Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Tori AmosEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2002-10-29
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Amber Waves
- a sorta fairytale
- Wednesday
- strange
- Carbon
- Crazy
- wampum prayer
- don't make me come to Vegas
- Sweet Sangria
- your cloud
- pancake
- I can't see New York
- mrs. jesus
- Taxi Ride
- another girl's paradise
- Scarlet's Walk
- Virginia
- gold dust
Free Music Notes for Scarlet's Walk
Free Music Review: An Epic And Gorgeous Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
After 2001's "Strange Little Girls" failed to excite the majority of Tori Amos's fans, one can only imagine the sigh of relief they experienced when 2002's "Scarlet's Walk" was released. Inspired by the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, Tori saw the world in a different perspective than she had before. The result was a long and adventurous road trip across North America, where she gathered inspiration for all eighteen songs on this amazing album. Released in October 2002, this was Tori's seventh studio album and sold almost 600,000 copies in the US. The overall concept is brilliant, and I think one of Tori's best ever. Each song represents an individual State, and they all portray them perfectly. Of course I wouldn't know because I've never been to America, but the music on this album just feels right.
It's one of those albums you could definitely listen to on a road trip because it seems to fit perfectly with atmospheric views. In comparison to other Tori albums, it's definitely more mellow. It's not as hard as "Boys For Pele," or as 'depressing' as "From The Choirgirl Hotel." Of course some fans could interpret this as a sell-out to commercialism, but then there's always going to be so-called EWF's/Toriphiles who criticise every new record she brings out by comparing it to earlier recordings. View it as a single entity, like all Tori albums should be viewed, and you have a truly amazing accomplishment.
The album opens with "Amber Waves." Right off the bat, Tori sings of how women can be mistreated by men when they exploit their sexuality, in this case, a porn star. I think that this a great song, but I actually don't regard it as one of my favourites on the album which is strange as Tori's albums always usually have stunning opening songs. "A Sorta Fairytale" is the first song to introduce the breathy vocals which many of the songs on this album adopt. They almost echo into the distance which creates a great scope, and a feeling of the great outdoors. This song is very radio-friendly and became Tori's biggest US hit single of her career. It's accessible without being too accessible - a perfect song. It has a great final minute, especially where Tori sings, "In the rearview, you lost me." It's also about five and a half minutes long, so you really get into this song.
"Wednesday" is a great and peppy, upbeat song which is more of a long interlude than a full song at two and a half minutes. It has a great beat and Tori's singing is fantastic. "Strange" is the first of three amazing songs which I regard as perhaps some of Tori's best ever work. The verses are very structured and the chorus is a beautiful flourish of beauty. I don't really like the build-up to the chorus because it seems a bit of a struggle, but the chorus itself is a work of art. "Carbon" is a very primal and natural song to me. It doesn't have much of a structure and the vocals are everywhere but this creates a beautiful mystique to it. The best part of the song is when Tori sings, "Keep your eyes on her horizon," as her voice echoes on the last word.
"Crazy" is a very underrated song in my opinion. From the reviews I've read here, people don't mention it much. One 'fan' every referred to it as 'Dangerously close to Enya!' Now that's a diabolical comparison if I ever heard one! The vocal wails which open this song are so beautiful and the lyrics are so tender. It's so close and passionate, and I feel everything Tori is singing. Best lines, both lyrically and musically are, "He said 'First let's just unzip your religion down. Heard you were once Temptation's girl.'" "Wampum Prayer" is a short song and probably my least favourite on the album. However, at only 44 seconds, it sure has a complex theme! "Don't Make Me Come To Vegas" is a bit more upbeat and rocking that the stuff we've heard before it. It works very well though, and is a perfect set up for the next track, "Sweet Sangria." This song has a very interesting arrangement and I love the chorus. This song has a great sense of Tori's attitude on it, and it works so well. It takes a few listens to really get used to, but once you do you're guaranteed to love it, especially the "Yeah, you think about that!" bit.
"Your Cloud" is the next song, and absolutely gorgeous. With an almost lullaby-style piano riff, this has to be one of Tori's most heavenly creations to date! Perhaps this song is about her adorable little daughter Tash, but whatever the lyrical matter, you can't ignore the way Tori wraps her voice around these lyrics, and in turn, around your heart. "Pancake" is another brilliant song, because Tori's vocals are incredibly raw here! I love how she draws out her voice on the line, "I can look your God right in the eye!" and gradually takes it higher and higher into the sky.
"I Can't See New York" is probably the album's standout song because it runs for more than seven minutes and has the most serious subject matter. It's Tori's song about the terrorist attacks, but it's not what you'd expect. Tori opens the song gradually with a simple piano and some distant, swirling sonic sounds. These are the clouds floating past the aeroplane. Then the massive crash after "Is there a signal there?" is where the first plane strikes the first World Trade Center building. It's all incredibly powerful and evocative, and Tori manages to create a horrific ideal of what it must've been like caught up in all that chaos. I love where she sings, "I can't see New York as I'm circling down through white cloud, falling out and I know His lips are warm but I can't seem to find my way out, my way out." Exceptional. "Mrs. Jesus" is not really one of my favourites but I can appreciate the use of a full band on this song. It creates a fuller feeling to the song overall.
"Taxi Ride" is probably the most accessible song on the album, and the first one I really clung to (I skip through Tori's albums frantically the first time I play them trying to take everything in. Bad, I know). This song is about Tori's gay make-up assistant who died, but it's a very happy, joyful song. It's obvious that Tori was very close to him, as she attacks her homophobic 'friends' for seeing him as 'just another dead fag.' The breathy vocals are back here and they go down a treat, as does the melodic line "I'm glad you're on my side." "Another Girl's Paradise" is another amazing song with a brilliant chorus. Her vocals are drawn out again at the end of the chorus which I find so beautiful, contrasted perfectly by the simple piano riff.
The album's title track, "Scarlet's Walk" is a gorgeous and moving song. Tori's wailing intro is very evocative and I find the song on a whole very moving. I have an image of Tori walking across a desert with the wind blowing back her hair as she sings this song, that's how vivid and luminous her voice is. "Virginia" is a good song but it's probably my least favourite on the album. I think maybe I need to listen to this a few more times because it's not really making much of an impression on me at the moment. Kind f undecided on this one. The album closes with "Gold Dust," which is a near-six minute epic. It's a perfect closing to a stellar album. There's some beautiful and heart-breaking strings at work here, before Tori starts singing.
OVERALL GRADE: 10/10
This album has a number of themes at its centre, and perhaps the most notable one is the way in which Native Americans have been cruelly misrepresented by Americans in the country's short history. Historically speaking, America doesn't have much history, so the government makes a lot of it up. I don't want to get into my opinions on the government and religion, but let's just say that I'm much closer to Tori's train of thought than anybody else's. The album on the whole has eighteen songs, and I honestly don't believe any should have been left off. If my 12 favourite songs from the album were all condensed and those made up a much shorter version of the album, then I still wouldn't prefer it. Tori has something to say, and it takes an entire album to do so. So what if she's a bit proud of her music? She has a right to be. Don't call her self-indulgent though; that is something she definitely is not. She never thanks her ego, because that can be dangerous; one woman's genius can quickly turn into a dry spring. Despite all this, Tori created a very beautiful and important album here. Definitely one of her best ever.
Scarlet's Walk Poster
TORI AMOS Scarlets Walk (Extremely rare 2002 Canadian HMV ONLY Exclusive Edition double CD set featuring the full 18-track album plus bonus Scarlet Stories interview disc housed in a 2-CD jewel case - still factory sealed in the original custom stickered shrink! EK86412)From the confusion and chaos that marked one of the most harrowing episodes in American history comes Tori Amos's masterwork. Scarlet's Walk, the follow-up to her critically acclaimed covers LP, Strange Little Girls, was written on a cross-country road trip shortly after the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Over the course of 3,000 miles and 18 tracks, the crimson-haired singer encounters rogue lovers ("A Sorta Fairytale"), reformed porn stars ("Amber Waves"), and an entire cast of characters who embody the spirit of a country suddenly searching for an identity. The album serves as both an ambitious travelogue and as a graceful rejoinder to the bitterness and frustration that inspired it, with Amos wading through swells of sadness ("I Can't See New York"), anger ("Don't Make Me Come to Vegas"), and insecurity ("Your Cloud") with velvety grace. --Aidin Vaziri
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