Tori Amos

Tori Amos' greatest strength is her ability to move listeners with confessional lyrics that both attract and repel. On Little Earthquakes, she uses sparse arrangements to create an atmosphere thick with loneliness -- perfect for the unnervingly direct lyrics that examine rape, sexuality, coming of age and betrayal.

Newcomer Tori Amos's songs are smart, melodic and dramatic; the deeper you listen, the
hotter they get. Amos shares common ground with artfolk songstresses like Kate Bush and
Jane Siberry, but while they often deal in abstruse, poetic terms, Amos has a tendency to
cut to the quick, to face facts, to call a rape a rape. Little Earthquakes is an often pretty,
subtly progressive song cycle that reflects darkly on sexual alienation and perso... More >

She's been raped, and she wrote a great song about it: the quietly insane "Me and a Gun." It's easily the most gripping piece of music here, and it's a cappella. This means she's not Kate Bush. And though I'm sure she's her own person and all, Kate Bush she'd settle for. (Grade - C+)