Tori Amos – Scarlet’s Walk

High Quality, Remastered, Reissue， 2-LP

Scarlet’s Walk is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter and pianist Tori Amos. It was released on October 28, 2002 in the UK and October 29 in the US on Epic Records, making it her first release on the label after her split with Atlantic Records. Her first studio album of original material since To Venus and Back in 1999, the 18-track concept album (described by Amos as a “sonic novel about a road trip”) details the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, and was greatly inspired by the changes in American society and politics post-September 11, 2001. Topics explored on the album include nationalism, personal relationships, and the death of a close friend. Amos also took inspiration from the stories of her grandfather, who she claims was Cherokee and told her of the abuses against Native Americans throughout the United States’ history.

Recorded at Amos’s Martian Engineering in Cornwall, England, Scarlet’s Walk solidified Amos’s current backing band of Jon Evans on bass, Matt Chamberlain on drums, and Mac Aladdin on guitar. Additionally, string arrangements were provided by John Philip Shenale. The self-produced album diverts from the electronica and trip hop-influenced sounds of From the Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back and marks a return to the stripped-back sound of her earlier work with a greater emphasis on live instrumentation and Amos’s piano, while also incorporating new keyboard instruments into the arrangements, such as the prominent use of Wurlitzer and Fender Rhodes electric pianos. The packaging featured Polaroid-esque photography by Kurt Markus.

The album was a commercial success, reaching number seven in the US and becoming Amos’s fourth top 10 album. It sold 107,000 copies in its first week and reached RIAA Gold status about a month after its release. It spawned the singles “A Sorta Fairytale”, “Taxi Ride”, and “Don’t Make Me Come to Vegas”, the former reaching number two on the US adult alternative chart and becoming one of her most popular songs. Considered one of her best and most conceptually elaborate works, it received positive reviews and was supported by the “On Scarlet’s Walk” tour throughout 2002-03.