Customer Reviews

Strange Little Girls

5 star:		(133)
4 star:		(95)
3 star:		(59)
2 star:		(47)
1 star:		(55)

 

 

Me, being a Tori Amos fan for a little while, I had to buy this CD. Infact, tonight I bought it. I wasn't surprised with how good it was.
New Age: not a bad song, cool beats, but not a very catchy song. not typical Tori Amos..**(out of 5)
'97 Bonnie & Clyde: A great version of Eminem's. It makes you actually listen to the harsh lyrics. Great. ****
Strange Little Girl: Very catchy beginning. Sounds similar to the original version, but a nice change with Tori's soft voice.****
Enjoy the Silence: My third fave. song on the CD. Tori's voice is piercing. It's great. The piano is soft, but keeps your attention. *****
I'm not in Love: A bit hard to get into at the beginning, but once you do, it's good.The intro is slow,but Tori's voice makes up for it. ***
Rattlesnakes: A nice song, I love the lyrics, very catchy and soft. ****
Time:I can never really get into this song, but Tori's voice is nice to listen to.The chorus is beautiful though! ***1/2
Heart of Gold: Cool beats! Hard to get into. Tori's voice is faded. ***
I Don't Like Mondays: Not what I expected to hear, but not bad.***
Happiness is a Warm Gun: Interesting start, not too bad song. ***
Raining Blood: MY FAVORITE SONG ON THE ENTIRE CD! *****lyrics! Tori stings them with feeling. Love it.
Real Men: Another great song. My 2nd fave. Nice piano. *****
All the CD is great, and worth buying!! :D

After hearing the beautiful cover album 'Girl Versions' by Emm Gryner, a music executive approached Tori with the same idea. I think it was a great decision Tori made by making one. Some of these songs are really excellent like the spell binding 'Enjoy The Silence' and the beautiful 'Time' but I don't see what the hype is about ''97 Bonnie & Clyde' for yes, it is sad and truthful but it's not good. It's the worst song on the album, it's all talking, maybe if Tori sang it, it would be better and maybe even more tragic but I always skip this one for it can get annoying at times.
The title track 'Strange Little Girl' is a great cover, a little different than Tori's main focus (the piano) but it steps it up and shows fans that Tori can have a really great song without having it completely piano driven. And I don't understand why some people dislike 'I'm Not In Love', it's a little different sort of atmosphere but it's hauntingly beautiful. I also really enjoyed 'Raining Blood', 'Rattlesnakes' and 'New Age'. This is definitely a must for any Tori fan, I think that some Tori fans were disappointed because it's not completely original but open your ears and mind with this album and you'll find a lot more than you bargained for.

Okay, let's get one thing straight. Tori Amos is a genius. stated simply. & not only is she a genius, she's insane, & that my friends, is a force to be reckoned with. Strange Little Girls is a coming-of-age barrage of breath-taking covers by an artist that can never fail. I find it odd how some Tori fans were suprised when she decided to do an albam of just covers, when they should actually be suprised that it took her so long to do a cover albam. If you ever go to a Tori concert, a good majority of the songs are going to be covers & b-sides. & this has widely been embraced at her shows. Which is why I'm shocked that fans would be so unappreciative of this masterpiece. In true Tori fashion, she does everything that you would never expect her to do. Such as her unbelievable, & may i add gutsy, covers of slayers "Raining Blood" & eminems "97' Bonnie & Clyde"
Any other artist would have masacured these two songs beyond belief, but Tori, like she always does, makes it work & brings out the beauty in even the most morbid of lyrics.

Other covers such as "New Age", "Stange Little Girl", "Time", "Real Men", "I Don't Like Mondays", & Rattelsnakes" are in the same vein as absoulutly breakingingly amazing.
I found that a lot of fans had a hard time with songs such as her covers of "Happiness is a warm gun", "Heart of Gold", I'm Not in Love", & "Enjoy the Silence"
Personally, I love all of these songs, but I guess I could understand how other people might not appreciate them because they completely morph the orginal song. On "Heart of Gold", (orgianlly written & sung by Neil Young) she even changed some lyrics.

Weather you love or hate this albam, you must respect her. Because you can't say she doesn't take risks, & that is clearly what tori has done her entire career.

A puree of divinity, mediocrity, and cacophony, "Strange Little Girls" .....Amos's first bonafide cover album...is, in spite of its sometimes abrasive shortcomings, well worth the purchase.

Amos's much lauded take on Eminem's "97 Bonnie & Clyde" is as mesmerizing and stomach churning as it is reputed to be. Additional gems include an exquisite, heartrending version of Tom Waits's "Time" (which, in it's own way, is as good as the original); and a lovely, almost terse piano arrangement of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence." Amos's rendition of Joe Jackson's "Real Men" is, in my opinion, the best track on the album, and considerably better than the original.

Other songs, like "New Age" and "I Don't Like Mondays" are okay, though at the same time one cannot really see the point in Amos's having covered them at all. 10cc's "I'm Not In Love" is, lyrically, one of the best songs about male love and sexuality ever written, but she doesn't do it justice; and the Beatles's "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" and Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold" are outright butchered, spun out flailing and churning in an (again) cacophonous blender. But the rest of the tracks..."Rattlesnakes," "Strange Little Girl," and particularly Slayer's "Raining Blood" are all well done, stamped with Amos's unmistakable originality. Amos's muses may have hysterics sometimes, but she is never far behind a masterpiece; and what she falls short in is more than made up for by what she excels in.

Despite repeated listenings, Tori's intent has yet to fully gel; this, however, does not detract from the musical prowess displayed.

To be fair, I realise it is difficult to get it without listening to the original tracks. The songs have an unfamiliar texture, as the readings extricate nuances that could escape us, or rather nuances that we are not used to hearing expressed so abstractly. SLG is undoubtedly challenging listen, which requires that one really develop an ear for how emotions are uttered and reflect on how inflection and tone play as much a role as words. (The inclusion of seemlingly odd choices such as Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence makes more sense if thought of this way). This is art with a capital A, a formal excersise trying to communicate something very much associated with meaning (note: I don't necessarily buy the notion that all art is good...)

It is understandable that some people would not rally care to give it the attention it requires (you pretty much have to be a fan to like it). Perhaps the key to cracking the code could be: "How would a woman live this song?", but I am not wholly convinced with the consensus that the whole album consists of songs whose lyrics are sung the way a woman would hear them, given that some of them are clearly more about personifying the lyrics in a woman. An argument in favour of miscomunication in general would probably be more convincing, and accurate.

As far as interpretations go, they're eerily effective. Lou Reed's New Age, in particular, is rendered with the chilling, kinky, moaning desperation of someone on the verge of losing it: the lyrics and Tori's delivery are so attuned that it's hard not to pay attention. (That the song rocks by no means detracts from this...)

Other highlights: the unsettling '97 Bonnie & Clyde, the melancholy Rattlesnakes, Tom Waits' unbearably sad Time, the siren-like rendition of Happiness is a Warm Gun (interesting combination of sex and violence) and, of course, the AWESOME New Age...

Dont listern to the other reviews, this is a great album, people think that just because Tori covers other peoples songs, that this is not a worthy album. In short it rules, the first time I heard it I didnt know it was a cover album, exept for when I heard track 2, "97 bonnie and clyde" which I thought was the only cover song on the album, and the rest of the album sounded just like the rest of Tori's work from albums such as boys for pele etc. the only difference is that the songs on this album sound a little darker than her other work. As Trent Reznor says about cover songs: "It is not wheather you rip someone off or not, it is how well you rip them off that counts" and believe me Tori does the original artists justice.

My first thought, as I listened to Strange Litte Girls the first time, was that this album was the work of a genius. It may be uneven, highly spotted and haphazard in the quality of material here, but the album's successes are unforgettable.

This is not an album that I will ever forget. It is like a soundtrack to the macabre..an eerie nightmare, with dreamlike intensity. It is extremely intelligent...so much so that no listener can quite grasp all of the various meanings this album has to offer. It takes you to a place of bizaree strings, percussion, and that unmistakable Tori Amos howl and moan. It is the slightly insane Tori Amos that startles and shocks us with her creative ability.

Many of the songs here at first seem rather forgettable, until you put the album away for a while. It is then that these sad songs come back to haunt you... The moody Raining Blood, which actually sounds like blood is falling from the sky. Or perhaps Rattlesnakes which has a lonely feeling of being in some desert with cactuses and blazing sun.

The first track, New Age, is a masterpiece. The emotion is affecting, when Tori sings, "Over the bridge we go, looking for love." If a vocal performance could win an Oscar, Tori would deserve it for that line alone. 97 Bonnie and Clyde is frightening and discomforting. It is also brilliant. Many other songs will linger in your memory...if not for the melody, then for the feelings and images they evoke within the listener. The songs find a place in your soul and slowly capture your imagination like the best works of art always do.

Its not surprising that Tori released a album of covers, due to the various of covers, she does in concerts (like: Love Song, Losing my Religion). But many fans, look at this album harshly and I highly disagree. Unlike other band's covers, Amos ofcourse reworks, remixes, and puts her on twist on a variety of songs. The album also has a good perspective to it, in a post-modern sense. With songs, like "Rattlesnakes" and "Strange Little Girls" are mainly the highlight of fans (which are two of my fav. songs). But Tori shows off her artistic ability through "Happiness is a Warm Gun" (orignally by The Beatles). By remixing it and stretching it out, she also strips it down to it pounding lyrics. I also love the stories, written by Nail Gailmen to each of the "girls". But please, don't look at it so harshly, but fans generally do because Tori didn't write her own songs on this one. But ya know, give it a try!

If you look up the word "unique" in the dictionary of popdom you'll find a picture of Tori Amos, right next to Prince and Grace Jones.

Artistically, Amos' flavor is like no other. She has a certain incomparable twist in style.

It comes as a surprise, that Amos is releasing an album full of cover songs written by male artists. You might think that this is just a collection of renditions, but in reality, Amos takes the originals and reinvents them in a way that can only be described as extreme rehashing.

The tracks range from The Velvet Underground's "New Age" to Slayer's "Raining Blood."

However, Amos retells Eminem's misogynistic "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" from what seems to be his dead wife's perspective. The result is a serene, but chilling song.

"Strange Little Girls" is weaker than her previous work. It is more toned and unconnected, whereas her previous songs tended to flow into one another, creating an air of connectivity gluing the album.

Keep in mind - "Strange Little Girls" is not the kind of serving you'd expect from Amos. The lyrics are not a bunch of unrelated words forced into abstract poetry and the melodies are always predictable. The closest thing you'll get to "Boys For Péle" is the first single from this album.

Although it is a different ride, it still thrills. The standout tracks on this album are the sad "I Am Not In Love," originally by 10cc, and the Beatles' "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," which contains snippets of newscasts about John Lennon's death and some clips of people talking about gun control - covers don't come that good these days.

The Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays" and Tom Waits' "Time" take a dark and spiraling plunge.

Amos' wandering melodies make their way into this album with the psychedelica of Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold" and the closing track "Real Mean," originally by Joe Jackson.

The piano still plays a big part into the music and Amos' voice range is as powerful, if not more honed, than ever.

"Strange Little Girls" is a product of hard work and it shows. However, this does not count as an Amos signature album. Amos is still rockin', though.

Albums that consist entirely of covers are automatically cause for scepticism. The aim behind this album was to reconstruct songs written by males in a female perspective: however as Tori doesn't actually change the lyrics, and the fact that some of these songs don't actually have cause for female interpretation anyway, make this album subjectively confusing. As for musical reinterpretation, it's a very hit and miss affair.
Top Cuts: Strange Little Girl, 97 Bonnie And Clyde.