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Scarlet's Walk

Tori Amos

Epic Records, 2002

REVIEW BY: Sean McCarthy

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/01/2003

After Strange Little Girls, it seemed that Tori Amos had jumpedoff the deep end and there was no way we were going to get herback. She had been abstract before in Boys For Pele and To Venus and Back, and her lyrics have typically gotten moreabstract since Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink. But Strange Little Girls was a career suicide album, worthy ofLou Reed's worst offerings.

And then 9/11 happened. Another artist makes a statement. ButTori used 9/11 as a geographic barometer of what was going on inAmerica. The result was Scarlet's Walk, a return Tori's earlier, more accessibleworks. Many of her songs on Scarlet's Walk don't require a master's in English to figureout: "Taxi Ride" touches on homophobia and the chilling "I Can'tSee New York" is one of the best songs yet dealing with theterrorist attacks on New York.

It is hard to say that Scarlet's Walk is Tori Amos' most assured album in yearsbecause all of her albums seem assured. It is definitely an albumwhere Tori seems fully in control of her musical choices. That isone of Scarlet's Walk's greatest strengths.

Unfortunately, that is also one of its greatest weaknesses.