Little Earthquakes                                       Under the Pink

It’s nearly unfeasible to imagine that more than two decades have passed since Tori Amos released her seminal debut Little Earthquakes in early 1992. Originally considered too cerebral and magniloquent for mainstream, Amos was resolute in her refusal to be pigeonholed as merely a girl with a piano, as she more than eloquently proved two years later with her sophomore follow-up, Under the Pink. Not since the days of Joni Mitchell’s emotive Blue and Carole King’s confessional Tapestry two decades earlier had such an intimately revealing and distinctly female perspective been unleashed upon the unsuspecting masses.

Now Rhino Records has re-released Amos’ first two albums in deluxe, re-mastered, 2-disc sets, both packed with out-of- print B-sides and rare live versions as bonus tracks. Also, both titles have been concurrently released on 180-gram vinyl, which marks the first time Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink have been available on the heavyweight LP format in the U.S.

These landmark recordings contain the amazingly timeless “Silent All These Years,” “Winter,” “God,” and “Cornflake Girl,” all of which have endured as live staples throughout Amos’ career as well as endearing her to a multitude of die-hard Toriphiles. Raging with now famous Tori-isms such as the caustic “So you can make me come/That doesn’t make you Jesus” (from “Precious Things”), as well as the chilling re-telling of Amos’ own rape in the a cappella “Me and a Gun,” these two classic albums have eternally left a resounding and omnipresent impact upon popular music.