Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk

Tori Amos kicks my ass. She has mastered not only individual releases, she's mastered the concept album in the form of covers. But that wasn't enough, so she made an original album with a concept. Now, granted, this has been done before by many, including the misunderstood Lucid Nation (Tacoma Ballet) and the oft-admired Pink Floyd (The Wall) but Tori is different. She is a natural storyteller, and this is an album of journey, of understanding, and bittersweet disenchantment of the American canvas. Every song is lullabye, every song is seamless and shimmeringly inspired. She goes Neil Young's Harvest on "Crazy" and makes it a love song of discovery, she goes Mt. Olympus on "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" and tells us that virility and truth push gender barriers without sounding weary. She turns Darwin inside out on "Carbon" and fetters around the hubris abstract on "I Can't See New York", making the pretentiousness of other 9/11 tributes sound paper-thin. Her succulent "Your Cloud" is poignant without being saccharine. I could go on and on. The thing about Tori Amos is that you're guarunteed excellence whenever she puts out a product, and it's a given that she released this album in fall, where the brisk autumn air provides a decadent backdrop to this dance of the voices in Ms. Amos's head. So go get it, take a walk with Tori, because she is one of the handful of artists that provide me with a reason to go to the record store and simply believe in the magic of music. [www.toriamos.com]