Little Earthquakes in the News

For an album that is coming up on its 18th birthday — still not old enough to drink in the States at least — Little Earthquakes remains a landmark record that continues to be definitive and singular listen even to this day.

Out magazine has recognized that by naming it one of their 100 Greatest. Gayest Albums (Of All Time). Coming in at #54 (just like last time), Perez Hilton has this to say about the album: “A song has the ability to convey so many emotions, and that’s exactly what this exquisite album does. It takes you on a very powerful journey.” (And while we’re on the topic of Out, keep an eye on their site for a new interview with Tori sometime soon!)

Meanwhile, the latest issue of Rolling Stone mentions an online-only article in which Tori goes through Little Earthquakes track by track. The article does not appear to have been posted yet but we’ll link you to it soon as it shows up — assuming you don’t link yourself there first.

Thanks to Matthew, “Mark-Alexis* and Colleen for catching these!

Pitchfork Disgraces Midwinter Graces

Every year around this time, Pitchfork skewers the worst album covers from the past twelve months on their trident and, as you might have guessed from this article’s title, Midwinter Graces has landed on their 2009 list. It’s all the way down at the bottom — not sure if that makes it #1 or #20 — with the quip, “Just take that Final Fantasy cutscene and run with it, girl!” Perhaps not the jab we’d make but, well, let’s just say the cover wouldn’t make our Best Covers of 2009 list.

Thanks to Astred and the others who brought this to our attention.

Amazon's 25 Days of Free

As part of it’s 25 Days of Free promotion, Amazon.com is giving away a holiday song every day of December up through Christmas. “Snow Angel” from Midwinter Graces is the song of the day for December 2nd and you can pick it up at Amazon — regardless of whether you’ve been naughty or nice!

A Silent Night With You - Video and Single

Hot on the coattails of the “Pink and Glitter” video, AOL Music has added a solo, acoustic performance of “A Silent Night With You” that, as Spinner reports, was recorded in a Los Angeles studio.

Perhaps not coincidentally, “A Silent Night With You” was released as a single in the United Kingdom this week — that’s the cover artwork over there to the right. The single includes two b-sides: acoustic versions of “Pink and Glitter” and “Jeanette, Isabella.” At this point, the single appears to be digitally released only and can be found on iTunes UK, Amazon.co.uk, Play.com and presumably other fine digital outlets.

While we curmudgeons wait for a physical release of the single, everyone can enjoy this live performance of the song, courtesy of AOL:

Thanks to John, Mark-Alexis, Alfred and “Josh* for the tip!

Midwinter Graces Mop-up

Since the release of Midwinter Graces, several reviews of Tori’s seasonal collection have been piling up but, for various boring reasons, we didn’t quite get around to posting them — until now! But rather than plaster the front page with a bunch of older reviews, they’ve been back-dated to their publish dates. If you’re inclined to read them, you can find them in under the Reviews news gategory or the Midwinter Graces catalog page’s News section.

Also, since we’re on the subject of the album, Rob F. points out the Midwinter Graces debuted at #66 on the Billboard 200 last week. Unfortunately, it’s dropped down to #179 for the second week of its availability in the United States. Billboard also maintains a Holiday Album chart where it’s currently at #40 after debuting at #9 last week.

UK Midwinter Graces Update

Everything Tori has announced that the Christmas card reported at the end of last week will only be included with the first 1,000 orders of the UK regular edition of Midwinter Graces from Amazon.co.uk.

Additionally, they’ve said that, “HMV will be making a special announcement about some Tori Amos live news,” and recommended keeping an eye on hmv.com for details when they are announced. So far, nothing yet but we’ll get it posted here soon as we hear the news.

Midwinter Graces Now Streaming!

Christmas — or at least Tori’s new music from the season — has come a little early this year: the twelve songs from the regular edition of Midwinter Graces are streaming at imeem for free!

Thanks to Steven, Suzy and Sally for letting us know!

A Post-Mid-Week Midwinter Graces Update

While I was off cavorting in Northern Illinois on a business trip for the first half of this week (go Ice Hogs!), a few Midwinter Graces tidbits popped up here and there.

First, the album will be released in Australia on Friday, November 6th in both the CD-only regular and CD/DVD deluxe editions. You can find it listed at JB Hi Fi and CD Online and other Australian vendors — assuming you haven’t already gone out to a local store and picked up a copy.

Update: matthew writes to say that the record was released on iTunes Australia yesterday as well and points out that, amusingly, the deluxe edition with the extra tracks and the video interview turns out to be the cheapest version. Go figure!

Second, Amazon.co.uk has added a short video clip from the DVD included in the deluxe edition of the album to their listings for each edition of the album. In it, Tori talks about the conversation she had with Universal Music’s Doug Morris that, along with the other influences she’s mentioned in various interviews, lead to this recording.

Third, Amazon.co.uk’s listing for the regular edition has been changed to say “Midwinter Graces (Includes Tori Amos Christmas Card).” One presumes that the image added to the listing — which also graces this article — would be the Christmas card in question.

Fourthly, back on the North American side of the Atlantic, Amazon.com finally got around to adding clips of each song to their listing for the release.

And finally, as mentioned at ToriAmos.com and Everything Tori, the album is now available for pre-order from iTunes — don’t forget that the deluxe edition sold at iTunes in the US includes one additional bonus track: “Good King Wenceslas”.

Many thanks to vic suteski, roel and David for catching all these tidbits!

Canadian Deluxe Delight

It appears that — at least as far as Midwinter Graces is concerned — as goes the United States, so goes Canada. Josh reports that the single-disc regular edition of the album was discontinued in HMV’s inventory system and, sure enough, only the CD/DVD deluxe edition is listed at HMV.ca. Amazon.ca has followed suit as well.

So, for those keeping score, the deluxe edition will be the only option if you want to purchase a physical copy of the album within North America. Digitally, the choice between regular and deluxe on US (and presumably Canadian) iTunes — with the deluxe iTunes release including an additional bonus track. Meanwhile, outside of North America the regular and deluxe editions are still on the table as either physical or digital purchases. At least as far as we know.

Midwinter Graces UK Release Update

Everything Tori has posted an update about the UK release of Midwinter Graces, indicating that the release date has been moved back to November 16th — apparently despite the fact that the Amazon.co.uk pages they link to still say the release date is November 9th.

As mentioned before, the UK release will be available both physically and digitally as either the regular album edition or a deluxe edition including the interview with Tori about the making of the collection.