1992) | Under the Pink (1994) | Boys for Pele (1996) |
Little Earthquakes (1991) was the solo debut album of singer Tori Amos, featuring the singles "Winter", "China", "Silent All These Years" and "Crucify". It set the groundwork for the success of other female singer/songwriters in the 1990s. A heavily journalistic work, it is often considered the most accessible of her musical catalogue.
After leaving her home in Baltimore for Los Angeles in 1984, Amos spent three years as a struggling bar-room pianist and lounge act, performing a mix of covers and her own songs.
In 1986, she co-founded the pop-metal band Y Kant Tori Read, and was signed to Atlantic Records. The band released an eponymous album in 1988 but it sank without a trace, and the band dissolved. Atlantic kept Amos on as a solo artist, giving her until the beginning of 1990 to come up with another album.
Atlantic initially rejected the original version of the album, under the impression that nobody would be interested in a "girl with a piano." A second version, co-produced with Eric Rosse, Davitt Sigerson, and Ian Stanley, was delivered in 1991 and finally accepted.
The album was released to rapturous acclaim at the beginning of 1992 and is recognised as one of the most important albums that kickstarted the female singer-songwriter movement of the 1990s. To date, the album has sold around three million copies worldwide.
In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Little Earthquakes the 66th greatest album of all time.
| Contents |
Track listing
- "Crucify" (4:58) SAMPLE (147K)
- "Girl" (4:06)
- "Silent All These Years" (4:10)
- "Precious Things" (4:26)
- "Winter" (5:40)
- "Happy Phantom" (3:12)
- "China" (4:58)
- "Leather" (3:12)
- "Mother" (6:59)
- "Tear in Your Hand" (4:38)
- "Me and a Gun" (3:44)
- "Little Earthquakes" (6:51)
After Amos' failed debut "Y Kant Tori Read" her record label relocated her to London, England where they thought she would have an easier time of breaking into success due to that locale's more accepting attitudes of esoteric performers.
The song "Me and a Gun" was released in the UK as the first single with a b-side of "Silent All These Years". "Me and a Gun" is an a capella song about rape. It was inspired by a rape that occurred in LA when Amos was 21. After she performed at a bar, a patron asked her if he could have a ride home. She obliged, and was raped at knifepoint. Fortunately, she escaped before being killed. Years later, Amos was inspired to write a song about the experience after watching the movie Thelma and Louise. She wrote it in her head on the way to a concert. It has since become a fixture of her live concerts.
"Me and a Gun", likely due to its nature, was not a commercial success, though critically it was praised for its bravery. However radio stations did pick up "Silent All These Years" and put it into heavy rotation, making it Amos' first hit single and what many consider her signature song. It was even re-released in 1997 where it once again became a radio hit.
"Me and a Gun" brought Amos a lot of response from fans with similar experiences, many of whom came to her for guidance and help. As Amos is not a trained counselor, she felt encouraged to look into avenues for more directly helping survivors. Ultimately, Amos helped found the first US national sexual assault hotline, RAINN.
Charts
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Billboard 200 (U.S.) | 54 |
| 1992 | Heatseekers (U.S.) | 1 |
| 1992 | Official UK Album Chart (U.K.) | 14 |
Single
| Title | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| "Silent All These Years" (1991) | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks (U.S.) | 27 |
| "Silent All These Years" (1991) | Official UK Singles Chart (U.K.) | 51 |
| "Silent All These Years" (1992 re-release) | Official UK Singles Chart (U.K.) | 26 |
| "China" (1992) | Official UK Singles Chart (U.K.) | 51 |
| "Winter" (1992) | Official UK Singles Chart (U.K.) | 25 |
| "Crucify" (1992) | Official UK Singles Chart (U.K.) | 15 |
| "Crucify" (1992) | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks (U.S.) | 22 |
Reviews
Rolling Stone (4/2/92, p.46) - 3.5 Stars - Very Good "...Amos' songs are smart, melodic and dramatic; the deeper you listen, the hotter they get... a gripping debut..." Spin (9/99, p.134) - Ranked #31 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s." Q (12/99, p.74) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s." Village Voice (3/2/93, p.5) - Ranked #36 in the Village Voice's list of the 40 Best Albums Of 1992. Q (1/93, p.68) - Included in Q's list of the 50 Best Albums Of 1992. Q (2/92, p.82) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...[Amos can] write seemingly effortless melodies...Lyrically, she's something special: a granite-like hardness with a journalist's eye for detail and compassion...
B-Sides
The album, as with most of Tori Amos' albums, is also known for its collection of b-sides. Amos recorded a host of songs that did not make the album, but were released as b-sides to various singles or performed live in concerts.
"Upside Down"
"Thoughts"
"Ode to the Banana King"
"Song for Eric"
"Sugar"
"Flying Dutchman"
"Humpty Dumpty"
"The Pool"
"Take to the Sky"
"Sweet Dreams"
"Mary"
"Here. In My Head"
| Albums by Tori Amos |
| Y Kant Tori Read | Little Earthquakes | Under the Pink | Boys for Pele | From the Choirgirl Hotel | To Venus and Back | Strange Little Girls | Scarlet's Walk | Tales of a Librarian | The Beekeeper |