Salzers

Reviews:

On Scarlet's Walk [Epic, 2002] Tori Amos finally allowed a peek behind the mystique that mesmerized fanatics and drew snickers from the rest of us. Melodrama curtailed, vocal swoops fitted to indelible melodies, focus shifted away from Tori and her ethereal cleverness, the album attempted to tell small, heartfelt stories of people's lives. It wasn't always successful, but maintain a respectful distance from the lyric sheet and let its waves of semi-classical piano ebb and roll over you, and you'll hear a melancholy conjured that's pretty but not fragile, a rarity in female chamber rock.

The concert DVD is far less successful-first off, because director Loren Haynes faces the thankless task of filming a woman sitting at a piano for a really long time. Sure, Amos has her own stage act, sometimes playing two pianos at once, but Little Richard she ain't. (Though he might dig that gauzy multicolored get-up of hers.) And while Amos' newfound subtlety extends to her readings of her older hits, there's no saving the dully catty "Professional Widow"-court fees and tabloids make Courtney annoyed, but oblique poetry will never hurt her.
(P.S.-Joni wants her hook back.) And the bonus material overworks the tour-as-journey metaphor, a framing device sure to appeal to anyone who still over romanticizes the "let's put on a show" ethos-many of whom can surely be seen as Haynes' camera pans over the crowd.