Strange Little Girls

Infobox Album
Name = Strange Little Girls
Type = cover
Artist = Tori Amos


Released = September 17, 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
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|2.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:w1de4j275wat link]
*"Alternative Press" (7/10) [http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=60502355&loc=109&PageFormat=7 11/2001, pp.74,77]
*"EW" (B) [http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=60502355&loc=109&PageFormat=7 9/21/2001 (p. 84)]
*"Jam!" (mixed) [http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/A/Amos_Tori/AlbumReviews/2001/09/16/770224.html link]
*PopMatters (unfavorable) [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/a/amostori-strange.shtml link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/115339/toriamos?pageid=rs.ArtistDiscography link]
*"Stylus Magazine" (C) [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=65 link]
*"Village Voice" Rating|4|5 [http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0140/carmon.php link]
Last album = "To Venus and Back"
(1999)
This album = "Strange Little Girls"
(2001)
Next album = "Scarlet's Walk"
(2002)
Misc = Singles
Name = Strange Little Girls
Type = cover
single 1 = Strange Little Girl
single 1 date = 2001

"Strange Little Girls" is a concept album released by singer-songwriter Tori Amos in 2001. The album's twelve tracks are covers of songs written 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 make-up 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 some weasel inlineother 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, [cite web | last = | first = | title = Jay-Z's 'Blueprint' Enters Second Week At No. 1 | publisher = | url =http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1063322 | accessdate =2001-09-27] 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. Fact|date=March 2008

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. Fact|date=March 2008

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

Track listing

tracklist
title1 = New Age
note1 = by The Velvet Underground
length1 = 4:37

title2 = '97 Bonnie & Clyde
note2 = by Eminem
length2 = 5:46

title3 = Strange Little Girl
note3 = by The Stranglers
length3 = 3:50

title4 = Enjoy the Silence
note4 = by Depeche Mode
length4 = 4:10

title5 = I'm Not in Love
note5 = by 10cc
length5 = 5:39

title6 = Rattlesnakes
note6 = by Lloyd Cole
length6 = 3:59

title7 = Time
note7 = by Tom Waits
length7 = 5:23

title8 = Heart of Gold
note8 = by Neil Young
length8 = 4:00

title9 = I Don't Like Mondays
note9 = by Boomtown Rats
length9 = 4:21

title10 = Happiness Is a Warm Gun
note10 = by The Beatles
length10 = 9:55

title11 = Raining Blood
note11 = by Slayer
length11 = 6:22

title12 = Real Men
note12 = by Joe Jackson
length12 = 4:07

B-sides

The album, as with most of Amos' albums, is also known for its collection of original B-sides. Amos recorded a host of songs that did not make the album, but were released as B-sides to various singles or performed live in concerts.

Chart performance

References