Strange Little Girls
Tori Amos's idea forStrange Little Girlswas to present covers of men's songs from a female perspective. The concept is fairly unique--althoughLiz Phairhad a similar idea with 1993'sExile in Guyville. But while Phair fashioned original lyrics in response to the Rolling Stones'Exile on Main Street, Amos sticks with the script when reciting lyrics from acts as diverse as theVelvet Underground,Depeche Mode,Neil Young,Tom Waits, andSlayer. She transforms the material, though, by singing in a pained tone, weighing the lyrics with heavy emotion and stripping most of the songs down to their simplest elements--often just a string section, a drum machine or a piano, leaving the original music almost unrecognizable. The most poignant of these tracks is definitely her cover ofEminem's "97' Bonnie and Clyde." The first-person story of a man dumping his lover's dead body takes on an ugly sickness and brutality with Amos's almost-whispered narration. As with most of these songs, Amos removes the pop façade and leaves the listener with a stark picture of the message behind the lyrics--whether that message concerns violence or male identity--in a statement both subtly political and stunningly beautiful.--Jennifer Maerz