In 2001, Tori Amos released a fascinating conceptual covers album called Strange Little Girls. On that LP, she took on songs written and originally performed by men — songs that seemed extremely masculine in one way or another — and remade them in her own meditative way. The songs came form all over the map: Slayer's "Raining Blood," Eminem's "'97 Bonnie And Clyde," the Beatles' "Happiness Is A Warm Gun." Now, Amos is getting ready to release a new vinyl version with some extra covers and seemingly without the contributions from one particular collaborator.
Amos announced her Strange Little Girls reissue on Wednesday, It'll be the first time the album will ever be available on vinyl, and it'll include two covers, of David Bowie's "After All" and Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed," that were released as B-sides at the time, as well as two that have never been released. One of those covers is Elvis Costello's "Hoover Factory," which Amos has performed live before. The other is her take on Bruce Springsteen's "Growin' Up," which originally came out on the Boss' 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ. That Springsteen cover is now on streaming, and it's cool to hear Amos' take on David Sancious' piano and Springsteen's delivery. Check it out below.
Now for the Neil Gaiman stuff. Amos has had a long friendship and association with Gaiman, the once-celebrated author and comic book writer. He's her daughter's godfather. As recently as 2022, he contributed to Amos' Little Earthquakes graphic novel. The original CD edition of Strange Little Girls included images of Amos, made up as a different persona that she invented for each song on the album. Gaiman wrote short pieces to go along with all the photos, and they were all included on the album.
Last year, a number of women came forward to accuse Gaiman of sexual misconduct, painting a picture of a sickening pattern going back many years. Earlier this year, one of Gaiman's former babysitters sued him and ex-partner Amanda Palmer for rape. Last year, Amos was the subject of a Guardian profile, and she reportedly teared up while talking about Gaiman's alleged crimes. She said that she was "shocked," and she continued:
And if the allegations are true, that’s not the Neil that I knew, that’s not the friend that I knew, nor a friend that I ever want to know. So in some ways it’s a heartbreaking grief. I never saw that side of Neil. Neither did my crew. And my crew has seen a lot...
I haven’t publicly said anything because: what do I say? I didn’t hire the nannies. I wasn’t there. I’ve never met these people. And I’ve never received a letter – of the thousands of letters I’ve gotten in 33 years – I’ve never received anything that was about Neil, except praise for his work and how much his work meant to people. That’s all I ever knew.
Amos has posted the full credits and acknowledgments for the Strange Little Girls reissue on her website, and Neil Gaiman's name is not mentioned. This appears to be an intentional omission, especially since none of the other releases on her site include full credits. One can only assume Amos is signaling that Gaiman's contributions have been removed. We've got an email in to Amos' reps, and we'll update this story if we get confirmation.
The double vinyl version of Strange Little Girls is out 2/20. Pre-order it here.
