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Album Details

• Artist: Tori Amos
• Album: Strange Little Girls
• Label: Atlantic
• Year of Release: 2001
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: gwhill on 2013-03-18

What an interesting decision and album this is. Amos time chose to record a collection of covers of other musician's songs rather than original material. She really chooses a unique group of artists from which to find material. Among that group are such unlikely candidates as Eminem, The Stranglers, Slayer and Lou Reed. Amos really doesn't so much cover the songs as she uses them as springboards for completely unique performances. Isn't that the whole point of covering songs? After all, if you want to hear the original, you can just listen to it, but if someone chooses to cover a piece of music, they should make it their own. Amos has certainly been successful in that endeavor here. This is a great collection and features, among others, King Crimson's Adrian Belew on about half of the songs.

Amos takes on a Lou Reed song in the form of “New Age,” and the cut is a fine, slightly strange piece. It starts quite mellow, but Adrian Belew's guitar rocks out at times. When Eminem recorded “'97 Bonnie And Clyde” it was an angry, screaming rant. Amos takes it on in a sedate sort of building fashion. The result is that the true horror and terror of the lyrics are revealed. This one may well be the most frightening song you will ever hear.

Originally recorded by The Stranglers, the title track feels like a more typical Tori Amos sort of number. It has a great arrangement and really rocks out. In covering Depeche Mode’s “Break the Silence,” Amos uses a minimalist approach, and it works largely due to an interesting vocal arrangement. Based on a drum machine type of rhythm, Amos’ rendition of “I’m Not in Love” has an almost psychedelic texture to it. It's a minimalist and odd approach, but it really does the song justice.

This cut, originally by Lloyd Cole, “Rattlesnakes” as presented here, feels like fairly typical Tori Amos. She makes a good solid tune of it. Originally done by Tom Waits, “Time” is done just by Amos solo here, and she uses her sometimes snarly, sometimes whispery vocal style to this one. It is very effective. As “Heart of Gold” comes in, you really don't recognize it as the Neil Young classic it is. As the lyrics sink into your head, and realization floods through, the familiar melody seems to step out of the shadows. It was there all along, but in such a way that out of context the mind doesn't recognize it. Hard edged and potent, this one is a definite winner.

Another quite familiar piece, this time Amos touches on the Boomtown Rats' classic, “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Her solo rendition shows a that a minimal arrangement works quite well here. “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” start in an electronic sounding sort of modern psychedelic montage sound, various gun related sound bites, including some by both President Bushes, carry through. Amos pretty well completely reworks this cut, which bears quite little resemblance to the original. She retains the lyrics and a couple of the melody lines. Other than that, this is really a whole new song, and makes for quite an intriguing rendition.
    
Well, whoever put money of Tori Amos covering Slayer must have made a fortune with the odds on that bet, but here it is. She makes “Raining Blood” a very haunting sounding number. This is quite interesting. The piano work here is very powerful, and her vocals at times feel almost like siren song. All you can say after hearing this gradually building masterpiece is "WOW!" A cover of a Joe Jackson piece (“Real Man”) ends the album. Amos puts in a killer melodic version of this one. All the power of the track comes out in the intensity of the arrangement and the quality of her performance. With an almost progressive rock texture to it, this is probably the most typical Tori Amos song on the disc. It makes for a great ending.

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