3. Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos
What Wikipedia Says about the Album:
Little Earthquakes (1992) is the solo debut album of singer/songwriter Tori Amos, featuring the singles “Winter”, “China”, “Silent All These Years” and “Crucify”. The rest of the entry is pretty boring aside from learning the Tori Amos was in a freaking synthpop band called Y Kant Tori Read. That is a big Wilco Tango Foxtrot in my world.
What I say about the Album:
I think I first heard Tori Amos in high school when a group of friends and I had exchanged mixtapes one summer. Some one had put one of her songs on their mix and I was dying to hear more. I remember my best friend recorded the whole album to a cassette tape for me. I carried the cassette tape to my freshmen year of college where I listened to it constantly my first quarter. Going away to college was a big change in my life and something in Little Earthquakes really spoke to me. I feel the whole album speaks to figuring out who you really were outside of the expectations and perceptions of others. And as a new adult, away from my family for the first time, I really felt like I was on a similar journey.
I remember sitting in the student lounge listening to Little Earthquakes while I watched the world go by on College Green. The songs felt empowering and encouraged me to come out of my shell and become involved in college more than sitting back and waiting for life to happen to me.
The songs are still very emotional for me. Especially since the passing of my father, the song “Winter” from this album can really catch me off guard. I remember once I had to pull off the road when this song came on because I was crying so hard.
The music itself is beautiful and well thought out. Her music is so full of her own emotion, it leads to an almost haunting quality of some of the songs like in “Silent All These Years.” Though I have liked other songs and albums by Tori Amos, to me this is the best and by which I judge the rest as not being as worthy.