So why is Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
There’s a moment while I’m listening to “Crucify,” the first track on Little Earthquakes. I’m already in, but then suddenly I’m all in.
Up until that point, “Crucify” is already a beautiful song – Amos’ voice emotional, vulnerable, and yet fiery and strong all at once. The lyrics are rich with symbolism, evoking religion and sex and desire and pain and betrayal. Bowling ball in my stomach, desert in my mouth. Dirty streets and dirty sheets. Drive another nail in. It’s heavy.
But then there’s that moment. It’s in the chorus. Amos’ voice extends the word chains in the line, “I said my heart is sick of being in chains.” It’s gorgeous and piercing and moving all at once. It gives you chills.
“Crucify” is good. Really good.
“Happy Phantom” also allows Amos to show off her vocal skills, but this time with mostly just a piano backing her and relatively spare production. There’s a near Broadway musical quality to this song, but it’s a lot better than your average showtune.
I really dig “Leather” for many of the same reasons, with its subtle, staccato strings that help drive the song’s narrative. In puzzling over the lyrics in a way that proved to myself how interested I am in the song, I found this Rolling Stone piece, which has great quotes such as this one:
“Coming out of beating myself up about the choices I had made, I just rolled up my sleeves and grasped at all of the poetry that had ever meant anything to me,” Amos says.
Personal stuff that’s somehow related to Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes
It was my old friend Lou who compelled me to pay attention to Tori Amos back in the day. This, from a guy who worships at the altar of Alice in Chains and AC/DC and, as aside, was nicknamed GWAR on our college rugby team. And, as with so many things, he was completely correct to beat the drum for Amos.
Some stats & info about Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock, Rock Music, Indie Rock, Pop, Pop Music, Alternative Pop, Singer Songwriter
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Little Earthquakes released? 1992
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #776 out of 1,000
Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
I crucify myself and nothing I do is good enough for you.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.