Review Summary: Little earthquakes, BIG success
OK, against my own will it's time for some tears. My whole inspiration to even consider looking into this artist's discography was derived from my mother who passed nearly a decade ago, when I was but a mere five years old. It had come to my attention that this was my mother's most favorite artist, so I decided to look into it. Well, after consulting many people, and even having a look see for myself, I discovered this to be the perfect place to start in the tour of Tori Amos. Boy, what a wild journey for me it has been. When it comes to a metal head like me, someone who loves death/black metal, thrash metal, even the negatively critiqued nu-metal, I never expected anything like this to grow on me like it did. Maybe it was a psychological thing for me, considering my mom's passing away, but I can assure you, my endearment for this album was not forced by any means.
Little Earthquakes I might have already mentioned, is the best album by this great american artist. It portrays some of the most vast and poetic musical experiences outside of metal i've ever witnessed. Starting with "Crucify", and reigning it's dream-like structure over my ears was enough to keep me listening all the way through. The soft violin's, the piano? All this calm bringing on a very emotional and loving album to anyone who listens. The real deal for this album lies not in the instruments, which are nearly perfect themselves, but of course, in Tori's voice. I swear, if this isn't the best singing from a female songwriter i've ever heard, I don't know who is. Not only are her vocals on the brink of perfection alone, but the lyrics are jaw-dropping. Perhaps the best example of lyrical emotion is found in my most favorite track on the album, "Winter".
Where the drifts get deeper
Sleeping beauty trips me with a frown
I hear a voice
"Your must learn to stand up for yourself
Cause I can't always be around"
He says
When you gonna make up your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I do
When you gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gonna change so fast
All the white horses are still in bed
I tell you that I'll always want you near
You say that things change my dear
I realize that might be a little longer than some of you viewers are used to reading when it comes to a lyric from a song. But maybe this just means that her emotional influences are even greater than could've been expected. That was the case for me anyway. When it comes to the vocals, to say that an a-capella version of the album would be gorgeous alone, the instrumentation, the melodies, the pure art represented in Little Earthquakes is indeed ground-shaking. Nearly everything is working together is nice and orderly fashion to bring out even more the awesome music. Everything, absolutely everything is worth surpassing the ever so slight musical depreciation when "Tear In Your Hand" comes along. As much as I do enjoy this song, it seems to me that this is just straying off from the herd a bit, and doesn't pertain to the rest of the album as best as it could. But nevertheless, I am more than pleased to find something outside the noise realm to soothe my soul to. Great knowing my mother had good taste.
