Strange Little Girls

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Tori Amos's idea for Strange Little Girls was to present covers of men's songs from a female perspective. The concept is fairly unique--although Liz Phair had a similar idea with 1993's Exile in Guyville. But while Phair fashioned original lyrics in response to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street, Amos sticks with the script when reciting lyrics from acts as diverse as the Velvet Underground, Depeche Mode, Neil Young, Tom Waits, and Slayer. She transforms the material, though, by singing in a pained tone, weighing the lyrics with heavy emotion and stripping most of the songs down to their simplest elements--often just a string section, a drum machine or a piano, leaving the original music almost unrecognizable. The most poignant of these tracks is definitely her cover of Eminem's "97' Bonnie and Clyde." The first-person story of a man dumping his lover's dead body takes on an ugly sickness and brutality with Amos's almost-whispered narration. As with most of these songs, Amos removes the pop façade and leaves the listener with a stark picture of the message behind the lyrics--whether that message concerns violence or male identity--in a statement both subtly political and stunningly beautiful. --Jennifer Maerz --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

New Age
97' Bonnie & Clyde
Strange Little Girl
Enjoy The Silence
Rattlesnakes
I'm Not In Love
Time
Heart Of Gold
I Don't Like Mondays
Raining Blood
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Real Men

Amazon.com

Tori Amos's idea for Strange Little Girls was to present covers of men's songs from a female perspective. The concept is fairly unique--although Liz Phair had a similar idea with 1993's Exile in Guyville. But while Phair fashioned original lyrics in response to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street, Amos sticks with the script when reciting lyrics from acts as diverse as the Velvet Underground, Depeche Mode, Neil Young, Tom Waits, and Slayer. She transforms the material, though, by singing in a pained tone, weighing the lyrics with heavy emotion and stripping most of the songs down to their simplest elements--often just a string section, a drum machine or a piano, leaving the original music almost unrecognizable. The most poignant of these tracks is definitely her cover of Eminem's "97' Bonnie and Clyde." The first-person story of a man dumping his lover's dead body takes on an ugly sickness and brutality with Amos's almost-whispered narration. As with most of these songs, Amos removes the pop façade and leaves the listener with a stark picture of the message behind the lyrics--whether that message concerns violence or male identity--in a statement both subtly political and stunningly beautiful. --Jennifer Maerz

Customer Reviews:

Vastly underrated concept album..........2007-05-04

StrangeLittleGirls is, no doubt, an oddity in Amos's ever-growing career, and it's also probably her least known work. Moderate Tori fans have been disillusioned with this album, more than likely because instead of containing original material, it's an album of covers.

To be more specific, it's an album full of covers of songs that were written by men (and for men, perhaps). The variety of the songs is impressive. Everyone from Velvet Underground to Eminem to Neil Young to Slayer gets covered here, admittedly, some better than others.

The concept of the album was to completely reinvent each song and sing it from a feminine perspective. Every song is like a lost "strange little girl." The album seeks to serve as a refuge for these girls.

So does the album succeed its goals?

It very much wins in its attempts to give old songs new meanings and new perspectives. Tori has tried to take each song, strip it to its essentials, distill it, and then sometimes redress it in brand new clothes. Some of the more outstanding covers on the album (which Tori truly makes her own) include Eminem's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde," Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence," Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays," and Slayer's "Raining Blood," among others.

There are a few mediocre covers on this album, as well, even if some of them do achieve total reinvention.

Many critics and fans have completely dead-panned her manic-punk-rock cover of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold," but I personally think it fits and works. The only song I feel that absolutely does not work is her cover of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" -- which she completely mutilates by trying to give it an anti-gun edge.

Overall, SLG is a mixed bag, but it's worth the price if only for its few spectacular songs and its great photography work (it includes a different "Tori" along with accompanying text for each song, illustrating the different "girls" each song represents). SLG generally succeeds in its goals as a whole, and critics and fans have been a little too hostile towards this vastly underrated concept album.

This is certainly not a good place to start if you're a first-time Tori listener, but if you like her classics (such as Little Earthquakes and from the choirgirl hotel), you will find something to like here.

A covers album as only SHE can do it!.......2007-03-27

I believe one of the FEW artists out there that can pull off a covers album is Ms. Tori Amos. Before the release of this album, she already proved her witty talent to reinvent old numbers with a fresh vibrant energy. So I wasn't surprised that this Strange Little Girls album would be great. And it is!
The highlight for me is her rendition of Eminem's Bonnie & clyde. There she proves how worthy she is of taking other people's songs and recreating them.

Strange Little Worlds.......2007-01-07

Tori Amos and one of my favorite guitarists joined forced to create Tori's contract-ender album, "Strange Little Girls." Tori didn't want to give Atlantic Records anymore new material, but she also didn't want to sell her fans short, so she hit on the concept of taking male-identified songs and twisting their perspectives to a female (albeit Tori Amos) point of view. Adrian Belew brought his Rhino Guitar persona on board to add some strange colorations to some of the songs here, and the result was this curio in Tori's discography.

"Strange Little Girls" is as eclectic a covers album as you would expect from a talent as willfully non-conformist as Amos. Artists from Lou Reed to Joe Jackson to Slayer get Tori-ed to mixed results. Most are memorable but not always in a positive way. The highlight remains "'97 Bonnie and Clyde," which shows up Eminem on his own song. Amo's whispery version conveys more menace than the cartoon horror gangsta of the original. It stays in you for far longer than you want it to, and is perfectly executed (no pun intended). She also takes Tom Waits' "Time" to a new level.

Some of the songs, while good, are not really above their originals. Joe Jackson's "Real Men" is one such example. Good, but doesn't rise above its original. The same can't be said for "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," which tries to be a statement but comes off as irritating. "Bonnie & Clyde" has greater impact. The worst offender is the collision witnessed in "Heart Of Gold." Taking Neil Young's earnest folkie meditation and weilding it to Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" might have seemed like a good idea, but it rates a skip-over most times I play this CD.

But that is why we love Tori. Even her wilder ideas leave a lasting impression. Given that the follow-up was her terrific "Scarlet's Walk" for Columbia, it was probably a good thing that she got this experiment out of her system to free up inspirations for the future.

Great concept!.......2006-10-27

This is my least favourite Tori album simply because she didn't write it. The concept of interpreting male songs through her exploring voice is brilliant. At times the album sounds too heavy and thick but her version of eminem's 97' Bonnie And Clyde is one of the creepiest, brutal and sinister things you'll ever listen to (that's a compliment!).

Hey, hey, listen people.............2006-08-25

Grasp it. Feel it. If you can't go through, just sit back: the frequent combination of Amos + Adrian Belew soundwise is more than enough food for the soul.

Average customer rating:

Strange Little Girls, Germany
Tori Amos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000RI032A

Product Description

New Age, '97 Bonnie & Clyde, Strange Little Girl, Enjoy the Silence and many more. Made in Germany

Average customer rating:

Disappointing product is not authentic
A boot....

Strange Little Girls
Tori Amos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00005Y2ET

Album Description

Limited edition box set includes CD, 4 acrylic coasters, 1 embroidered T-shirt and 1 metal badge. Deluxe Box. 2001.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing product is not authentic.......2004-08-14

It's upsetting to me that someone not only makes this product (for a profit) that is in NO WAY affiliated with Tori Amos, but that Amazon.com will post this product as legitimate. Be warned: You are not supporting this artist by purchasing this product.

A boot...........2002-08-02

This is not an official release...anything with weird things like coasters & what not are generally boots.

don't waste your money.

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