SCARLET'S WALK

Hmmm, is Tori Amos really prog enough to be here? I'm sure some people answer that question negatively, but my reaction was only delighted: yet another artist I know quite well and enjoy! She is a POP artist, but an emphasis on the word artist. Unique and very influential to the young generation of female singer-songwriters. I start with this album which is my favourite in the Amos catalogue.

It may be safe to say that it's also among the most accessible of her albums that far. IMHO she did have a bit too mock-artistic approach in e.g. Boys For Pele. Accessibility is of course very subjective thing (from a prog-listener's point of view Tori Amos is more likely over-sweet than unaccessible!), in this occasion I mean that this album is for the most part dreamy and serene, its song are relatively relaxed, not very complex in structure but with wonderful arrangements full of delicate nuances, and it has a suitable amount of down-to-earth nature alongside that dreaminess. It avoids being over-sweet like for example The Beekeeper or her Christmas-related Midwinter Graces are here and there. I guess Scarlet's Walk is meant to be some kind of a "road album" (compare road movie) and a study of "Americana". Tracks seem to be connected with various places all over the States.

It has no less than 18 tracks. The risk of including several fillers is big, but the overall level of songs is very high. I have many favourites here, such as 'Carbon', 'Crazy', romantically soft 'Your Cloud', ethereal but increasingly exciting 'I Can't See New York' (my favourite of all Tori Amos songs perhaps?), urban sounding 'Taxi Ride', melancholic 'Gold Dust'... To some listeners this album may be too soft and lacking of edginess. Don't expect the catchy power of the early hit 'Corn Flake Girl'. But if you enjoy dreamy female vocal pop with the dominance of piano, don't pass by this beautiful album.

Like a Good Book, I can't put this back...

Yes, a red haired girl with fairy fingers and up-yours-attitude. Tori Amos' tough, you know . Her music isn't aggressive per se, but she pour so much of herself into every album that I cannot describe her as a weakling or a pushover. She travels, she's mothering, she's creating, she loves and boy she can hate when she wants to. Surviving in the ingrate music buisness demands tough character and a solid carapace to deflect the flame arrows. Well, this is how I see her.

To my opinion, perhaps the clearest concept album by Ms. Amos: America thru her eyes. The booklet is interesting in the fact that the whole 'walk' is described pretty well. States after states, smalltowns, a gas station, heavy clouds, children playing and a cat named Cajun on a Wednesday: Tori is giving us a thick slice of Americana in it's own Bush era.

The hauting voice, the gracious drumming of Matt Chamberlain and the solid bass of Jon Evans, more wurlitzer, more ever flowing piano, more and more stunning lyrics as usual. Described many times as depressing, I frankly don't think so. Described many times as 'music for girls'...I sure hope not!

My choice for starters.

Keep walking, Scarlet

"Woke up to a world I am not a part except when I can play its stranger..."

In a bio I read, sometime after the "Venus" album, Amos' husband lamented how dark and strange her recent material had become, wishing she would produce some work that was more feminine and perhaps sunnier. Unfortunately it appears Tori took his advice. Tori's most boring album is something of a travelogue across the United States, and in terms of relaying the feeling the beautiful countryside evokes, is perhaps the least successful pop album I've ever heard. I've traveled the same lands that Tori shows us on her little map, and have to wonder if she was touring dentist's offices rather than the actual lands themselves, as the music feels more like the background music they play while cleaning your teeth.

Sadly we hear Amos' amazing talents watered down to the point of sheer tediousness, her fantastic piano simply wandering and unfocused over completely dead-in-the-water drumming, utterly passionless songwriting, and little dynamic change or adventure. The tracks are all the same, with few surprises and plenty of background pleasantries, as if Tori were merely singing the songs of other middle-aged, largely washed-up performers like Natalie Merchant or Sarah McLachlan. (Thankfully Tori doesn't fall into this kind of ennui for long, and returns with better work down the road.) Tori sounds mostly disinterested in the music herself, her trademark passion and enthusiasm nowhere to be found. The tracks are very laid back and probably trying to evoke the wide open skies she was seeing her travels, trying to impart her sense of wonder and abandon. I suppose it works occasionally in getting those feelings across, but given the variety of mood, the album should have been about 35 minutes long.

As always, her vocals are very beautiful and the increased focus here on impressive vocal harmonies gets the second star from me. Tori is amazing at backing up herself with lovely overdubs and there are very beautiful moments on this album. It can be useful as a relaxing background listening experience. All I'm saying is don't expect a truly riveting journey like the Amos of the 90s gave you. This one is all about music for the background, music for lulling your toddler to her nap, music for catching up on some work at home. Nothing wrong with that. But with Amos it feels as unnatural and staged as the silly photo of Tori doing the rundown roadside US diner shot in the booklet, where we see the artist eating bad food at a much cluttered table. Tori looks as if she needs direction on how to handle this photo and it's a perfect metaphor for why I believe Tori doesn't sell this project---at all. She looks like Tori, sounds like Tori, but the Tori essence is nowhere to be found.

The lyric I chose at the top could be her answer to skeptics of Scarlet, like me. I'm asking her to be the "stranger" all the time. Perhaps Tori, but you're the one who showed me how amazing the stranger and her "little girls/fairies" (as she refers to her songs) are in the first place, so don't be surprised at disappointment when you put out a 75 minute Ambien set for those who like office music. I'm a huge fan of Amos but not the kind willing to give her a pass at every turn.