Track Listing

1. Crucify
2. Girl
3. Silent All These Years
4. Precious Things
5. Winter
6. Happy Phantom
7. China
8. Leather
9. Mother
10. Tear In Your Hand
11. Me And A Gun
12. Little Earthquakes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3752 in Music
• Released on: 1992-01-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Emotionally and musically intense, Little Earthquakes shows that the piano is as much a rock & roll instrument as the guitar. Tori Amos's debut (if one disregards Y Kant Tori Read, as one would be well advised to do) is at once listenable and challenging; she takes on every topic, from sex to gender to religion, in an uncompromising manner. Her music appears gentle at first but this appearance is deceiving, as one quickly learns upon listening to the wrenching "Crucify" or the almost violent "Precious Things". By the time the album gets around to "Me and a Gun", sung hauntingly by Amos without accompaniment from her piano, the juxtaposition of Amos's sweet voice and the emotional complexity of her lyrics is both familiar and shocking. Sandman fans should listen for a reference to author Neil Gaiman in "Tear in Your Hand". --Genevieve Williams

CD Description
With this debut, Tori Amos rose above the inevitable Kate Bush/Joni Mitchell comparisons, producing a stunning set of brutally honest and emotionally wrought songs. A skilled and imaginative pianist, Amos also proved a versatile vocalist, moving from whisper to scream in an instant. She concentrates on intimate stories of her religious upbringing, childhoodtraumas, and predominantly, sex, self-discovery and unhappyrelationships. "Silent All These Years" was the first to hit a nerve with the public on single release, but all the tracks--memories of her father in "Winter", the bittersweet "Happy Phantom", the harrowing account of her own rape, "Me AndA Gun"--combine to make this inspiring, if rarely comfortable, listening.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful & Moving
Tori Amos's wonderful debut solo album sounds as fresh today as when it was first released in the early 1990s.

The album is essentially Tori Amos and her piano, it has a raw, emotional appeal - at times lush and beautiful, at others spare and stark Highlights include the haunting 'Me and My Gun', an autobiographical song about a sexual assault sung without accompaniment; her first hit single, 'Silent all these years' which is possibly the best track on the album, along with the other singles: China, Winter and Crucify.

A wonderful, accessible album - even if you do not particularly like girl and her piano music there is much to admire here.

Buy this album and let it change your life
I didn't know what to expect when I bought this album on a recommendation alone. After buying the rather disappointing Strange Little Girls, it came as a shock to hear such amazing tracks as there are on Little Earthquakes. From the powerful Crucify, through the beautiful China to the climactic title track, this album never fails to disappoint. Tori rips the world apart and her heart open, and it shows. Although sometimes difficult to understand (Silent All These Years - what IS it all about?), the power and the passion are always there. It's difficult to pick a favourite, but Winter has to be a contender - pure beauty. Close your eyes and you can almost feel snowflakes on your face.
There are lighter moments too; Happy Phantom and Leather seem to poke fun at life rather than direct anger towards it, as in the violent, bitter Precious Things.
Buy this. If you've never heard any Tori, buy it, sit back and let it change your life.

POETIC & BEAUTIFUL
Comparisons remain odious, but they make life so much easier-it's Kate Bush and Laura Nyro. Tori sings and plays like Kate, displays Laura's gift for striking sexual imagery and creates a classic album in the process. Little Earthquakes is quite an intense album, dealing with extreme situations an emotions set to exquisite tunes. Her delivery and the unique arrangements turn the tracks into poems in a splendid mix of the humorous, the erotic and the unsettling. The two highlights on an album of great songs are Silent All These Years and China, a haunting, majestic lament describing two people drifting apart by using the image of the great wall as a symbol of separation.