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FOR SALE:
A Rare, Out-Of-Print Original Issue UK Import CD
1992 TORI AMOS "CHINA" MAXI-CD SINGLE
DETAILS:
Original, First Print Of Tori Amos' "China" CD Single From Germany!
Label: EastWest – 7567 85905 2, EastWest – A 7531 CD
Format: CD, Single
Country: Germany
Released: 1992
Genre: Pop
Style: Singer-Songwriter, Vocal
Tracklist
1. China
2. Sugar
3. Flying Dutchman
4. Humpty Dumpty
Notes
Original issue of Tori Amos - China
p)&(c)1992 WEA International Inc.
Companies, Etc.
Copyright © – WEA International Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – WEA International Inc.
Made By – Warner Music Manufacturing Europe
Pressed By – WMME AlsdorfOriginal issue of Tori Amos - China
Credits
Artwork [Graphic Elaboration] – Alison Tutton
Mixed By – Jon Kelly (tracks: 3), Ross Cullum (tracks: 1)
Photography By – Cindy Palmano
Producer – Davitt Sigerson (tracks: 3), Ian Stanley
Vocals [Additional] – Tori Amos (tracks: 4)
Barcodes / Other Identifiers
Barcode: 075678590528
Matrix / Runout: 756785905-2 WME
Matrix / Runout (inner ring): [Warner big W logo]
Price Code (France): CA 711
Rights Society: GEMA/BIEM
Label Code: LC 1557
CONDITION:
In excellent, pre-owned condition. Disc looks great; case has some wear. Please see photos.
To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.
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"Tori Amos[7] (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range.[8] Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full scholarship to the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University at the age of five, the youngest person ever to have been admitted. She had to leave at the age of eleven when her scholarship was discontinued for what Rolling Stone described as "musical insubordination".[9] Amos was the lead singer of the short-lived 1980s pop-rock group Y Kant Tori Read before achieving her breakthrough as a solo artist in the early 1990s. Her songs focus on a broad range of topics, including sexuality, feminism, politics, and religion.
Her charting singles include "Crucify", "Silent All These Years", "God", "Cornflake Girl", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Professional Widow", "Spark", "1000 Oceans", "Flavor" and "A Sorta Fairytale".[10] Amos has received five MTV VMA nominations and eight Grammy Award nominations, and won an Echo Klassik award for her Night of Hunters classical crossover album. She is listed on VH1's 1999 "100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll" at number 71.[11]
Early life and education
Amos is the third child of Mary Ellen (née Copeland) and Edison McKinley Amos.[12] She was born on August 22, 1963[13] at the Old Catawba Hospital in Newton, North Carolina, during a trip from their Georgetown home in Washington, D.C.,[14] and was named Myra Ellen Amos.[7]
Some of Amos's ancestors were Confederate soldiers.[14] In her memoir, Piece by Piece, she talks about the experience of these Confederate ancestors, Margaret Little and Grandaddy Calvin Rice, during the American Civil War.
When she was two years old, her family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where her father had moved his Methodist ministry from its original base in Washington, D.C. Her older brother and sister took piano lessons, but Tori did not need them. From the time she could reach the piano, she taught herself[15] to play: when she was two, she could reproduce pieces of music she had only heard once,[16] and, by the age of three, she was composing her own songs. She has described seeing music as structures of light since early childhood, an experience consistent with chromesthesia:
The song appears as light filament once I've cracked it. As long as I've been doing this, which is more than thirty-five years, I've never seen the same light creature in my life. Obviously similar chord progressions follow similar light patterns, but try to imagine the best kaleidoscope ever—after the initial excitement, you start to focus on each element's stunning original detail. For instance, the sound of the words with the sound of the chord progression combined with the rhythm manifests itself in a unique expression of the architecture of color-and-light. ... I started visiting this world when I was three, listening to a piece by Béla Bartók; I visited a configuration that day that wasn't on this earth. ... It was euphoric.[17]
At five, she became the youngest student ever admitted to the preparatory division of the Peabody Institute.[18][19] She studied classical piano at Peabody from 1968 to 1974.[18] In 1974, when she was eleven, her scholarship was discontinued, and she was asked to leave. Amos has asserted that she lost the scholarship because of her interest in rock and popular music, coupled with her dislike for reading from sheet music.[20][16][21]
In 1972, the Amos family moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, where her father became pastor of the Good Shepherd United Methodist church. At thirteen, Amos began playing at gay bars and piano bars, chaperoned by her father.[20][16][22]
Amos won a county teen talent contest in 1977, singing a song called "More Than Just a Friend".[19] As a senior at Richard Montgomery High School, she co-wrote "Baltimore" with her brother, Mike Amos, for a competition involving the Baltimore Orioles. The song did not win the contest but became her first single, released as a 7-inch single pressed locally for family and friends in 1980 with another Amos-penned composition as a B-side, "Walking With You". Before this, she had performed under her middle name, Ellen, and was considering the stage name "Sammy Jaye[23]" at the time, but permanently adopted "Tori" after a friend's boyfriend told her she looked like a Torrey pine, a tree native to the West Coast.[24][25][26]
Career
1979–1989: Career beginnings and Y Kant Tori Read
By the time she was 17, Amos had a stock of homemade demo tapes that her father regularly sent out to record companies and producers.[19] Producer Narada Michael Walden responded favorably: he and Amos cut some tracks together, but none were released.[19] Eventually, Atlantic Records responded to one of the tapes, and, when A&R man Jason Flom flew to Baltimore to audition her in person, the label was convinced and signed her.[18]
In 1984, Amos moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career[19] after several years performing on the piano bar circuit in the Washington, D.C. area.
In 1986, Amos formed a musical group called Y Kant Tori Read, named for her difficulty with sight-reading.[27][28] In addition to Amos, the group was composed of Steve Caton (who would later play guitars on all of her albums until 1999), drummer Matt Sorum, bass player Brad Cobb and, for a short time, keyboardist Jim Tauber. The band went through several iterations of songwriting and recording; Amos has said interference from record executives caused the band to lose its musical edge and direction during this time. Finally, in July 1988, the band's eponymous debut album, Y Kant Tori Read, was released. Although its producer, Joe Chiccarelli, stated that Amos was very happy with the album at the time,[29] Amos has since criticized it, once remarking: "The only good thing about that album is my ankle high boots."[30]
Following the album's commercial failure and the group's subsequent disbanding, Amos began working with other artists (including Stan Ridgway, Sandra Bernhard, and Al Stewart) as a backup vocalist. She also recorded a song called "Distant Storm" (which she did not write), which was used in the film China O'Brien. In the credits, the song is attributed to a band called Tess Makes Good.[31] Amos recorded the vocals for the song in 1988, for $150; she was unaware for several years that the song had actually been heard in a film.[32] Other than the appearance in the film itself, "Distant Storm" has never been commercially issued in any format.
1990–1995: Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink
Amos smiling
Amos in 1993 Alexandra Palace, London
Despite the disappointing reaction to Y Kant Tori Read, Amos still had to comply with her six-record contract with Atlantic Records, which, in 1989, wanted a new record by March 1990. The initial recordings were declined by the label, which Amos felt was because the album had not been properly presented.[33] The album was reworked and expanded under the guidance of Doug Morris and the musical talents of Steve Caton, Eric Rosse, Will MacGregor, Carlo Nuccio, and Dan Nebenzal, resulting in Little Earthquakes, an album recounting her religious upbringing, sexual awakening, struggle to establish her identity, and sexual assault.[18] This album became her commercial and artistic breakthrough, entering the British charts in January 1992 at Number 15.[18] Little Earthquakes was released in the United States in February 1992 and slowly but steadily began to attract listeners, gaining more attention with the video for the single "Silent All These Years".[18]
Amos traveled to New Mexico with personal and professional partner Eric Rosse in 1993 to write and largely record her second solo record, Under the Pink. The album was received with mostly favorable reviews and sold enough copies to chart at No. 12 on the Billboard 200,[34] a significantly higher position than the preceding album's position at No. 54 on the same chart.[35] However, the album found its biggest success in the UK, debuting at number one upon release in February 1994.
1996–2000: Boys for Pele, From the Choirgirl Hotel, and To Venus and Back
Amos in 1996
Her third solo album, Boys for Pele, was released in January 1996. Prior to its release, the first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze" became the first full song released for streaming online prior to an album's release.[36][37]
The album was recorded in a church in Delgany, County Wicklow, Ireland, with Amos taking advantage of the church's acoustics. For this album, Amos used the harpsichord, harmonium, and clavichord as well as the piano. The album garnered mixed reviews upon its release, with some critics praising its intensity and uniqueness while others bemoaned its comparative impenetrability. Despite the album's erratic lyrical content and instrumentation, the latter of which kept it away from mainstream audiences, Boys for Pele is Amos' most successful simultaneous transatlantic release, reaching No. 2 on the UK Top 40[38] and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 upon its release.[34]
Fueled by the desire to have her own recording studio to distance herself from record company executives, Amos had the barn of her home in Cornwall, UK converted into the state-of-the-art recording studio of Martian Engineering Studios.[39]
From the Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back, released in May 1998 and September 1999, respectively, differ greatly from previous albums. Amos' trademark acoustic, piano-based sound is largely replaced with arrangements that include elements of electronica and dance music with vocal washes. The underlying themes of both albums deal with womanhood and Amos' own miscarriages and marriage. Reviews for From the Choirgirl Hotel were mostly favorable and praised Amos' continued artistic originality. Debut sales for From the Choirgirl Hotel are Amos' best to date, selling 153,000 copies in its first week.[40] To Venus and Back, a two-disc release of original studio material and live material recorded from the previous world tour, received mostly positive reviews and included the first major-label single available for sale as a digital download.[41]
2001–2004: Strange Little Girls and Scarlet's Walk
Shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Amos decided to record a cover album, taking songs written by men about women and reversing the gender roles to reflect a woman's perspective.[42][43] That became Strange Little Girls, released in September 2001. The album is Amos' first concept album, with artwork featuring Amos photographed in character of the women portrayed in each song.[43] Amos would later reveal that a stimulus for the album was to end her contract with Atlantic without giving them original songs; Amos felt that since 1998, the label had not been properly promoting her and had trapped her in a contract by refusing to sell her to another label.[44]
With her Atlantic contract fulfilled after a 15-year stint, Amos signed to Epic in late 2001. In October 2002, Amos released Scarlet's Walk, another concept album. Described as a "sonic novel", the album explores Amos' alter ego, Scarlet, intertwined with her cross-country concert tour following 9/11. Through the songs, Amos explores such topics as the history of America, American people, Native American history, pornography, masochism, homophobia and misogyny. The album had a strong debut at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.[34][45] Scarlet's Walk is Amos' last album to date to reach certified gold status from the RIAA.[46]
Not long after Amos was ensconced with her new label, she received unsettling news when Polly Anthony resigned as president of Epic Records in 2003. Anthony had been one of the primary reasons Amos signed with the label and as a result of her resignation, Amos formed the Bridge Entertainment Group. Further trouble for Amos occurred the following year when her label, Epic/Sony Music Entertainment, merged with BMG Entertainment as a result of the industry's decline.[47]
2005–2008: The Beekeeper and American Doll Posse
Amos in concert in 2007
Amos released two more albums with Epic, The Beekeeper (2005) and American Doll Posse (2007). Both albums received generally favorable reviews.[48][49] The Beekeeper was conceptually influenced by the ancient art of beekeeping, which she considered a source of female inspiration and empowerment. Through extensive study, Amos also wove in the stories of the Gnostic gospels and the removal of women from a position of power within the Christian church to create an album based largely on religion and politics. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200,[34][50] placing her in an elite group of women who have secured five or more US Top 10 album debuts.[51] While the newly merged label was present throughout the production process of The Beekeeper, Amos and her crew nearly completed her next project, American Doll Posse, before inviting the label to listen to it. American Doll Posse, another concept album, is fashioned around a group of girls (the "posse") who are used as a theme of alter-egos of Amos'. Musically and stylistically, the album saw Amos return to a more confrontational nature.[52] Like its predecessor, American Doll Posse debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.[34]
During her tenure with Epic Records, Amos also released a retrospective collection titled Tales of a Librarian (2003) through her former label, Atlantic Records; a two-disc DVD set Fade to Red (2006) containing most of Amos' solo music videos, released through the Warner Bros. reissue imprint Rhino; a five disc box set titled A Piano: The Collection (2006), celebrating Amos' 15-year solo career through remastered album tracks, remixes, alternate mixes, demos, and a string of unreleased songs from album recording sessions, also released through Rhino; and numerous official bootlegs from two world tours, The Original Bootlegs (2005) and Legs & Boots (2007) through Epic Records.
2008–2011: Abnormally Attracted to Sin and Midwinter Graces
Amos in 2010
In May 2008, Amos announced that, due to creative and financial disagreements with Epic Records, she had negotiated an end to her contract with the record label, and would be operating independently of major record labels on future work.[53][54] In September of the same year, Amos released a live album and DVD, Live at Montreux 1991/1992, through Eagle Rock Entertainment, of two performances she gave at the Montreux Jazz Festival very early on in her career while promoting her debut solo album, Little Earthquakes. By December, after a chance encounter with chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, Doug Morris, Amos signed a "joint venture" deal with Universal Republic Records.[55][56][57][58]
Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Amos' tenth solo studio album and her first album released through Universal Republic, was released in May 2009 to mostly positive reviews. The album debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200,[59] making it Amos' seventh album to do so.[60] Abnormally Attracted to Sin, admitted Amos, is a "personal album", not a conceptual one, with the album exploring themes of power, boundaries, and the subjective view of sin.[61] Continuing her distribution deal with Universal Republic, Amos released Midwinter Graces, her first seasonal album, in November of the same year. The album features reworked versions of traditional carols, as well as original songs written by Amos.[62]
During her contract with the label, Amos recorded vocals for two songs for David Byrne's collaboration album with Fatboy Slim, titled Here Lies Love,[63] which was released in April 2010. In July of the same year, the DVD Tori Amos- Live from the Artists Den was released exclusively through Barnes & Noble.
After a brief tour from June to September 2010, Amos released a live album From Russia With Love in December the same year, recorded in Moscow on September 3, 2010. The limited edition set included a signature edition Lomography Diana F+ camera, along with two lenses, a roll of film and one of five photographs taken of Amos during her time in Moscow. The set was released exclusively through her website and only 2000 copies were produced.[64][65]
2011–2015: Night of Hunters, Gold Dust, and Unrepentant Geraldines
In September 2011, Amos released her first classical-style music album, Night of Hunters, featuring variations on a theme to pay tribute to composers such as Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Granados, Satie and Schubert, on the Deutsche Grammophon label, a division of Universal Music Group. Amos recorded the album with several musicians, including the Apollon Musagète string quartet.
To mark the 20th anniversary of her debut album, Little Earthquakes (1992), Amos released an album of songs from her back catalogue re-worked and re-recorded with the Metropole Orchestra. The album, titled Gold Dust, was released in October 2012 through Deutsche Grammophon.[66]
On May 1, 2012, Amos announced the formation of her own record label, Transmission Galactic, which she said she intended to use to develop new artists.
In 2013, Amos collaborated with the Bullitts on the track "Wait Until Tomorrow" from their debut album, They Die by Dawn & Other Short Stories. She also stated in an interview that a new album and tour would materialize in 2014 and that it would be a "return to contemporary music".[67]
September 2013 saw the launch of Amos' musical project adaptation of George MacDonald's The Light Princess, along with book writer Samuel Adamson and Marianne Elliott. It premiered at London's Royal National Theatre and ended in February 2014. The Light Princess and its lead actress, Rosalie Craig, were nominated for Best Musical and Best Musical Performance respectively at the Evening Standard Award. Craig won the Best Musical Performance category.
Amos' 14th studio album, Unrepentant Geraldines, was released on May 13, 2014, via Mercury Classics/Universal Music Classics in the US. Its first single, "Trouble's Lament", was released on March 28. The album was supported by the Unrepentant Geraldines Tour which began May 5, 2014, in Cork and continued across Europe, Africa, North America, and Australia, ending in Brisbane on November 21, 2014. In Sydney, Amos performed two orchestral concerts, reminiscent of the Gold Dust Orchestral Tour, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House.[68]
According to a press release, Unrepentant Geraldines was a "return to her core identity as a creator of contemporary songs of exquisite beauty following a series of more classically-inspired and innovative musical projects of the last four years. [It is] both one further step in the artistic evolution of one of the most successful and influential artists of her generation, and a return to the inspiring and personal music that Amos is known for all around the world."[69]
The 2-CD set The Light Princess (Original Cast Recording) was released on October 9, 2015, via Universal/Mercury Classics. Apart from the original cast performances, the recording also includes two songs from the musical ("Highness in the Sky" and "Darkest Hour') performed by Amos.[70]
2016–present: Native Invader, Christmastide and Ocean to Ocean
Amos seated at a piano
Amos on stage in 2017
On November 18, 2016, Amos released a deluxe version of the album Boys for Pele to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original release.[71] This follows the deluxe re-releases of her first two albums in 2015.
On September 8, 2017, Amos released Native Invader, accompanied by a world tour.[72] During the summer of 2017, Amos launched three songs from the album: "Cloud Riders", "Up the Creek", and "Reindeer King", the latter featuring string arrangements by John Philip Shenale. Produced by Amos, the album explores topics like American politics and environmental issues, mixed with mythological elements and first-person narrations. Native Invader obtained a score of 76 out of 100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic, based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[73]
On November 9, 2020, Amos announced the release of a holiday-themed EP entitled Christmastide on December 4, digitally and on limited-edition vinyl. The EP consists of four original songs and features her first work with bandmates Matt Chamberlain and Jon Evans since 2009. Amos recorded the EP remotely due to the impact of the ....-19 pandemic.[74]
On September 20, 2021, Amos announced her sixteenth studio album, Ocean to Ocean, which was released on October 29. The album was written and recorded in Cornwall during lockdown as a result of the ....-19 pandemic and explores "a universal story of going to rock bottom and renewing yourself all over again".[75] Amos embarked on a European and United States tour in support of the album in 2022, and continued to support the album in 2023 with a European Tour in March and April and additional US dates in June and July .[76][77] Matt Chamberlain and Jon Evans were featured on drums and bass guitar respectively, their first collaboration with Amos on an album since 2009's Midwinter Graces.[78] For the 2022 and 2023 tour, Amos was joined by Jon Evans and the drummer Ash Soan.[79]
She appeared at the EPIX original docuseries Women Who Rock which premiered on July 10, 2022.[80][81]
In 2023, Amos and Trevor Horn covered Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools (Drank)".[82] She also released a remix dance single titled "Tequila," produced by Paul Woolford.[83]
On November 1, 2024, Amos announced the release of a live album, Diving Deep Live, on December 6, 2024, consisting of recordings from her 2022-23 tour in support of Ocean to Ocean. it was released on double vinyl, on CD and digitally.[84]
On February 28, 2025, Amos released a surprise album, The Music of Tori and the Muses, as a companion project to her illustrated children's book Tori and the Muses, published on March 4. The album featured nine original songs and featured Jon Evans on bass guitar and Matt Chamberlain on drums. Touring drummer Ash Soan featured on drums on the tracks "Knocking", "Spike's Lament", and "Rain Brings Change".[85]
In print
Amos and her music have been the subject of numerous official and unofficial books, as well as academic critique, including Tori Amos: Lyrics (2001) illustrated by Herb Leonhard, and an earlier biography, Tori Amos: All These Years (1996) by Kalen Rogers.[86][87][88]
Released in conjunction with The Beekeeper, Amos co-authored an autobiography with rock music journalist Ann Powers titled Piece by Piece (2005). The book's subject is Amos' interest in mythology and religion, exploring her songwriting process, rise to fame, and her relationship with Atlantic Records.[89][90]
Image Comics released Comic Book Tattoo (2008),[91] a collection of comic stories, each based on or inspired by songs recorded by Amos. Editor Rantz Hoseley worked with Amos to gather 80 different artists for the book, including Neil Gaiman, Carla Speed McNeil, Mark Buckingham, C.B. Cebulski, Nikki Cook, Hope Larson, John Ney Reiber, Ryan Kelly, Pia Guerra, David Mack, and Leah Moore.[92]
Tori Amos: In the Studio (2011) by Jake Brown features an in-depth look at Amos' career, discography, and recording process.[93] Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos (2013) by Adrienne Trier-Bieniek explores the ways women are represented in pop culture and the many-layered relationships female fans build with feminist musicians in general and with Tori Amos in particular.[94]
Tori Amos' Boys for Pele (2018) by Amy Gentry uses a blend of memoir, criticism, and aesthetic theory in order to argue that the aesthetics of disgust are useful of thinking in a broader way about women's experience of all art forms.[95] Amos released her second memoir, called Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage on May 5, 2020.[96][97]
Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes (2022) by Tori Amos and Neil Gaiman is an official graphic novel celebrating 30 years of Tori Amos' breakout album Little Earthquakes.[98]
Written by Amos and illustrated by Demelsa Haughton, the children's book Tori and the Muses will be released on March 4, 2025.[99]
Personal life
Amos married English sound engineer Mark Hawley on February 22, 1998.[19] They have one daughter, Natashya Lórien Hawley, born September 5, 2000. They live in Bude, UK.
Amos's mother, Mary Ellen, died on May 11, 2019.[100]
Amos appearing at a 2014 talk by Neil Gaiman
Early in her professional career, Amos befriended author Neil Gaiman, who became a fan after she referred to him in the song "Tear in Your Hand" and also in print interviews.[101][102] Although created before the two met, the character Delirium from Gaiman's The Sandman series is inspired by Amos; Gaiman has stated that they "steal shamelessly from each other".[103] She wrote the foreword to his collection Death: The High Cost of Living; he in turn wrote the introduction to Comic Book Tattoo. Gaiman is godfather to her daughter, and a poem written for her birth, "Blueberry Girl", was published as a children's book of the same name in 2009.[104] In 2019, Amos performed the British standard "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"[105] over the closing credits of season one of Gaiman's TV series Good Omens, based on the novel of the same name written by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett....
Relationship with Cherokee culture
Amos has frequently referred to Native American culture, history, and spirituality in her music and visual art, as well as making personal connections with the culture. She has spoken about ancestors on her mother's side she said were of Cherokee descent.[112]
Of particular importance to her as a child was her maternal grandfather, Calvin Clinton Copeland, whom she has cited as a great source of inspiration and guidance, offering a pantheistic spiritual alternative to her father and paternal grandmother's traditional Christianity.[113] She has said her great-grandmother evaded the Trail of Tears by taking refuge in the Great Smoky Mountains, her family's place of residence.[14][114] Amos took a trip through the Smokies which formed the creative basis for her album Native Invader.[115] While talking to The Guardian about taking Ayahuasca and attending sweatlodge ceremonies with her sister, Amos has also said, "I'm not in a position to speak for First Nation people – that's a sacred task."[115]
Legacy
Artists who have been influenced and/or admire Amos's work include Alanis Morissette,[116] Amy Lee of Evanescence,[117] Olly Alexander of Years & Years,[118] Justin Timberlake,[119] Olivia Rodrigo,[120] Leighton Meester,[121] and Jack Colwell.[122]
Discography
Main article: Tori Amos discography
Studio albums
Little Earthquakes (1992)
Under the Pink (1994)
Boys for Pele (1996)
From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)
To Venus and Back (1999)
Strange Little Girls (2001)
Scarlet's Walk (2002)
The Beekeeper (2005)
American Doll Posse (2007)
Abnormally Attracted to Sin (2009)
Midwinter Graces (2009)
Night of Hunters (2011)
Gold Dust (2012)
Unrepentant Geraldines (2014)
Native Invader (2017)
Ocean to Ocean (2021)
The Music of Tori and the Muses (2025)...
Tours
Amos, who has been performing in bars and clubs from as early as 1976 and under her professional name as early as 1991, has performed more than 1,000 shows since her first world tour in 1992.[123] In 2003, Amos was voted fifth best touring act by the readers of Rolling Stone magazine.[124] Her concerts are notable for their changing set lists from night to night.[125]
Little Earthquakes Tour
Amos' first world tour began on January 29, 1992, in London and ended on November 30, 1992, in Auckland. She performed solo with a Yamaha CP-70 unless the venue was able to provide a piano.[126][127] The tour included 142 concerts around the globe.
Under the Pink Tour
Amos' second world tour began on February 24, 1994, in Newcastle upon Tyne and ended on December 13, 1994, in Perth, Western Australia.[128] Amos performed solo each night on her iconic Bösendorfer[129] piano, and on a prepared piano during "Bells for Her". The tour included 181 concerts.
Dew Drop Inn Tour
The third world tour began on February 23, 1996, in Ipswich, England, and ended on November 11, 1996, in Boulder. Amos performed each night on piano, harpsichord, and harmonium, with Steve Caton on guitar on some songs. The tour included 187 concerts.
Plugged '98 Tour
Amos' first band tour. Amos, on piano and Kurzweil keyboard, was joined by Steve Caton on guitar, Matt Chamberlain on drums, and Jon Evans on bass. The tour began on April 18, 1998, in Fort Lauderdale and ended on December 3, 1998, in East Lansing, Michigan, including 137 concerts. Highlights from the tour were included on the live disc of To Venus and Back.
5 ½ Weeks Tour / To Dallas and Back
Amos' fifth tour was North America–only. The first part of the tour was co-headlining with Alanis Morissette and featured the same band and equipment line-up as in 1998. Amos and the band continued for eight shows before Amos embarked on a series of solo shows. The tour began on August 18, 1999, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and ended on December 9, 1999, in Denver, including 46 concerts.
Strange Little Tour
This tour was Amos' first since becoming a mother in 2000 and her first tour fully solo since 1994 (Steve Caton was present on some songs in 1996). It saw Amos perform on piano, Rhodes piano, and Wurlitzer electric piano, and though the tour was in support of her covers album, the set lists were not strictly covers-oriented. Having brought her one-year-old daughter on the road with her, this tour was also one of Amos' shortest ventures, lasting just three months. It began on August 30, 2001, in London and ended on December 17, 2001, in Milan, including 55 concerts.
On Scarlet's Walk / Lottapianos Tour
Amos' seventh tour saw her reunited with Matt Chamberlain and Jon Evans, but not Steve Caton. The first part of the tour, which featured Amos on piano, Kurzweil, Rhodes, and Wurlitzer, was six months long and Amos went out again in the summer of 2003 for a tour with Ben Folds opening. The tour began on November 7, 2002, in Tampa and ended on September 4, 2003, in West Palm Beach, featuring 124 concerts. The final show of the tour was filmed and released as part of a DVD/CD set titled Welcome to Sunny Florida (the set also included a studio EP titled Scarlet's Hidden Treasures, an extension of the Scarlet's Walk album).
Original Sinsuality Tour / Summer of Sin
This tour began on April 1, 2005, in Clearwater, Florida, with Amos on piano, two Hammond B-3 organs, and Rhodes. The tour also encompassed Australia for the first time since 1994. Amos announced at a concert on this tour that she would never stop touring but would scale down the tours. Amos returned to the road in August and September for the Summer of Sin North America leg, ending on September 17, 2005, in Los Angeles. The tour featured "Tori's Piano Bar", where fans could nominate cover songs on Amos' website which she would then choose from to play in a special section of each show. One of the songs chosen was the Kylie Minogue hit "Can't Get You Out of My Head", which Amos dedicated to her the day after Minogue's breast cancer was announced to the public. Other songs performed by Amos include the Doors' "People Are Strange", Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game", Madonna's "Live to Tell" and "Like a Prayer", Björk's "Hyperballad", Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" (which she debuted in Austin, Texas, just after the events Hurricane Katrina), Kate Bush's "And Dream of Sheep" and Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over", dedicating it to drummer Paul Hester who had died a week before. The entire concert tour featured 82 concerts, and six full-length concerts were released as The Original Bootlegs.
American Doll Posse World Tour
This was Amos' first tour with a full band since her 1999 Five and a Half Weeks Tour, accompanied by long-time bandmates Jon Evans and Matt Chamberlain, with guitarist Dan Phelps rounding out Amos' new band.[130] Amos' equipment included her piano, a Hammond B-3 organ, and two Yamaha S90 ES keyboards. The tour kicked off with its European leg in Rome, Italy, on May 28, 2007, which lasted through July, concluding in Israel; the Australian leg took place during September; the North American leg lasted from October to December 16, 2007, when the tour concluded in Los Angeles. Amos opened each show dressed as one of the four non-Tori personae from the album, then Amos would emerge as herself to perform for the remaining two-thirds of the show. The entire concert tour featured 93 concerts, and 27 full-length concerts of the North American tour were released as official bootlegs in the Legs and Boots series.
Sinful Attraction Tour
For her tenth tour, Amos returned to the trio format of her 2002 and 2003 tours with bassist Jon Evans and drummer Matt Chamberlain while expanding her lineup of keyboards by adding three M-Audio MIDI controllers to her ensemble of her piano, a Hammond B-3 organ, and a Yamaha S90 ES keyboard. The North American and European band tour began on July 10, 2009, in Seattle, Washington, and ended in Warsaw on October 10, 2009. A solo leg through Australia began in Melbourne on November 12, 2009, and ended in Brisbane on November 24, 2009. The entire tour featured 63 concerts. This tour was the last tour to feature Matt Chamberlain on drums to date, as well as the last tour to feature Jon Evans on bass until the Ocean to Ocean Tour in 2022.
Night of Hunters Tour
Amos' eleventh tour was her first with a string quartet, Apollon Musagète, (Amos' equipment includes her piano and a Yamaha S90 ES keyboard) and her first time touring in South Africa. It kicked off on September 28, 2011, in Helsinki Ice Hall, Finland, and ended on December 22, 2011, in Dallas, Texas.[131]
Gold Dust Orchestral Tour
Amos began her 2012 tour in Rotterdam on October 1.
Unrepentant Geraldines Tour
Amos began her 2014 world tour on May 5, 2014, in Cork, Ireland, and concluded it in Brisbane, Australia, on November 21, after playing 73 concerts.[132]
Native Invader Tour
Amos' 2017 tour in support of the Native Invader album kicked off on September 6, 2017, with a series of European shows in Cork, Ireland, moving on to North America in October.
Ocean to Ocean Tour
Amos embarked on tour in 2022 in support of the Ocean to Ocean album, with the bassist John Evans and the drummer Ash Soan. The tour was originally set to begin in Berlin, Germany, but all mainland Europe dates were subsequently postponed due to the ongoing impact of the ....-19 pandemic. The tour began in the United Kingdom with dates in London, Glasgow and Manchester before moving on to Ireland with dates in Dublin and Cork. The North American tour began in April 2022 in Dallas, Texas, and concluded in June in Los Angeles, California. The 2023 European tour began in Edinburgh, UK, in March 2023. A second American leg followed short after until the end of July. In total, the tour featured 94 shows and is chronicled on Diving Deep Live.
Awards and nominations
Award Year Nominee(s) Category Result Ref.
Brit Awards 1993 Herself International Breakthrough Act Nominated [133]
International Solo Artist Nominated
1995 International Female Solo Artist Nominated [134]
Cash Box Year-End Awards 1994 Under the Pink Top Pop Album Nominated [135]
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards 2016 "Flicker" Best Song in a Documentary Nominated [136]
ECHO Awards 1995 Herself Best International Female Nominated [137]
ECHO Klassik Awards 2012 Night of Hunters The Klassik-ohne-Grenzen Prize Won [138]
GAFFA Awards 2000 Herself Best Foreign Female Act Nominated [139]
2003 Nominated
2022 Best Foreign Solo Act Nominated [140]
Ocean to Ocean Best Foreign Album Nominated
George Peabody Medal 2019 Herself Outstanding Contributions to Music Won [141]
Glamour Awards 1998 Herself Woman of the Year Won [142]
Grammy Awards 1995 Under the Pink Best Alternative Music Album Nominated [143]
1997 Boys for Pele Nominated
1999 From the Choirgirl Hotel Nominated
"Raspberry Swirl" Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Nominated
2000 "Bliss" Nominated
To Venus and Back Best Alternative Music Album Nominated
2002 Strange Little Girls Nominated
"Strange Little Girl" Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Nominated
Hollywood Music in Media Awards 2016 "Flicker" Best Original Song in a Documentary Nominated [144]
Hungarian Music Awards 2010 Abnormally Attracted to Sin Best Foreign Alternative Album Nominated [145]
MTV Europe Music Awards 1994 Herself Best Female Nominated [144]
MTV Video Music Awards 1992 "Silent All These Years" Best Female Video Nominated [144]
Best New Artist in a Video Nominated
Breakthrough Video Nominated
Best Cinematography in a Video Nominated
MVPA Awards 2000 "1000 Oceans" Adult Contemporary Video of the Year Nominated [146]
2002 "Strange Little Girl" Alternative Video of the Year Nominated [147]
Colorist/Telecine Nominated
Music Week Women in Music 2024 Herself Inspirational Artist Won [148]
NME Awards 2016 Under the Pink Best Reissue Nominated [149]
North Carolina Music Hall of Fame 2012 Herself Inducted Won [150]
Pollstar Concert Industry Awards 1993 Little Earthquakes Tour Best New Rock Artist Nominated [151]
Club Tour Of The Year Nominated
1995 Under the Pink Tour Small Hall Tour Of The Year Nominated [152]
1997 Dew Drop Inn Tour Nominated [153]
1999 5 ½ Weeks Tour Nominated [154]
Q Awards 1992 Herself Best New Act Won [155]
WhatsOnStage Awards 2014 The Light Princess Best New Musical Nominated [156]
Best London Newcomer of the Year Nominated
Žebřík Music Awards 2001 Herself Best International Female Nominated [157]
1999: Spin Readers' Poll Awards[158] (Won)
On May 21, 2020, Amos was invited to and gave special remarks at her alma mater Johns Hopkins University's 2020 Commencement ceremony.[159] Other notable guest speakers during the virtual ceremony included Reddit co-founder and commencement speaker Alexis Ohanian; philanthropist and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force; and senior class president Pavan Patel.[160]
Film appearances
Amos appears as a wedding singer in the film Mona Lisa Smile.[161] She had previously auditioned for a role as a member of Beverly's band, Cherry Bomb, in the 1986 film Howard the Duck.[162]
Amos performed a cover of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion", as well as the original song "Butterfly", for the soundtrack of John Singleton's 1995 film Higher Learning. Her song "Talula" was featured in the epic disaster film Twister (1996). "Professional Widow" was featured in the action film Escape from L.A. (1996). "Siren" was featured in the romantic drama Great Expectations (1998). The songs "'Murder' He Says" and "You Belong To Me" were featured in the films Mona Lisa Smile (2003). "Flicker" was featured in the film Audrie & Daisy (2016).
Numerous songs of hers have been included in television series soundtracks.[163] Some examples include:
"Crucify" in American adult animated series Beavis and Butt-Head (season 3, episode 31, 1994)
"God" in American adult animated series Beavis and Butt-Head (season 5, episode 7, 1994)
"Lust" in fantasy, drama television series Charmed (season 2, episode 12, 1998)
"Northern Lad" in teen drama television series Dawson's Creek (season 2, episode 4, 1998)
"A Sorta Fairytale" in drama television series Everwood (season 4, episode 16, 2002)
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in crime procedures comedy-drama television series Bones (season 1, episode 9, 2005) and in science fiction television series Roswell (season 3, episode 9, 1999)
"Precious Things" in comedy-drama television series Hindsight (season 1, episode 6, 2015)
"Pretty Good Year" in television series Casual (season 3, episode 12, 2015)
"A Nightingale Song in Berkeley Square" in fantasy comedy television series Good Omens (season 1, episode 6, 2019)
"Professional Widow (Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix)" in Netflix drama thriller series White Lines (season 1, episode 9, 2020), in Derry Girls (season 3, episode 4, "The Haunting", 2018) and Love Island (season 5, episode 14, 2015)
"Crucify" in anthology comedy-drama television series High Maintenance (season 4, episode 8, 2016)
"Raspberry Swirl" in the television series The End (season 1, episode 9, 2020)
"1000 Oceans" in mystery teen drama television series Pretty Little Liars (season 1, episode 10, 2022)
"Cornflake Girl" in Conversations with Friends (season 1, episode 10, 2022), in drama television series YellowJackets (season 2, episode 1, 2023)[164][165] and in comedy drama series Beef (season 1, episode 2, 2023)[166]
"Bells for Her" in drama television series Yellowjackets (season 2, episode 3, 2023)" (wikipedia)
"Tori Amos is an American pianist and singer-songwriter whose musical career began in 1980, at the age of seventeen, when she and her brother co-wrote the song "Baltimore". The song was selected as the winning song in a contest for the Baltimore Orioles and was recorded and pressed locally as a 7" single.[1][2] From 1984 to 1989, Amos fronted the synth-pop band Y Kant Tori Read, which released one self-titled album with Atlantic Records in 1988 before breaking up. Shortly thereafter, Amos began writing and recording material that would serve as the debut of her solo career.[3] Still signed with Atlantic, and its UK counterpart East West, Amos' initial solo material was rejected by the label in 1990.[4] Under the guidance of co-producers Eric Rosse, Davitt Sigerson and Ian Stanley, a second version of the album was created and accepted by the label the following year.[5]
Amos' solo career began in October 1991 with the UK release of the Me and a Gun EP. The following month, after the first track on the EP was receiving more airplay than the title track, the label reissued the EP with the same artwork, but changed the title to Silent All These Years.[6] Although the second version of the EP reached only number 51 on the UK chart, BBC Radio 1 picked it as "Record of the Week", which helped Amos get her initial exposure.[7] Her debut solo album, Little Earthquakes, was released two months later in January 1992. The album peaked at number 14 on the Australian and UK Albums Chart and at number 54 on the Billboard 200.[8][9] Upon its release, the album received mostly positive reviews[10][11][12] and was labeled an important album that kick-started the female singer-songwriter movement of the 1990s.[10] Despite reaching only number 54 on the Billboard 200, Little Earthquakes was a mainstay on the chart for 38 weeks and remains Amos' highest-selling album in the United States.[13][14]
Subsequent albums with Atlantic were released at approximately two-year intervals. Amos' sophomore effort, Under the Pink, co-produced with Eric Rosse, debuted in February 1994 at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the UK Albums Chart.[9][15] Boys for Pele, Amos' third solo album and the first album that was self-produced, debuted in January 1996 at number 2 on both the US and UK charts, making it her highest simultaneous trans-Atlantic debut.[9][16] From the Choirgirl Hotel, Amos' first album written and recorded with bandmates Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass and Steve Caton on guitar, and her first album recorded at her in-home recording studio, Martian Engineering, debuted in May 1998 at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart.[9][17] The following year, To Venus and Back, a double album of studio and live material recorded with Chamberlain, Evans and Caton, debuted in September 1999 at number 12 in the US and at number 22 in the UK.[9][18] In September 2001, Strange Little Girls, a covers album recorded with Chamberlin on drums, Evans and Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass and Adrian Belew on guitar, debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 and at number 16 on the UK Albums Chart.[9][19]
Due to professional conflicts, after working with Atlantic for the first 15 years of her career, Amos decided to seek another label.[20] She joined Epic Records and released three albums over the next five years: Scarlet's Walk in October 2002, The Beekeeper in February 2005 and American Doll Posse in May 2007. On all three albums, Amos performed with Chamberlin on drums, Evans on bass and Mac Aladdin on guitar. Each album debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200,[21][22][23] placing Amos in an elite group of women who have secured five or more Top 10 album debuts.[24] Amos negotiated an end to her contract with Epic following the release of American Doll Posse, announcing in 2008 that she will be operating independently of record labels.[25] In early 2009, Amos signed a distribution, or joint-venture, deal with Universal Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group, which granted her greater creative control over her work than traditional recording contracts.[26] Amos released two albums her first year under the contract: Abnormally Attracted to Sin in May 2009 and the seasonal album Midwinter Graces, featuring reworked Christmas carols and some original songs, in November 2009. Abnormally Attracted to Sin is Amos's seventh album to debut on the US Top 10 on the Billboard 200.[13] Amos followed up with her first classical music album, Night of Hunters, recorded with Andreas Ottensamer of the Berlin Philharmonic and the award-winning string quartet, Apollon Musagète. Night of Hunters was released in September 2011, through the Deutsche Grammophon label, the classical music division of Universal Music Group. With Night of Hunters, Amos made Billboard history by being the first female artist to have an album place in the Top 10 of the Classical, Alternative, and Rock charts simultaneously.[27]
To date in her solo career, Amos has recorded and released a total of 16 solo studio albums, multiple live releases, three compilation albums, one of which is a five-disc box set released through Rhino Entertainment, and numerous singles and EPs. Amos has contributed to numerous film soundtracks as well.
with Y Kant Tori Read
List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Sales
Y Kant Tori Read
Released: 1988
Label: Atlantic
WW: 7,000[28]
SoloStudio albums
List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications Sales
US
[13] AUS
[29] AUT
[30] BEL (Fl)
[31] CAN
[32] FRA
[33] GER
[34] NL
[35] SWI
[36] UK
[9]
Little Earthquakes
Released: January 6, 1992
Label: Atlantic, East West
54 14 — — 49 43 65 85 — 14
RIAA: 2× Platinum[37]
ARIA: Gold[38]
BEA: Gold[39]
BPI: Gold[40]
MC: Gold[41]
NVPI: Gold[42]
WW: 3,000,000[43]
US: 1,900,000[44]
CAN: 60,000[45]
UK: 200,000[46]
Under the Pink
Released: January 31, 1994
Label: Atlantic, East West
12 5 6 — 11 20 15 10 11 1
RIAA: 2× Platinum[37]
BPI: Platinum[40]
MC: Gold[41]
NVPI: Gold[42]
WW: 2,000,000[47]
US: 1,400,000[44]
CAN: 42,000[45]
Boys for Pele
Released: January 22, 1996
Label: Atlantic, East West
2 6 9 8 6 33 9 6 14 2
RIAA: Platinum[37]
ARIA: Gold[48]
BPI: Gold[40]
MC: Gold[41]
WW: 2,000,000[49]
US: 1,000,000[44]
From the Choirgirl Hotel
Released: May 4, 1998
Label: Atlantic, East West
5 8 11 13 10 30 13 24 31 6
RIAA: Platinum[37]
BPI: Gold[40]
MC: Gold[41]
US: 778,000[44]
To Venus and Back
Released: September 21, 1999
Label: Atlantic
12 6 17 13 18 31 11 24 27 22
RIAA: Platinum[37]
US: 458,000[44]
Strange Little Girls
Released: September 18, 2001
Label: Atlantic
4 7 18 6 8 26 11 27 34 16
US: 395,000[44]
Scarlet's Walk
Released: October 28, 2002
Label: Epic, Sony Music
7 20 26 15 13 32 9 17 21 26
RIAA: Gold[37]
US: 618,000[44]
The Beekeeper
Released: February 20, 2005
Label: Epic, Sony BMG
5 20 8 11 16 44 8 13 13 24
US: 295,000[44]
American Doll Posse
Released: May 1, 2007
Label: Epic, Sony BMG
5 20 14 22 15 48 10 5 15 50
US: 152,000[44]
Abnormally Attracted to Sin
Released: May 18, 2009
Label: Universal Republic
9 28 12 23 24 61 16 22 14 20
US: 92,000[50]
Midwinter Graces
Released: November 10, 2009
Label: Universal Republic
66 152 — — — 133 — 99 — 97
UK: 2,619[51]
Night of Hunters
Released: September 20, 2011
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
24 42 22 25 38 70 12 34 33 27
US: 18,000[52]
Gold Dust
Released: October 1, 2012
Label: Deutsche Grammophon, Mercury Classics
63 60 46 27 — 156 48 24 95 36
UK: 3,791[53]
Unrepentant Geraldines
Released: May 9, 2014
Label: Mercury Classics
7 58 17 23 26 61 15 10 20 13
US: 20,000[54]
Native Invader
Released: September 8, 2017
Label: Decca
39 113 21 19 — 71 18 20 23 16
US: 11,392[55]
Ocean to Ocean
Released: October 29, 2021[56]
Label: Decca
104 46 23 54 — 200 26 44 15 25
US: 10,000[57]
The Music of Tori and the Muses
Released: February 28, 2025[58]
Label: Universal
— — — — — — — — — —
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Extended plays
Although all of Amos' singles released by Atlantic were in an EP-style format, only two of her releases are labeled as such. To date, Scarlet's Hidden Treasures and Christmastide are Amos' only EPs completely comprising non-LP tracks.
Title Details Peak chart positions Sales
US
[13]
Crucify
Released: May 12, 1992
Label: Atlantic, East West
—
US: 420,000[44]
Hey Jupiter
Released: August 20, 1996
Label: Atlantic, East West
94
US: 172,000[44]
Scarlet's Hidden Treasures
Released: May 18, 2004
Label: Epic, Sony BMG
—
Exclusive Session
Released: June 7, 2005
Label: Epic, Sony BMG
—
Flavor (Peter Rauhofer Mixes)
Released: December 4, 2012
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
—
Christmastide[59]
Released: December 4, 2020
Label: Decca
—[A]
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Compilations
Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications Sales
US
[13] AUS
[29]
CAN
[61] UK
[9]
More Pink: The B-Sides
Released: November 14, 1994
Label: Atlantic, East West
— 44 — —
Tales of a Librarian
Released: November 17, 2003
Label: Atlantic
40 93 86 74
ARIA: Gold[29]
BPI: Silver[40]
US: 239,000[44]
A Piano: The Collection
Released: September 26, 2006
Label: Rhino
— — — —
US: 26,000[44]
Little Earthquakes – The B-Sides
Released: April 22, 2023
Label: Atlantic
173 — — —
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Live albums
Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications Sales
US
[13] AUS
[29] CAN
[61] UK
[9]
To Venus and Back
Released: September 20, 1999
Label: Atlantic
12 6 18 22
RIAA: Platinum[37]
US: 458,000[44]
Live at Montreux 1991/1992
Released: September 22, 2008
Label: Eagle
— — — —
Diving Deep Live
Released: December 6, 2024
Label: Decca
To be released
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory....
Singles
List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
US
[62] US Alt
[63] US Adult
[64] US AAA
[65] US Dance
[66] AUS
[29] CAN
[67]
[68] FRA
[33] IRE
[69] UK
[9]
"Baltimore" 1980 — — — — — — — — — — Non-album single
"Me and a Gun" 1991 — — — — — — — — — — Little Earthquakes
"Silent All These Years" — 27 — — — 128 — — — 51
"China" 1992 — — — — — — — — — 51
"Winter" — — — — — 49 — — — 25
"Crucify" — 22 — — — 83 74 17 25 15
"Silent All These Years" (UK reissue) — — — — — — — — — 26
"Cornflake Girl" 1994 —[B] 12 — — — 19 30 — 9 4 Under the Pink
"God" 72 1 — — — 65 87 — — 44
"Pretty Good Year" — — — — — 85 — — 26 7
"Past the Mission" — — — — — 116 — — 25 31
"Caught a Lite Sneeze" 1996 60 13 — 3 — 51 20 — 21 20 Boys for Pele
"Talula" —[C] — — — — 131 — — — 22
"Professional Widow" —[D] — — — 1 — 38 — — —
BPI: Silver[40]
"Hey Jupiter" / "Professional Widow" — — — — — 17[E] — — — 20
"In the Springtime of His Voodoo" —[F] — — — 6 — — — — —
"Professional Widow (It's Got to Be Big)" — — — — — 17[G] — 35 2 1
ARIA: Gold[29]
BPI: Silver[40]
"Silent All These Years" (re-issue, from "The Benefit For RAINN") 1997 65 — 26 — — — — — — — Little Earthquakes
"Spark" 1998 49 13 32 13 — 50 25 — — 16 From the Choirgirl Hotel
"Raspberry Swirl" — — — — — 57 20 — — —
"Jackie's Strength" 54 — — — — — 12 — — —
"Cruel" / "Raspberry Swirl" —[H] — — — — — — — — —
"Jackie's Strength" (remixes) 1999 — — — — 1 — — — — —
"Bliss" 91 — — — — — 7 — — — To Venus and Back
"1000 Oceans" —[I] — — — — 145 — — — —
"Glory of the 80's" — — — — — 81 — — — 46
"Concertina" 2000 —[J] — — — — — — — — —
"Strange Little Girl" 2001 — — — — — — — — — — Strange Little Girls
"A Sorta Fairytale" 2002 —[K] — 11 2 — — 6 — — 41 Scarlet's Walk
"Taxi Ride" 2003 — — 35 20 — — — — — —
"Strange" — — — — — — — — — —
"Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" (12" only) — — — — 6 — — — — —
"Mary" — — — — — — — — — — Tales of a Librarian
"Angels" — — — — — — — — — —
"Sleeps with Butterflies" 2005 — — — 4 — — — — — — The Beekeeper
"Sweet the Sting" — — — 30 — — — — — —
"Cars and Guitars" — — — — — — — — — —
"Big Wheel" 2007 —[L] — — 6 — — — — — — American Doll Posse
"Bouncing off Clouds" — — — — — — — — — —
"Almost Rosey" — — — — — — — — — —
"Welcome to England" 2009 — — — 10 — — — — — — Abnormally Attracted to Sin
"Maybe California" — — — — — — — — — —
"500 Miles" — — — — — — — — — —
"A Silent Night with You" — — — — — — — — — — Midwinter Graces
"Carry" 2011 — — — — — — — — — — Night of Hunters
"Flavor" 2012 — — — — 1 — — — — — Gold Dust
"Trouble's Lament" 2014 — — — — — — — — — — Unrepentant Geraldines
"Cloud Riders" 2017 — — — — — — — — — — Native Invader
"Reindeer King" — — — — — — — — — —
"Better Angels" 2020 — — — — — — — — — — Christmastide
"Speaking with Trees" 2021 — — — — — — — — — — Ocean to Ocean
"Spies" — — — — — — — — — —
"Tequila" (Paul Woolford Remix) 2023 — — — — — — — — — — Non-album single
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Notes
"Christmastide" did not enter the Billboard 200, but peaked at number 79 on the Current Album Sales chart.[60]
"Cornflake Girl" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number seven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
"Talula" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 19 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
"Professional Widow" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number eight on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
The "Hey Jupiter/Professional Widow" and "Professional Widow (It's Got to Be Big)" singles were counted as the same release on the Australian (ARIA) chart.
"In the Springtime of His Voodoo" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 20 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
The "Hey Jupiter/Professional Widow" and "Professional Widow (It's Got to Be Big)" singles were counted as the same release on the Australian (ARIA) chart.
"Cruel" / "Raspberry Swirl" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 38 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart.
"1000 Oceans" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 22 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart.
"Concertina" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 48 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart.
"A Sorta Fairytale" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 14 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
"Big Wheel" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 12 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
B-sides
Early in her career Amos released many CD singles in conjunction with her albums—so many that a book called Tori Amos Collectibles was published in 1997 cataloging her worldwide releases, test pressings and bootlegs to that date. One of Amos' best selling early releases is the five-track Crucify EP. Amos' penchant for including non-album B-sides on each of her singles was a major factor in her initial popularity, particularly her cover of the Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the aforementioned EP, which garnered significant press attention and critical praise.[70][71] Many of Amos' B-sides are featured on the box set A Piano: The Collection (2006). With the production of CD singles becoming less common in the music business around the turn of the century, Amos has released far fewer B-sides since her contract with Epic Records began. As a result, B-sides for Scarlet's Walk were released through the internet and on an EP titled Scarlet's Hidden Treasures (2004), the sole B-side for The Beekeeper was released as on the DVD included in the album's limited edition version, and B-sides for American Doll Posse were distributed depending on packaging and place of purchase.
Below is an alphabetical list of all of Amos' known B-sides, including information on initial and subsequent releases.
Title Initial release Subsequent release(s) Release date(s)
"After All" "Strange Little Girl" single[72] — 2001
"Alamo" "Talula" single[73] Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2016
"All the Girls Hate Her" "Cornflake Girl" single[74] "God" single, Under the Pink Deluxe Remaster 1994, 2015
"Amazing Grace"/"'Til the Chicken" "Talula" single Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2016
"Angie" Crucify EP[75] — 1992
"Apollo's Frock" Scarlet's Hidden Treasures EP[76] — 2004
"Bachelorette" "Spark" single[77] A Piano: The Collection 1998, 2006
"Beulah Land" "Jackie's Strength" single[78] A Piano 1998, 2006
"Black Swan" "Pretty Good Year" single[79] A Piano, Under the Pink Deluxe Remaster 1994, 2006, 2015
"Bug a Martini" Scarlet's Hidden Treasures EP[76] — 2004
"A Case of You" "Cornflake Girl" UK single[80] More Pink: The B-Sides 1994
"Cooling" "Spark" single[81] A Piano 1998, 2006
"Daisy Dead Petals" "Cornflake Girl" single[82] More Pink, A Piano, Under the Pink Deluxe Remaster 1994, 2006, 2015
"Do It Again (Steely Dan song)" "Spark" single[81] — 1998
"Dolphin Song" A Piano[83] — 2006
"Drive All Night" digital download "Big Wheel" Digital Single[84] 2007
"Flying Dutchman" "China" single[85] A Piano, Gold Dust, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 2006, 2012, 2015
"Fire Eater's Wife" / "Beauty Queen (Demo)" A Piano: The Collection[83] Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 2006, 2016
"Frog on My Toe" "Talula" single[86] A Piano, Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2006, 2016
"Garlands" The Beekeeper DVD — 2005
"Graveyard" "Caught a Lite Sneeze" single Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2016
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" "Spark" single — 1998
"Here. In My Head" "Crucify" single More Pink: The B-Sides, A Piano, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 1994, 2006, 2015
"Home on the Range (Cherokee Edition)" "God" single A Piano, Under the Pink Deluxe Remaster 1994, 2006, 2015
"Honey" "Cornflake Girl" single[82] More Pink, A Piano, Under the Pink Deluxe Remaster 1994, 2006, 2015
"Humpty Dumpty" "China" single[85] Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 2015
"Hungarian Wedding Song" "Caught a Lite Sneeze" single A Piano, Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2006, 2016
"If 6 was 9" "Cornflake Girl" UK single — 1994
"I'm on Fire" VH1 Crossroads — 1996
"Indian Summer" Scarlet's Hidden Treasures EP[76] — 2004
"Landslide" Y-100 Sonic Sessions Volume 1 — 1997
"Little Drummer Boy" More Pink: The B-Sides — 1994
"London Girls" "Talula" single[86] Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2016
"Mary" "Crucify" single Tales of a Librarian, A Piano, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 2003, 2006, 2015
"Merman" digital download No Boundaries compilation, A Piano 1998, 1999, 2006
"Miracle" American Doll Posse (iTunes edition) — 2007
"Mountain" unreleased (streamed on Scarlet's Web) Scarlet's Hidden Treasures (2023 remaster) 2002, 2023
"My Posse Can Do" American Doll Posse DVD — 2007
"Never Seen Blue" "Jackie's Strength" single[78] A Piano 1998, 2006
"Not David Bowie" A Piano: The Collection[83] — 2006
"Ode to My Clothes" A Piano: The Collection[83] — 2006
"Ode to the Banana King" "Silent All These Years" single Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 2015
"Only Women Bleed" "Strange Little Girl" single[72] — 2001
"Operation Peter Pan" "A Sorta Fairytale" single Scarlet's Hidden Treasures (2023 remaster) 2002, 2023,
"Over It" "Cornflake Girl" single "God" single, Under the Pink Deluxe Remaster 1994, 2015
"Over the Rainbow (live)" Hey Jupiter EP — 1996
"Peeping Tommi" A Piano: The Collection[83] — 2006
"The Pool" "Winter" single A Piano: The Collection, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 2006, 2015
"Purple People" "Spark" single From the Choirgirl Hotel Japanese Edition 1998
"Ruby Through the Looking Glass" Scarlet's Hidden Treasures EP[76] — 2004
"Samurai" "Caught a Lite Sneeze" single "Talula" single 1996
"Seaside" Scarlet's Hidden Treasures EP[76] — 2004
"Sister Janet" "Cornflake Girl" single[82] More Pink: The B-Sides, A Piano, Under the Pink Deluxe Remaster 1994, 2006, 2015
"Sister Named Desire" "Talula" single Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2016
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" Crucify EP[75] Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 2015
"Song for Eric" "Silent All These Years" single Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 2015
"Strange Fruit" "Cornflake Girl" UK single — 1994
"Sucker" Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster — 2016
"Sugar" "China" single[85] More Pink, A Piano, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 1994, 2006, 2015
"Sweet Dreams" "Winter" single Tales of a Librarian, A Piano, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 2003, 2006, 2015
"Take Me with You" A Piano: The Collection[83] Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 2006, 2015
"Take to the Sky" "Winter" single More Pink, A Piano, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1992, 1994, 2006, 2015
"Thank You" Crucify EP[75] — 1992
"That's What I Like Mick (The Sandwich Song)" "Caught a Lite Sneeze" single Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2016
"This Old Man" "Caught a Lite Sneeze" single Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2016
"Thoughts" "Me and a Gun" single "Silent All These Years" single, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1991, 2015
"To the Fair Motormaids of Japan" Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster — 2016
"Tombigbee" Scarlet's Hidden Treasures EP — 2004
"Toodles Mr. Jim" "Caught a Lite Sneeze" single Boys for Pele Japanese Edition, Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 1996, 2016
"Upside Down" "Me and a Gun" single "Silent All These Years" single, "Winter" single, More Pink, A Piano, Little Earthquakes Deluxe Remaster 1991, 1994, 2006, 2015
"Walk to Dublin (Sucker Reprise)" A Piano: The Collection[83] Boys for Pele Deluxe Remaster 2006, 2016
"Zero Point" A Piano: The Collection[83] — 2006
Video albums
Year Video UK
Music Video
Chart Peak[9] Certifications
(sales thresholds)
1992 Little Earthquakes
Released: October 1992
Label: Warner Music Vision
Format: VHS
10 US: Gold[37]
1998 Live from New York
Released: March 17, 1998
Label: Warner Music Vision
Format: VHS
24
Complete Videos 1991–1998
Released: November 17, 1998
Label: Warner Music Vision
Format: VHS
6 US: Gold[37]
2003 A Sorta Fairytale
Released: April 8, 2003
Label: Sony Music Enterprises
Format: DVD (jewel or DVD case)
–
2004 Welcome to Sunny Florida
Released: May 18, 2004
Label: Sony Music Enterprises
Format: DVD/CD (jewel or DVD case)
1 US: Gold[37]
2006 Fade to Red
Released: February 14, 2006
Label: Rhino Entertainment
Format: DVD
5
2008 Live at Montreux 1991/1992
Released: September 22, 2008
Label: Eagle Vision
Format: DVD, Blu-ray
21
2010 Live from the Artists Den
Released: July 13, 2010
Label: TBA
Format: DVD
–
Music videos
Year Song Album Director(s)[87]
1991 "Silent All These Years" Little Earthquakes Cindy Palmano
1992 "China"
"Winter"
"Crucify"
1994 "Cornflake Girl" (UK version) Under the Pink Big TV!
"God" Melodie McDaniel
"Pretty Good Year" Cindy Palmano & Sam Riley
"Cornflake Girl" (US version) Tori Amos & Nancy Bennett
"Past the Mission" Jake Scott
1996 "Caught a Lite Sneeze" Boys for Pele Mike Lipscombe
"Talula" Mark Kohr
"Hey Jupiter" Earle Sebastian
"Professional Widow" Unknown
1998 "Spark" From the Choirgirl Hotel James Brown
"Jackie's Strength"
"Raspberry Swirl" Barnaby & Scott
1999 "Bliss" To Venus and Back Loren Haynes
"1000 Oceans" Erick Ifergan
"Glory of the 80's"∞
2001 "Strange Little Girl"∞ Strange Little Girls David Slade
2002 "A Sorta Fairytale" Scarlet's Walk Sanji
"Gold Dust"
2003 "Mary"∞ Tales of a Librarian Unknown
2005 "Sleeps with Butterflies" The Beekeeper Laurent Briet
"Sweet the Sting" Alex Smith
2007 "Big Wheel"∞ American Doll Posse Tori Amos &
Blaise Reutersward
"Bouncing off Clouds"∞
2009 "That Guy" Abnormally Attracted to Sin Christian Lamb
"Welcome to England"
"Strong Black Vine"
"Ophelia"
"Fast Horse"
"Fire to Your Plain"
"Curtain Call"
"Not Dying Today"
"Maybe California"
"Give"
"Police Me"
"Starling"
"500 Miles"
"Flavor"
"Lady in Blue"
"Abnormally Attracted to Sin"
"A Silent Night with You"∞ Midwinter Graces
2011 "Carry" Night of Hunters Bruno Centofani & Victor de Mello
"Nautical Twilight"
"Star Whisperer"∞
2012 "Flavor" (Gold Dust version) Gold Dust Danielle Levitt
"Gold Dust" (Gold Dust version) Holger Hage
2014 "Trouble's Lament"∞ Unrepentant Geraldines Beau Fowler
"Promise"∞
2017 "Reindeer King" (Lyric Video)∞ Native Invader
∞ denotes videos released as promotional only, not commercially released.
Musical contributions
Soundtracks and cast recordings
Year Contributed track(s) Film/musical/series
1992 "The Happy Worker", "Workers"[88] Toys
1995 "Losing My Religion", "Butterfly"[89] Higher Learning
"It Might Hurt a Bit"° Don Juan DeMarco
1996 "Talula (The Tornado Mix)"[90] Twister
"Professional Widow"[91] Escape from L.A.
1998 "Finn", "Siren",[92] "Paradiso Perduto"[93] Great Expectations
1999 "Me & You"‡ Hand of Fate
2000 "Carnival"[94] Mission: Impossible 2
"1000 Oceans"[95] Here on Earth
2003 "You Belong to Me", "Murder, He Says"[96] Mona Lisa Smile
2006 "Northern Lad"[97] Snow Cake
2008 "Yo George"[98] Body of War
2015 "Highness in the Sky", "Darkest Hour"[99] The Light Princess (Original Cast Recording)
2016 "Flicker" Audrie & Daisy
2019 "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" Good Omens
° Duet with Michael Stipe of R.E.M., track unreleased[100]
‡ Film and soundtrack unreleased[101]
Tributes
Year Contributed track(s) Album
1995 "Famous Blue Raincoat" Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
1995 "Down by the Seaside"° Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin
° Duet with Robert Plant
Other contributions
Year Song Album
1992 "Little Drummer Boy" We've Got Your Yule Logs Hangin Compilation/You Sleigh Me!
1992 "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout" Speaking Of Christmas And Other Things Compilation
1992 "Ring My Bell" Ruby Trax Compilation
1994 "Silent All These Years" Rare on Air, Volume 1 – Compilation of Live Performances on KCRW
1996 "I'm on Fire" VH1 Crossroads
1997 "Landslide" Y-100 Sonic Sessions Volume 1
1998 "Spark" MTV Fantastic Females Volume 1
1999 "Merman" No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees
2023 "Swimming Pools (Drank)" Echoes: Ancient & Modern (Trevor Horn)
Side projects
Year Album Artist Contribution
1987 Without You I'm Nothing Sandra Bernhard Backing vocals on "Little Red Corvette"
1988 Last Days of the Century Al Stewart Backing vocals on "Red Toupee" and "Last Day of the Century"
1989 Mosquitos Stan Ridgway Backing vocals
1990 Phantom Center Ferron
1994 The Lead and How to Swing It Tom Jones Backing vocals on "I Wanna Get Back With You"
1996 Ima BT Vocals on "Blue Skies"‡
2010 Here Lies Love David Byrne & Fatboy Slim Vocals on "You'll Be Taken Care Of" and "Why Don't You Love Me?"°
2013 They Die by Dawn & Other Short Stories... The Bullitts Vocals and piano on "Wait Until Tomorrow"
2015 Blackbird – The Beatles Album Miloš Karadaglić Vocals on "She's Leaving Home" " (wikipedia)
""China" is a song by American singer-songwriter and musician Tori Amos, released as the third single from her debut studio album, Little Earthquakes. It was issued on January 20, 1992, by EastWest Records in the United Kingdom. It was the first song written for Little Earthquakes[citation needed] and was originally titled "Distance";[2] a recurring lyric and theme in the song. It was originally submitted to the Library of Congress in 1987.[3]
Background
The song is often cited as one of Amos's least abstruse and most traditional ballads. It is a lament about lost love with lyrics like, "Sometimes I think you want me to touch you/How can I when you build the great wall around you?" This particular lyric likely inspired the cover art of Amos standing at an upside-down teacup shaped wall. This visual theme also occurred in the music video, which showed Amos lamenting on a rocky beach in England.
The single peaked at number 51 in the UK[4] but did not chart in other countries. One of the B-sides on the single, "Humpty Dumpty", is exclusive to this release. The B-side, "Sugar", was included on the Australian B-sides album, More Pink: The B-Sides, in 1994 and a live version appeared on the single, Hey Jupiter, in 1996. A live version of "Sugar" also appears on the live disc to Amos' 1999 2-CD album, To Venus and Back. Amos recalls that during the creation of Under The Pink, she considered re-recording the song to put it on the album, but it was later deemed unnecessary because she had enough new material to work with.[5]
Track listings
U.K. Cassette single – Atlantic A7531C / U.K. 7-inch single – Atlantic A7531
"China" – 5:01
"Sugar" – 4:27
U.K. CD single – Atlantic A7531CD / U.K. 12-inch single – Atlantic A7531T
"China" – 5:01
"Sugar" – 4:27
"Flying Dutchman" – 6:31
"Humpty Dumpty" – 2:52
France Cassette single – Carrere Music 7567-85755-4 / France CD single – Carrere Music 7567-85755-9
"China" (Edit) – 3:55
"Flying Dutchman" – 6:31
Charts
Chart (1992) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[4] 51" (wikipedia)
"A maxi single, maxi-single, or maxi CD (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song.[1] Maxi singles are often mistaken for extended plays (EPs), especially in the digital era such as the categorization on iTunes, Apple Music, or Spotify. An EP usually consists at least four different "songs" without any specific A-side, while a maxi-single may contain four or more tracks but only in form of remixes to complement one or two songs as the A-side. Billboard considers EPs for albums chart (Billboard 200) and considers maxi-singles for songs chart (Billboard Hot 100)....
CD maxi singles
When CDs began to appear as a popular single format in the early 1990s (see CD single), songs were occasionally released in two CD formats simultaneously, 3" and 5", predominantly as a marketing ploy but potentially as a logical extension of the 7" and 12" vinyl record formats to CD, with the 5" CD sometimes marketed as a "maxi-single", most commonly in the US, and European countries (outside of the UK). While the 5" CD version occasionally had additional or longer track mixes, the track listing was often identical.
By the mid 1990s CDs had clearly become the music format of choice. As the 1990s progressed, nearly every single release was available on CD, and vinyl and cassette single releases gradually became less common.
The UK became a thriving market for CD singles, but in 1998 the UK Chart Supervisory Committee reduced the maximal playing time of chart-eligible CD singles from 40 minutes to 20 minutes,[4] though 12" vinyl singles could still play for up to 40 minutes. While Maxi-CDs had been much loved among the dance community, as most if not all of the remixes that had been commissioned by the label could be released commercially, lobbying by artists in other genres who felt obliged to record extra and cover tracks to provide enough material for their single releases was responsible for the rule change. As a result, the U.K.'s singles from around mid-1998 often appeared as three separately-sold CDs with three tracks each, or more commonly, two CDs and an extra format (such as 7", 12" or DVD single). Very often, at least one track was common to all formats. Single releases in the US and elsewhere still included many tracks (primarily remixes) and called themselves maxi-singles to differentiate from the three-track UK versions.
Example: Saint Etienne – "Who Do You Think You Are?" (US CD single) Released by Warner Music in 1993 in the US. Includes eight different tracks, six of which are versions of the title song. Digipak packaging. Labeled "compact disc maxi-single" on the front cover.
Another extensive example is the collection of singles released for the award-winning Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins. Each of the five singles ("Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "1979", "Zero", "Tonight, Tonight", "Thirty-Three") had two or more additional songs; most of them had six or seven. All of the maxi singles were released together, with additional tracks on some, as The Aeroplane Flies High box set, for a total of thirty-three tracks across the five singles.[5] Adding that to the total number of other unique tracks on the main CD and vinyl releases of the album itself brings the grand total track count of Mellon Collie to fifty-eight.
As a result of the 1998 UK Chart Supervisory Committee ruling on chart-eligible singles containing no more than 20 minutes of material, many of the U.K.'s dance music singles contained edited / faded mixes. This increased demand for imported European & American CD maxi singles in the UK, especially amongst DJs who required full-length tracks." (wikipedia)
"Little Earthquakes is the debut solo album by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, featuring the singles "Silent All These Years", "China", "Winter" and "Crucify". After Atlantic Records rejected the first version of the album, Amos began working on a second version with her then-boyfriend Eric Rosse. The album was first released in the UK on January 6, 1992, where it peaked at number 14 in the charts.
It was well received by critics and listeners. In the US, the album reached the top 60 of the Billboard 200. It is frequently regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time; it was voted number 73 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums and ranked number 233 on Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums of all time.
Recording
Following the dissolution of her synth-pop band Y Kant Tori Read, Amos composed 12 songs, recorded them at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles with Davitt Sigerson producing, and in June 1990 submitted them for copyright.[1]
Amos approached Atlantic Records in December 1990 with a 10-track demo tape, some being newer songs but mostly ones from June. The track listing consisted of "Russia" (later to become "Take to the Sky"), "Mary", "Crucify", "Happy Phantom", "Leather", "Winter", "Sweet Dreams", "Song for Eric", "Learn to Fly" and "Flying Dutchman".[2] Atlantic was unhappy with the songs, and in response Amos and her then boyfriend Eric Rosse recorded some new songs, including "Girl", "Precious Things", "Tear in Your Hand", "Mother" and "Little Earthquakes". The song "Take Me with You" was recorded during these sessions, but not released until 2006 (with re-recorded vocals.) This session was recorded on a limited budget in Rosse's home studio, using his 3M 24-track analog tape machine and a Yamaha CP-80 piano. Amos and Rosse also went to Stag Studios to use a Yamaha grand piano. Satisfied with these recordings, Atlantic determined that the album Little Earthquakes would have 13 tracks, removing "Learn to Fly" and adding four from the December recording session.[1]
Amos moved to London to work with Ian Stanley (formerly of Tears for Fears); Atlantic thought Amos would have an easier time of achieving success in the United Kingdom, because of that market's appreciation for eccentric performers. Here she recorded what would become two of her early singles. "Me and a Gun" was the last song written for the album, while "China" was an early track, originally titled "Distance", that she wrote in 1987.[3]
The second final version of the album was accepted by the record company. However, this was still revised before the final release; a 13-track promo cassette shows that the song "Little Earthquakes" was to appear after "Happy Phantom" on side one, with side two closing with "Flying Dutchman".[2] The latter track was presumably dropped due to the physical restraints of the vinyl LP format.
Atlantic's European counterpart, East West, promoted the record extensively. Amos spent much of 1991 performing in small bars and clubs in London and playing for music executives and journalists, often in her own apartment. The Me and a Gun EP containing four tracks was released in October 1991, receiving considerable critical attention. The single was re-issued the following month with "Silent All These Years" as the lead composition, and it became her first chart entry in the UK at number 51 following Single of the Week support from BBC Radio 1 and a TV debut on the high-rated chat show of Jonathan Ross on Channel 4. The back cover of the album contains pictures of Phallus impudicus mushrooms, also known as stinkhorns.
Release
When the album was finally released in the UK in January 1992, it reached number 14 and remained on the Top 75 charts (UK Albums Chart) for 23 weeks. A month later, it was released in the United States to breakthrough critical success and also announced itself as a chart mainstay, despite peaking outside the Top 50 on the Billboard 200. The accompanying singles (along with "Me and a Gun" and "Silent All These Years") were "China" (January 1992 UK), "Winter" (March 1992 UK/November 1992 US) and "Crucify" (May 1992 US/June 1992 UK), the US EP version of which featured covers of songs by artists including The Rolling Stones and Nirvana.
Critical reception
Professional ratingsReview scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [4]
Christgau's Consumer Guide C+[5]
Los Angeles Times [6]
Mojo [7]
NME 7/10[8]
Pitchfork 8.6/10[9]
Q [10]
Record Collector [11]
Rolling Stone [12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [13]
Reviews of Little Earthquakes were generally positive. Los Angeles Times critic Jean Rosenbluth praised it as a considerable improvement over Amos's previous work in Y Kant Tori Read, calling the album "a quixotic, compelling record that mixes the smart sensuality of Kate Bush with the provocative impenetrability of Mary Margaret O'Hara."[6] Josef Woodward of Rolling Stone wrote that "Amos shares common ground with artfolk songstresses like Kate Bush and Jane Siberry" and described her "quivery vibrato-laden holler – akin to Siouxsie Sioux's".[12] The song "Leather" was pictured as a "Kurt Weill-meets-Queen cabaret act". He described the album as "an often pretty, subtly progressive song cycle that reflects darkly on sexual alienation and personal struggles", and that by the end of the album "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."[12] His original rating of three and a half stars out of five in the 1992 print version of the magazine was later rounded up to four stars out of five on Rolling Stone's website.
Among negative assessments, Stephanie Zacharek commented in Entertainment Weekly that Amos's songs "are too self-consciously weird" to be enjoyable,[14] while The Village Voice's Robert Christgau praised only "Me and a Gun", disregarding the other songs as lesser versions of Kate Bush.[5]
In the United Kingdom, where Amos was first promoted, the album was also warmly received. Jon Wilde of Melody Maker stated that Amos "possesses a rare ability to explore a multiplicity of emotions and a broad range of perspectives within the same song", describing the album's songs as "cerebral soul music for the kind of people who mean to read TE Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom on their holidays but end up spending all their time exchanging bodily fluids with strangers."[15] In Q, John Aizlewood wrote that "Guilt, misery and failed relationships thread their way through Little Earthquakes with occasional detours for childhood traumas transformed into adult inadequacies" and praised Amos's lyrics, concluding: "Little Earthquakes is disturbing, funny and sexy by turns. Amos does all this with the unmistakable stamp of a potentially great songwriter. Where on earth can she go from here?"[10] Roger Morton of NME was more reserved in his praise, summarizing Little Earthquakes as "a sprawling, confusing journey through the gunk of a woman's soul ... Sometimes it's magical and sometimes it's sickly and overwrought".[8]
Legacy
In 1998, Q readers voted Little Earthquakes the 66th greatest album of all time,[16] and in 2002 the same magazine named it the fourth greatest album of all time by a female artist.[17] It was also voted number 73 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2000,[18] and was ranked number 233 in the 2020 version of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.[19] Little Earthquakes was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[20]
In a retrospective review, AllMusic critic Steve Huey said that Amos "carved the template for the female singer/songwriter movement of the '90s" with Little Earthquakes, and that while "her subsequent albums were often very strong, Amos would never bare her soul quite so directly (or comprehensibly) as she did here, nor with such consistently focused results."[4] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani deemed it Amos's most focused and accessible recording, which "almost immediately sparked cult interest in the singer, and has, over time, undoubtedly become a soundtrack (at least in part) to the lives of many anguished teens and adults."[21]
Reviewing the album's 2015 remastered edition for Rolling Stone, Jessica Machado wrote that "the pop charts had never heard a female voice quite like the one on Little Earthquakes, from the sharp mix of desire and frustration in 'Precious Things' ... to the raw pain in ... 'Me and a Gun'",[22] while in Record Collector, Nicola Rayner noted how Amos's piano-based music stood out amid the rise of the guitar-oriented grunge and Britpop scenes in the early 1990s.[11] Mojo's John Bungey said that the "remarkable, idiosyncratic" album showcased "a singular creative force from the outset";[7] according to Alex Ramon of PopMatters, it established the "cryptic exhortations, poetic imagery, surrealist wit and brutal directness" that would define Amos's subsequent work.[23] Barry Walters remarked on the lasting influence of Little Earthquakes and its 1994 follow-up Under the Pink in his review for Pitchfork, citing various acts who "all wear their sensitivities as strengths as she did."[9] "With its lack of standard rock and pop clichés of the day and reliance on acoustic piano and an excellent (if unconventional) voice," wrote J. C. Maçek III of Spectrum Culture, "Little Earthquakes sounds as unique today as it did in 1992."[24]
In a roundtable interview with The Hollywood Reporter, singer Justin Timberlake expressed his immense admiration for Little Earthquakes. Timberlake said, "That album changed my life. So [expletive] good."[25]
Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes, an official graphic novel celebrating the album's 30th anniversary, was published by Z2 Comics in 2022 – contributors included Amos, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Marc Andreyko, Annie Zaleski, Derek McCulloch, Leah Moore, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Neil Kleid, Lar DeSouza, Colleen Doran, and David W. Mack.[26] The book was edited by Amos's friend Rantz Hoseley, who edited a previous graphic novel inspired by Amos's music, Comic Book Tattoo (Image Comics, 2008).[27]
Track listing
Original Release (1992)
All tracks are written by Tori Amos
Little Earthquakes track listingNo. Title Producer(s) Length
1. "Crucify"
Davitt Sigerson
4:58
2. "Girl"
AmosEric Rosse
4:06
3. "Silent All These Years"
Sigerson
4:10
4. "Precious Things"
AmosRosse
4:26
5. "Winter"
Sigerson
5:40
6. "Happy Phantom"
Sigerson
3:12
7. "China"
Ian Stanley
4:58
8. "Leather"
Sigerson
3:12
9. "Mother"
Sigerson
6:59
10. "Tear in Your Hand"
AmosRosse
4:38
11. "Me and a Gun"
Stanley (recorded by)
3:44
12. "Little Earthquakes"
AmosRosse
6:51
Total length: 57:11
Deluxe Edition (2015)
The 2015 double-CD reissue of the album included a second disc containing thirteen b-sides and five live performances which had previously been released on the CD singles for the album in 1991 and 1992. This release however did not include the covers of "Angie" by The Rolling Stones and "Thank You" by Led Zeppelin which were released as b-sides to "Winter" in the United Kingdom and "Crucify" in the United States.
All tracks are written by Tori Amos, except "Smells Like Teen Spirit" written by Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. "Humpty Dumpty" is based on the traditional nursery rhyme
2015 deluxe edition disc 2 track listingNo. Title Producer(s) Length
1. "Upside Down" (B-side to "Me and a Gun")
Davitt Sigerson
4:22
2. "Thoughts" (B-side to "Me and a Gun")
Tori AmosEric Rosse
2:36
3. "Ode to the Banana King (Part One)" (B-side to "Silent All These Years")
Ian Stanley
4:06
4. "Song for Eric" (B-side to "Silent All These Years")
Stanley
1:50
5. "The Pool" (B-side to "Winter")
Stanley
2:51
6. "Take to the Sky" (B-side to "Winter")
Rosse
4:20
7. "Sweet Dreams" (B-side to "Winter")
Sigerson
3:27
8. "Mary" (B-side to "Crucify")
Sigerson
4:27
9. "Sugar" (B-side to "China")
Stanley
4:27
10. "Flying Dutchman" (B-side to "China")
Sigerson
6:31
11. "Humpty Dumpty" (B-side to "China")
Stanley
2:52
12. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (B-side to "Crucify")
Stanley
3:17
13. "Little Earthquakes" (live from Cambridge Corn Exchange, April 5, 1992)
Stanley
6:58
14. "Crucify" (live from Cambridge Corn Exchange, April 5, 1992)
Stanley
5:19
15. "Precious Things" (live from Cambridge Corn Exchange, April 5, 1992)
Stanley
5:03
16. "Mother" (live from Cambridge Corn Exchange, April 5, 1992)
Stanley
6:37
17. "Happy Phantom" (live from Cambridge Corn Exchange, April 5, 1992)
Stanley
3:33
18. "Here In My Head" (B-side to "Crucify")
Stanley
3:53
Personnel
Tori Amos – acoustic piano, keyboard, lead vocals (all tracks), background vocals (tracks: 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 12), sampled strings (tracks: 2, 8)
Steve Caton – guitar (tracks: 2, 4, 10, 12), bass (track 2), background vocals (tracks: 4, 12)
John Chamberlain – mandolin (track 1)
Paulinho da Costa – percussion (tracks: 1, 6)
Jake Freeze – rat pedal (track 4), saw (track 12)
Stuart Gordon – violin (track 7)
Ed Greene – drums (track 1)
Will Gregory – oboe (track 7)
Tina Gullickson – background vocals (track 1)
Chris Hughes – drums (track 7)
David Lord – string arrangement (track 7)
Will McGregor – bass (tracks: 4, 10, 12)
Carlo Nuccio – drums (tracks: 4, 10)
Philly – finger cymbal (track 3)
David Rhodes – guitar (track 7)
Eric Rosse – drum and keyboard programming (tracks: 2, 4, 12), background vocals (tracks: 4, 12), Irish war drum (track 5)
Jef Scott – bass (tracks: 1, 8)
Matthew Seligman – bass (track 7)
Nancy Shanks – background vocals (tracks: 1, 12)
Phil Shenale – keyboard programming (track 6)
Eric Williams – ukulele (track 1), dulcimer (track 6)
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Nick DeCaro (tracks: 3, 5)
Charts
Chart (1992) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] 14
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[29] 49
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[30] 65
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[31] 85
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[32] 18
UK Albums (OCC)[33] 14
US Billboard 200[34] 54
US Cash Box Top 200 Albums[35] 45
European Albums (Eurotipsheet)[36] 26
Chart (2023) Peak
position
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[37] 13
Certifications
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[38] Gold 35,000^
Belgium (BRMA)[39] Gold 25,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[40] Gold 50,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[41] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[42] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[43] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^
* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone." (wikipedia)
"East West Records (stylized as eastwest) is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in New York City.[1]
History
After its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had its first hit with the Kingsmen's "Week End".[2]
In 1990, Atlantic revamped the imprint as EastWest Records America, appointing Sylvia Rhone as President & CEO.[3] Under Rhone's leadership, EastWest Records America shot to mega success with several multi-platinum artists such as En Vogue, Pantera, Adina Howard, Gerald Levert, AC/DC, The Rembrandts, Dream Theater, Missy Elliott and MC Lyte. UK artists on the EastWest label included The Beloved,[4] Tanita Tikaram,[5] Chris Rea,[6] Billy Mackenzie (as Associates) and Simply Red. EastWest also distributed imprints, such as Interscope Records, Motor Jams Records, Mecca Don Records, and The Gold Mind Inc.[7]
In 2005, WMG reactivated the East West label, which marketed and distributed rock music.[8] East West operated under Warner's Alternative Distribution Alliance, the successor to Independent Label Group.[9]
East West Records was revived in the UK in 2014 under the direction of Max Lousada, then Chairman & CEO, Warner Music UK.[10]
2024 – present
In 2024, Eric Wong was named President, East West Records & Head of Global A&R, Warner Recorded Music, reporting directly to WMG's CEO, Robert Kyncl.[11]
Wong leads East West Records, a storied name in WMG history, which now serves as a connector across the company's global ecosystem – identifying local talents with global potential and accelerating their pathway to global success. Wong will also help sign and develop artists, while working across the company's roster of stars to foster collaborations and creative opportunities that build careers.[12]
East West Records artists span WMG's global repertoire network, including WM China's Lay Zhang,[13] WM France's Aya Nakamura, WM Germany's Peter Fox, WM Denmark's Christopher, WM Italy's Ghali, and many more." (wikipedia)
"Ian Christopher Stanley (born 28 February 1957) is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He was a member of Tears for Fears for most of the 1980s, and played a key role in the making of their multi-platinum-selling second studio album Songs from the Big Chair.[1]
Career
Work with Tears for Fears (1982–1989)
After offering them free use of his recording facility,[2][3] Stanley became a member of Tears for Fears, contributing on synthesizers, drum machines, organ, pianos and backing vocals on their first three albums. He also co-wrote (with Roland Orzabal) many of their songs from the period 1983–1985,[4] and was a part of the production team during this era as the band worked with producer Chris Hughes at their studio, the Wool Hall, in Bath.[5][6]
He has appeared in several Tears for Fears music videos, including "Change" (in which he plays one of the two masked musicians), "Mothers Talk" (versions 1 and 3), "Shout", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Head over Heels" and "I Believe", and has performed with the band on many television performances. He also appeared in the 1983 Tears for Fears live video In My Mind's Eye, and the 1985 Tears for Fears documentary film Scenes from the Big Chair, as well as completing two world tours with the band.[citation needed]
Post-Tears for Fears and production
Following the success of Songs from the Big Chair, Stanley collaborated with Roland Orzabal on the 1986 side project Mancrab, releasing a single, "Fish for Life", which was made for the soundtrack of the film The Karate Kid Part II. Stanley also began working on Tears for Fears' third album, The Seeds of Love, but (along with producer Chris Hughes) left the project due to creative differences. His more prominent contributions to this album, however, can be heard on the hit single "Sowing the Seeds of Love" and the B-sides "Always in the Past" and "My Life in the Suicide Ranks".[7]
He admitted that his choice to leave the band was a hard one, but cited several reasons for his departure, the main one being he believed Orzabal was "accelerating away" from the rest of the band in terms of his vocal power and the proficiency of the instruments he played. Also around this time Stanley wanted to become a music producer and/or make film music. He has expressed his dislike for their third album The Seeds of Love, stating that "Badman's Song" is "too long and overdrawn", that "Advice for the Young at Heart" is "lightweight", and that some lines in "Woman in Chains" are "cheap and throwaway", the main example being "so free her" at the end of the song. He believed that Tears for Fears were a synth duo, and imagined that their third album would be like Songs from the Big Chair, "but with a bit more rock".[8]
Since the 1980s, Stanley has produced such artists as Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, a-ha, the Pretenders, Howard Jones, Ultra, Republica, Naimee Coleman, Stephanie Kirkham, Natalie Imbruglia, Propaganda, the Human League and Tori Amos.[9][10][11][12] He also contributed to the Sisters of Mercy re-recording of "Temple of Love" and additional production on "Under the Gun".[1] Stanley also did A&R for East West Records, but left in 1998.[13]
In 2006, Stanley produced the Beautiful South's album Superbi, in part at his Irish studio in Enniskerry, County Wicklow.[citation needed]
In 2009, Stanley joined forces with members of the Tears for Fears touring band from 1985 to form Headshells, with original Tears for Fears drummer Manny Elias, saxophonist Will Gregory and bassist Lee Gorman. The band, billed as "Ian Stanley, Manny Elias, Lee Gorman & Will Gregory", played one live show at the Grand in Clitheroe to a capacity crowd, but shortly after the event – which was well received by fans of classic Tears for Fears songs – it was announced on Elias' official website that they would be too busy to commit to Headshells on an ongoing basis, and so Headshells came to an end." (wikipedia)