LITTLE EARTHQUAKES REVIEW

[jody_ferguson.asw.navairtestcen%pcgate@NATC-FW.NAVY.MIL]

I know a lot of people who post to Love-Hounds hate Axl Rose and unless        
they have a subscription to _Rolling_Stone_, have chosen to pass on the        
latest issue since he is on the cover.  Well there is a certain record         
review in there that may be of interest to some here.  Here it is,             
provided as a service to the Axl-impaired...                                   
                                                                               
(Three and a half stars)                                                       
LITTLE EARTHQUAKES                                                             
    Tori Amos                                                                  
                                                                               
Newcomer Tori Amos's songs are smart, melodic and dramatic; the deeper         
you listen, the hotter they get.  Amos shares common ground with art-          
folk 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 personal struggles.              
Aiming for a delicate balance between the earthy and the ethereal, Amos        
shifts from a whispering coyness to full-throated earnestness                  
(overearnestness, at times) and a quivery vibrato-laden holler - akin to       
Siouxie Sioux's.                                                               
                                                                               
>From the outset, all is not roses.  In the opening tune, "Crucify", Amos       
sings, "I've been looking for a savior in these dirty streets/Looking          
for a savior in between these dirty sheets."  The difficulty of                
asserting one's own voice is the subject of "Silent All These Years."          
Rage often bubbles below the sensuous surface.                                 
                                                                               
On the subject of sex, Amos is ambivalent and ultimately poignant.  The        
teasing Kurt Weill-meets-Queen cabaret act of "Leather" sets up a marked       
contrast to the album's most chilling track, "Me and a Gun."  After the        
denser production approaches on the rest of the album - with strings,          
creamy electric guitars and fanciful arrangements caressing her piano          
foundation - we hear the stark sound of her unadorned voice taking the         
role of a rape victim, who endures the attack while desperately                
rationalizing that "I havent seen Barbados, so I must get out of this."        
                                                                               
By the time the refrain in the closing title track comes around (Give me       
life/Give me pain/Give me myself again"), we feel as though we've been         
through some peculiar therapy session, half-cleansed and half-stirred.         
That artful paradox is part of what makes _Little_Earthquakes_ a               
gripping debut.                                                                
                         -Josef Woodard                                        
                                                                               
...And there you have it.  I think maybe _Rolling_Stone_ hires the worst       
critics in the business.  They always tend to ruin a song or album for         
me by "explaining" it to me.  "Artfolk?"  Would anyone here consider           
Kate to be a "folk artist?"  I think most of these critics presume more        
than they know.                                                                
                                                                               
BTW, there is also a review of the new Spinal Tap album, _Break_Like_          
_The_Wind_.  I think the amps may go up to 12 now.                             
                                                                               
                                                 Jody