I still remember in late 91 I was listening to this Spanish radio station Radio 3 which always played alternative music and they played Silent All These Years and from that day, I became the biggest Tori Amos fan, for some reason she made a big impression on me

 

Tori Amos is kinda unique, pop female singers playing piano… not that normal, and in a way, that is why it took Tori so many years to break thru, she had been trying to release music for ages, but labels turned her down or wanted to replace the piano with guitars.

 

Tori had been playing piano since she was 2 or something, trained in classic music and later playing covers in hotel lobbies and bars. And all this experience clearly shows when she plays live. She is exceptional live, mesmerising to watch. Her usual set-up is to have 3/4 different pianos on stage, the Bosendorfer is always the centerpiece, and she does this thing of playing 2 or even 3 pianos at the same time, which seems almost impossible to me, so for instance she is facing the audience and with the right hand she plays the Bosendorfer and with the left hand she plays a Rhodes or some electric organ.

 

Another key aspect to Tori’s appeal are her lyrics, which might seem very cryptic and metaphorical at first, but when you know the context, they are clearer. Well more or less. Her min topic is failed relationships and also her upbringing often shows up, her father is a priest so she was raised in a very strict home.

 

First I heard from Tori as mentioned above was the Me and a Gun EP released in late 91. It was a taster for the album and included two of her most classic tracks. First, Silent all These Years, which is basically’s Tori life story summarised in 3 minutes, and then Me and a Gun, an accapella song about being raped in LA when she was in her early 20s. The lyrics of Me and a Gun address the idea that some people believe that a woman who dresses in revealing clothes is somehow responsible for her rape. Amos acknowledges wearing a revealing red top and challenges her rapist with the question of whether this made him think she deserved to be raped. Tori has made a habit of singing this song during live shows and it’s quite the cathartic experience.

 

After the EP, Silent All These Years was pushed as a single and peaked at #51 in the UK charts, preceding the album. The album was first released in the UK on January 6, 1992, where it peaked at number 14 in the charts.

Further singles included China (#51), Winter (her first top 40 at #25), Crucify (her first top 20 at #15) and a re-release of Silent All These Years (#26). At the time, she was mostly only successful in the UK with none of the singles charting in the US and the album peaking at #54 in the US.

 

Favourite songs from the album…. So many.

 

My #1 is probably Winter. Another Tori song about the struggles growing up and in life in general and about her relationship with her dad. It’s a great piano ballad and always a highlight in concerts.

 

Silent All These Years is also a favourite from day 1. Same topic as Winter, trying to find her voice. I believe the song was partially inspired by the Little Mermaid tale.

 

And then there’s Precious Things, which is easily the more upbeat and in-your-face song in the album, it’s a fun favourite and despite not being a single Tori always plays it live and it’s an spectacular song to see live, very dynamic and very wild.

 

 

Tori has also been a very prolific artists and her b-sides and always amazing. So it was fantastic being a Tori fan in the early 90s cos you got UK CD1 with 3 new b-sides, UK CD2 with 3 more b-sides, then the 7” had a different b-side, then in the US they were picking a different single with other new b-sides. And another 7” and more and more.

Her Little Earthquakes era in particular had some fantastic b-sides, some of which are really lost classics and should have been on the album proper.

 

I particularly love Here.in my Head, Flying Dutchman (which was supposed to be on the album but cut cos it didn’t fit in the vinyl) and Upside Down, which was also part of the Me and a Gun EP. Also a mention to Take to the Sky, another early b-side than she plays live all the time and it’s a joy to experience it in concerts.

 

Here.in my Head

 

Overall a fantastic debut album. She had a lot of pressure from the label, especially in deciding what songs to be included, and I really think some of the b-sides should have been in the main album replacing some album tracks I don’t care much about (Leather, China, Happy Phantom)

 

 

 

Any other fans of Little Earthquakes? Please comment, would love to know what tracks are everybody's favourites

I just want to say that I absolutely will be joining in with this thread… just not whilst I’m restricted to posting on my phone

My first memory of Tori was in Spring 1992. I had probably heard Winter in the top 40 but what I do remember was her cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit being played on BBC Radio 1. Obviously, I'd heard the original and had thought it would make a really nice ballad because of its melody so I was very interested in it.

 

I think that was it, until June 1992 when I saw her on This Morning doing Crucify and the piano just sounded so intriguing and involved. I didn't really buy albums at that point and singles just weren't available where I lived so it sort of just became something that remained in my long term memory as something I should check out in the future.

 

That was it, until December 1993 when I was Christmas shopping in Dublin with some friends and we heard Winter in a shop on some Christmas album that was playing. That date was 11th December 1993 and that was the day my life changed - I purchased Little Earthquakes that afternoon because of that reminder.

 

I went home that night and put the cassette on in my bedroom. Crucify was as great as I remembered. Girl had an instant melody and an effortless chorus. Silent All These Years, which I knew, sounded iconic in a signature-song kind of way. Precious Things sounded gothic and unexpected and reminded me of Sisters of Mercy for some reason.

But it was Winter which devastated me. It was the first time a song had ever made me cry and cry I did. The chord change in the line 'all the white horses are still in bed' just floored me. I think even without that part the song was going to be utterly transfixing. The lyrics are poetic and childlike and deliver an emotional impact like no other song I know.

 

Winter has been in my top 3 singles ever since that day - 29 years ago. I've seen her play live 6 times and she played it during the first 4.

 

Happy Phantom came next and was whimsical and frivolous and I never really liked it.

 

Turned the tape over for the next song. China. More tears, I'm afraid. The chorus again just blew me away with a beautiful backing vocal harmonic while the lead sings the line 'in your eyes'.

Devastated again. I was not ready to feel this way about music.

 

The rest of the album took time to grow on me. In time I would grow to like Mother and the title track a little less. It feels sacrilegious to say that Me and a Gun doesn't affect me as much as it does most other people.

 

What happened next sounds really ill-advised. I lent the cassette to someone who I knew at college a few weeks later who never came back after the Christmas break. But in January 1994 a new era started when Cornflake Girl began picking up airplay and my attention turned to Under the Pink. This time I could experience everything in real time and bought the album on the day of release.

 

Because I had bought Cornflake Girl on single I was already aware of the fact that Tori's b-sides were worth checking out because the song that was on the other side of the tape was Sister Janet and was the equal of several tracks on Little Earthquakes. With that in mind I set about collecting all the b-sides from the LE singles.

 

While visiting a record shop in Enniskillen in Summer 1994 I spotted the 12" of China on the wall and immediately snapped it up. The main b-side, Sugar, was, once again a beautifully poigntant ballad and remains one of my favourite Tori songs and my favourite b-side of hers. I also love Song for Eric and Here in My Head.

 

I dont play the album very much but it remains a very important album in the evolution of my relationship with music. I have purchased it 7 times - twice on cassette, three times on cd, once on video and once on vinyl.

 

Here are the songs in order of excellence, in my opinion.

 

1 Winter

2 China

3 Precious Things

4 Silent All These Years

5 Crucify

6 Mother

7 Girl

8 Little Earthquakes

9 Tear in Your Hand

10 Me and a Gun

11 Happy Phantom

12 Leather

 

I would replace 10,11 and 12 with the 3 b-sides I mentioned above if I could re-arrange the album.

 

Sugar

Edited December 29, 20222 yr by Colm

^wow nice reading, I forgot Teen Spirit was a b-side in the LE era!! That's one of the best covers in the history of music

and the interesting thing is that Tori did it when the Nirvana original was just starting to become the iconic song it is now

but Nirvana were still not that popular or established

 

 

 

ranking the songs of the LE album in order of preference:

 

1 Winter

2 Silent all these years

3 Precious Things

4 Tear in your Hand

5 Girl

6 Crucify

7 Little earthquakes

8 China

9 Me and a Gun

10 Mother

11 Happy phantom

12 Leather

 

I would easily quick the bottom 3 out in favour of Here.in my Head, Upside Down and Flying Dutchman

and maybe even more (Take to the Sky and Sugar)

 

We have the same 1, 3, 11 and 12.

Double post

Edited December 28, 20222 yr by Colm

I was just starting to think about what I want to write about this album and I've realised that I haven't actually listened to it in a very long time. I tend to listen to the singles from this album as part of a best of playlist and don't really feel the need to return to the album tracks like I do some of the other albums.

^not even Precious Things?

Amazing album all over. 'Leather' is one of my favourites mind- quirky yes but deeply sad and haunting..

 

Rate

 

1. Winter

2. Silent All These Years

3. Little Earthquakes

4. Crucify

5. Leather

6. Precious Things

7. Girl

8. Me and a Gun

 

Other 4 tracks I really don't rate so much now but

 

9. Tear in your Hand

10. Happy Phantom

11. Mother

12. China - too pretty. Not the danger of the other tracks.

 

Love Sugar, the original Mary, Take to the Sky, Sweet Dreams. She had great upbeat Bsides for this era which could have replaced the poor 4 tracks.

 

Really tough to choose between Winter or Silent All These Years as her finest. Both so special for different reasons.

^not even Precious Things?

I mentally count that among the best of material as it was on her official best of

Soooooo, this album is odd for me in so much as I do respect it as a pivotal work but it isn't one as a whole that I revisit that often.

 

1992 was my initial introduction to Tori via Winter and then subsequently Silent All These Years. Both remain huge favourites of hers and represent the raw lyricism that she would embody in the early parts of her career. I didn't really explore anything else at the time and I didn't buy the album at the time it was released, in fact I didn't buy it until the late 90s so I was very much behind the curve in terms of this album. As such I don't have any real affinity for the album tracks and even now I'd only really class Tear In Your Hand, Precious Things and the title track as being ones I'd go back to often.

 

I can see that this was a real wow moment in terms of female led albums in the 90s but I don't hold it in as high regard as I do pretty much everything that followed in the decade. I too never really got Me and a Gun and even though I can respect it is an important subject to write about, it isn't a song I enjoy nor ever revisit.

 

 

 

 

Like Colm, Sugar is one of my favourite tracks from this era and is one of the songs I revisit the most often. It's beautiful and is one of many b-sides during the 90s that I would rank along her very best work. And, of course, the gorgeous cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit is an essential also.

China/Sugar is one if my favorite a-side/b-side combinations of any artist.

but what Sugar do you guys prefer? the original or the live band version? cos I thought everyone's favourite was the live one

which I think was also a b-side but in some later era

 

I was also remembering how the most hated LE tracks on tour among fans were Leather and China.

Tori plays both a lot but hardcore fans never approved, if a setlist had Leather it was immediately called a shit setlist :o

Edited December 29, 20222 yr by Bjork

Studio. As we're taking about the Little Earthquakes era, I assume we're all referring to the studio version.

Edited December 29, 20222 yr by Colm

I was also remembering how the most hated LE tracks on tour among fans were Leather and China.

Tori plays both a lot but hardcore fans never approved, if a setlist had Leather it was immediately called a shit setlist :o

 

Life's too short to deal with hardcore Tori fans.

 

Almost forgot I got the vinyl signed by Tori once we waited for ages after the gig

 

I've been listening to lots of Tori since this thread arrived.

 

I've also been watching a lot of reaction videos to her live rendition of Winter from Live at Montreux 1991/1992.

 

It's an astonishingly affecting performance and a few reaction-ers had tears in their eyes while reacting. It's just a pity that she had to do it on an electric piano.

 

I've given Under the Pink and From the Choirgirl Hotel a few spins recently. All three represent such a body of work that absolutely overshadows any other 90s artist for me - and of all time. I never really thought Boys for Pele was strong - even taking the best 10 songs from it and it doesn't match those other 3.

 

Winter has powered back to be my favourite single by anyone, now.

 

 

Edited January 29, 20232 yr by Colm

Haven't listened to Live at Montreaux in a while but I will do! I recall loving Winter and Teen Spirit