Crucify | 
| Artist: Tori Amos
Label: Atlantic / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $8.96
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $8.95 (100%)
New (22) Used (88) Collectible (11) from $0.01
Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 51126
Format: Ep
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 82399
UPC: 075678239922
EAN: 0075678239922
ASIN: B000002ITU
Publication Date: 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Crucify [Remix] | | • | Winter | | • | Angie | | • | Smells Like Teen Spirit | | • | Thank You |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Granted, it was her timely cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that gained Tori Amos instant notoriety--if only because we all got to hear what Kurt was actually saying. But that track pales before Amos's cover of "Thank You"--a thoughtful rendition that reminds us just how many dimensions Led Zeppelin's music had. Also found on this 1992 EP is Amos's take on the Stones' "Angie," as well as "Winter," a beautiful ballad in which the artist lives up to her reputation as the American Kate Bush. On the other hand, the "Crucify" remix isn't particularly crucial--especially when compared to the more adventurous mixes Amos would commission for subsequent singles. --Bill Forman
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
 The consummate Tori Amos EP July 14, 2002
Daniel Jolley (Shelby, North Carolina USA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Whereas this EP, particularly Tori's cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" seemed to introduce Tori Amos to many listeners, I only discovered it after I had embraced the magic of the Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink CDs. Unlike the vast majority of artists, Amos releases EPs containing wonderful, must-have songs not included on her albums, and this Crucify EP is her consummate EP offering. First, there is a remix of Tori's powerful song "Crucify" (although, to be honest, I can hardly tell the difference between this remix and the original song). Next is "Winter," perhaps the most beautiful song Amos has ever recorded. The true magic of this particular CD rests in the remaining three cover tracks. Tori makes the Rolling Stones' "Angie" her own, singing it with great emotion and her patented edginess of voice--the end result is a hauntingly beautiful song. The eye-catching track on the EP is the cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." She strips this song down to its lyrical core and makes of it a really tender, beautiful piece of music. Finally, Tori stamps her individual imprint on Led Zeppelin's classic "Thank You." The piano-playing is superb, and she performs some lyrical gymnastics that would make Robert Plant himself jealous, but I tend to lose the song amidst the music. As a total package, this EP reveals the power Tori Amos possessed very early on in her career. Some may buy this just to hear the actual words to "Smells Like Teen Spirit," but even the unsuspecting are almost guaranteed to find themselves wrapped up in Tori's musical web of beauty, grace, and meaning.
Stones? Nirvana? Zepplin? She's Got You Covered August 14, 2006
Julien Walden (Austin, TX)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
The Crucify EP, more than a single and less than an album, was my first taste of the way Tori worked back then. She was probably the most prominent and consistent EP-artist in the '90s, as nearly every single she put out was released in this format, with at least two, and usually three or four, extra, non-LP songs on it. If you were a completist, as I was (and still am), this made collecting Tori both frustrating and quite rewarding. To wit: while you would always get a profound feeling of accomplishment from finding some, say, UK release of 'Silent All These Years' in the import section of the local Sam Goody or Hastings, there was always, in those final years before the internet and sevices like this, at least one that you just couldn't get no matter how hard you tried. The Crucify EP was never one of these; ever since its release, it has always been right up front with the LPs, where you can always find it.
Of course now, in the days post-ebay, post-amazon, finding all of Tori's myriad EPs is easy; all it takes is money and an internet hookup (and the nerves and patience to dig through ebay and wait out any number of auction opponents). Still, in spite of the fact that you don't even have to go to that much trouble to find Crucify, and in spite of the fact that it will never cost you fifty or seventy-five dollars, it stands up with the best of those rarer, more costly EPs. The single mix of the title track that begins the record is excellent, the kind of track that reminds one that the 'remix' isn't always a waste of studio time, and that it can sometimes add another dimension to a song, or bring out an element of it that isn't emphasised in the album mix. This is followed by the album version of 'Winter,' which would wind up with an EP of its own; while there's no particular reason for it to be here, it fits the context and is just a damn good song anyway. But the reason to buy this record, for most of us, is the three tracks that follow: the covers. These are stark, simple recordings, just Tori and the piano, and they are perfect in their simplicity. Her version of the Rolling Stones' 'Angie' is breathtaking; a slow-burning, passionate rendition that exceeds the original in emotional quality and brings out the melodic potential of the song that the Stones neglect; pardon the cliche, but she truly makes it her own. Ballads simply are not their specialty; they are (one of) Tori's, so she had little trouble taking a seemingly tepid ballad by a non-ballad-oriented act and making it a thing of great passion and beauty. Next up, she did something that really took nerve: she took the ultimate rock anthem of the age, and, with no more than her voice and 88 keys,without changing a word, converted it into damn near a new song. Supposedly, Kurt Cobain liked Tori's 'Teen Spirit,' which is nothing like his original, but for lyrics (you can understand them in this version, by the way). I've always believed that there's no point in covering a song if you don't have something new to contribute to it, some variation upon the standard interpretation. Note-for-note remakes are for bar-bands, 'tribute bands' and the like; when a genuine artist covers a song, he or she should be able to present it to you in a new way, from a perspective other than that of its originator. Tori's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' haunting yet comprehensible, does this beautifully.
Which brings us to the end: 'Thank You,' by Led Zepplin. The Zep had a more profound influence upon the young Myra Ellen Amos than any other musical force, perhaps; it certainly shows in her vocal style, and her tendency toward mystical epics on record. Either way, her version is etherial, evoking mental pictures of sunrise beaches and highland mists as well as any Zep original. When I saw her live, at the Backyard in my home town of Austin, Texas days after Hurricane Katrina, she did Zep's 'When the Levee Breaks' in tribute to the people of the gulf coast; it was one of the highlights of the evening. Tori probably does Robert Plant better than anyone these days, quite possibly including the man himself.
In conclusion, even though there's no difficulty in finding it, and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, the Crucify EP is a wonderful piece of work, entirely worth the trouble you don't have to go through to find it.
Memoirs of a strange little girl... October 31, 2005
Steven Cain (Temporal Quantum Pocket)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Love it. This version of Crucify definitely tops the already excellent version on Little Earthquakes, and Winter is simply stunning.
As for the covers, the Led Zep song, Thank You, is exquisite, and a wonderful tribute to her friend Robert Plant and the mighty Zeppelin. This woman rules, she's even a friend of Sci Fi icon Neil Gaiman.
While she does a good job on Angie, it's a song I could live without. Smells Like Teen Spirit was a classic Rock anthem in its original form, and Tori has worked her magic on this beautiful version, in which you can indeed hear the lyrics - which actually raised my respect for Kurt's song even more.
This is a vital acquisition for the serious Tori fan.
Tori Amos: Back in the Day April 10, 2005
PERFECT PILLOW (Omaha, NE USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Back in the day, when Tori Amos first burst onto the scene with that wonder of wonders "Little Earthquakes", she stirred something wicked and naughty in me. Was it the way she breathed? The way she could purr one minute and wail the next? Or was it that she wasn't trying to sound so...um, what's the word? Affected? Don't get me wrong: I recently bought her latest offering, "The Beekeeper", and it's...um, a keeper. But back in 1992, when Tori wore jeans and writhed away on her piano bench like a lounge singer in heat, she had a special spark that (I believe) has dimmed a bit over the years. The "Crucify" EP captured the essence of that spark. It was like a clever little epilogue to "Earthquakes", a way for Tori to declare "I'm here" while at the same time paying homage to her influences. It's even more stripped down than some of the more intimate tracks on "Earthquakes", and equally as effective. Check out the Rolling Stones cover of "Angie" and you'll hear the soul inside the singer.
In 1994, less than three months after Kurt Cobain died, I saw Tori at the Seattle Opera House. She opened the show with the chorus of McLean's "American Pie" and segued into "Smells Like...". It was magical, haunting, necessary. It's all there (sans the McLean cover) on this CD. And it's perfect.
Run, don't walk, to the checkout for this one.
Wonderful... as always... February 26, 2000
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I just wanted to write a little something as a devout Tori Amos fan. She is an unspeakably genius artist and musician and any song of hers that flows in your ear is sure to make a more thoughtful person of you. This little album is one of her greats and the cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is beautiful.
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