Strange Little Girls

Strange Little Girls
Studio album by Tori Amos
Released September 18, 2001
Recorded Martian Studios, Cornwall & The Nut Ranch, Los Angeles, February 2001 to mid 2001
Genre Alternative rock, baroque pop
Length 62:27
Label Atlantic
Producer Tori Amos
Tori Amos chronology
To Venus and Back
(1999)		 Strange Little Girls
(2001)		 Scarlet's Walk
(2002)
Singles from Strange Little Girls
  1. "Strange Little Girl"
    Released: 2001

Strange Little Girls is a concept album released by singer-songwriter Tori Amos in 2001. The album's 12 tracks are covers of songs written and originally performed by men, reinterpreted by Amos from a female's point of view. Amos created female personae for each track (one song featured twins) and was photographed as each, with makeup done by Kevyn Aucoin. In the United States the album was issued with four alternative covers depicting Amos as the characters singing "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" (pictured), "Strange Little Girl", "Time" and "Raining Blood". A fifth cover of the "I Don't Like Mondays" character was also issued in the UK and other territories. Text accompanying the photos and songs was written by novelist Neil Gaiman. The complete short stories in which this text appears can be found in Gaiman's 2006 collection Fragile Things.

As with Amos' previous two studio albums, the cover album was recorded at her Cornwall studio. The album received mixed reviews upon its release in September 2001 with critics largely seeing the album as a mixed bag, praising the unlikely re-workings of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" and Slayer's "Raining Blood", while panning the versions of The Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". Amos also tackled songs by artists such as Tom Waits, The Velvet Underground, Depeche Mode, and The Stranglers.

The album's greatest attention was garnered from Amos' cover of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde", a rap song. The album's cover of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" was translated into a discussion on the right to bear arms, and included sound bites from both George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush, as well as from Amos' own minister father. The album entered the charts at US #4, selling 111,000 copies, making it her third album to debut in the US Top 10, her second-highest debut in terms of sales,[1] and her best position in the US for almost six years.

A planned commercial single, "Strange Little Girl" (The Stranglers), including "After All" (David Bowie) and "Only Women Bleed" (originally by Alice Cooper), was pulled from shelves soon after being shipped to stores in Europe. Despite being recalled from the shelves, limited copies of the single were sold and a promotional video was made.

Additionally, Tori later acknowledged that she had attempted to reinterpret four other songs that she "couldn't find her way into." They were "Fear of a Black Planet" by Public Enemy, "Hoover Factory" by Elvis Costello, "I'm Sick of You" by Iggy Pop and "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem" by Peter Murphy. These tracks have not been released.

Amos received two 2002 Grammy nominations: Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Strange Little Girl", and Alternative Music Performance for the album.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]
Alternative Press (7/10)[3]
Blender [4]
EW (B)[5]
Jam! (mixed)[6]
PopMatters (unfavorable)[7]
Rolling Stone [8]
Stylus Magazine (C)[9]
Village Voice [10]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "New Age" (by The Velvet Underground) 4:37
2. "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" (by Eminem) 5:46
3. "Strange Little Girl" (by The Stranglers) 3:50
4. "Enjoy the Silence" (by Depeche Mode) 4:10
5. "I'm Not in Love" (by 10cc) 5:39
6. "Rattlesnakes" (by Lloyd Cole) 3:59
7. "Time" (by Tom Waits) 5:23
8. "Heart of Gold" (by Neil Young) 4:00
9. "I Don't Like Mondays" (by The Boomtown Rats) 4:21
10. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" (by The Beatles) 9:55
11. "Raining Blood" (by Slayer) 6:22
12. "Real Men" (by Joe Jackson) 4:07

B-sides

The album, as with most of Amos' albums, is also known for its collection of original B-sides.

Title Single
"After All" "Strange Little Girl" (2001)
"Only Women Bleed" "Strange Little Girl" (2001)

Chart performance

Chart (2001) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200 4
U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums 3
UK Album Chart 16
ARIA Chart (Australia) 7
Top 40 Longplay Chart (Austria) 18
Canadian Album Chart (Canada) 8
Danish Album Chart (Denmark) 16
Finnish Album Chart (Finland) 16
IFOP Album Chart (France) 26
Top 100 Longplay Chart (Germany) 11
Irish Album Chart (Ireland) 21
MUSICA!'s Top 20 Album Chart (Italy) 11
Album Top 100 (the Netherlands) 27
Top 40 Album Chart (Norway) 13
Polish Album Chart (Poland) 6
Swedish Album Chart (Sweden) 32
Swiss Album Chart (Switzerland) 34

References

  1. ^ "Jay-Z's 'Blueprint' Enters Second Week At No. 1". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1063322. Retrieved 2001-09-27. 
  2. ^ Allmusic Review
  3. ^ Alternative Press Review
  4. ^ Blender Review
  5. ^ EW Review
  6. ^ Jam! Review
  7. ^ PopMatters Review
  8. ^ Rolling Stone Review
  9. ^ Stylus Magazine Review
  10. ^ Village Voice Review
Tori Amos
Albums
EPs
Live albums
Compilations
Singles
Videos
Tours
  • Little Earthquakes Tour
  • Under the Pink Tour
  • Dew Drop Inn Tour
  • Plugged '98 Tour
  • Five and a Half Weeks Tour / To Dallas and Back
  • Strange Little Tour
  • On Scarlet's Walk / Lottapianos Tour
  • Original Sinsuality Tour / Summer of Sin
  • American Doll Posse World Tour
  • Sinful Attraction Tour
  • Night of Hunters Tour
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