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Tori Amos - Strange Little Girls (Atlantic Records 2001)

By Alex Teitz

     The art of interpretation is often best done by jazz and blues artists. It is the shaping of a song beyond its roots into something that is totally one's own. Tori Amos has been doing this since she began. In 1992 her Crucify EP featured renditions of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Led Zepplin's "Thank You." Nearly ten years, and four albums later, Amos delves back into interpretation with the all cover Strange Little Girls.
     Strange Little Girls mixes traditional tellings of covers with broad interpretations that metamorphoses songs into something different. The song that best characterizes this is "97 Bonnie and Clyde" by Enimen. This song is warped into a narrative description of murder that is almost as shocking as Amos' "Me and a Gun." Amos also transforms McCartney and Lennon's "Happiness is a Warm Gun" to a ten minute aria on gun control and legislation. These songs alone are worth the price of the CD. Amos also takes on "Heart of Gold", "Raining Blood" and eight more in this long CD. These songs face interpretation but pale is being owned as much as "97 Bonnie and Clyde", and "Happiness is Warm Gun."
     Amos produced this CD, and had total control in its making. Amos has already established herself in the world of great women musicians. She takes risks in simple inflections. Strange Little Girls is a cover album, but Amos also owns it in spirit.