Rating: NN
It’s been a while since Tori Amos abandoned her U.S. home for a grand castle in Jolly Olde England with her family and the faeries, and with Scarlet’s Walk she turns a loving eye back on her roots. The disc is like a series of breathless postcards from a road trip across the States (check out the liner notes for a conceptual map of Tori’s journey), with nods to September 11 and Amos’s Cherokee blood. The tunes are accessible, even poppy, while the Kate Bush pyrotechnics are kept to a minimum. But after 18 tracks, the ethereal crooning and plodding tempos do grow tiresome. Yawn.
