I'm Not Sure Who's Fooling Who Here

Ostensibly, Tori Amos' new studio album, Scarlet's Walk, is about one woman's journey throughout America, finding out who she is, what her country is, and what it means to be here, alive. At least, that's what I get from listening to the album. I know that other people have come up with different reactions, reactions to what Amos herself and Epic records have put a spin on, and reactions to various other media, coming up with ideas that this is a political record and so on. Honestly, I don't get that out of the album at all, but maybe that's just me. ...and from what I could understand from Amos' commentary on the DVD portion of the limited edition boxed set, what I say in the first sentence is about it.

Certainly not exactly new territory for a Tori Amos album.

It's filled with the same sometimes bizarre, nigh unintelligible lyrics (think latter day Radiohead lyrics that actually form sentences, but are still incomprehensible), sometimes overly precious, sometimes highly poetic and beautiful, sometimes abrasive, that all of her previous albums have. So, in other words, if you like previous Tori Amos albums, you're liable to like this one as well. To me, it feels like a blend of the preciousness of Under the Pink, the edge from From the Choirgirl Hotel, the electronic experimentation on the first disc of To Venus and Back, the putting on of airs and other identities of Strange Little Girls, and the rambling, seeming unendingness of Boys for Pele. In other words, it's a blend of most of what she's done before. Perfectly sensible as such. 18 tracks that blend every era of Tori's previous work, perfectly fitting a new 'renaissance' at her new label.

Now, before I go on with a track by track review, I'd also like to say something about the other stuff in the box as well. In the limited edition set, there's also a little charm thing (don't ask me its significance, I haven't a bloody clue), a fold of various polaroids taken during "Scarlet's" walk across America (in other words, twelve pictures of Tori, or parts of Tori -- similar actually to what was included with Pearl Jam's No Code), a map of "Scarlet's" journey for each song with the lyrics and musician information printed on the back (which I have to say is rather annoying, I hate fold out lyrics, I much prefer the standard booklet format), and a bonus DVD featuring the songs "gold dust", "a sorta fairytale", and "Taxi Ride" played over top of either video footage of Tori travelling America or a photraphic montage of such, and honestly, it's not a bad thirteen minutes spent. You could probably be doing other things in those thirteen minutes, but at least it's good music. There's also an audio commentary track in addition to that, and to be honest, I couldn't listen to it very long. I mean, as much as I respect Tori as an artist and her music, whenever I hear her in interviews or in pre-song banter in concerts, she comes off as a fripping loony, and much is the same here. I couldn't get through it, so I can't really say much about it, but those of you who can stand or enjoy listening to her talk about her influences and the impetus for the journey, you'll probably love this.

Oh, and there's also stickers that you can, like, stick on things and stuff.

Track by Track review:

I'll say a litte caveat before I begin, if you're looking for some kind of analysis of meaning from me of the songs that is in any way accurate in regards to the lyrics, you'd probably be better served by looking somewhere else. I haven't got a clue what's going on in Tori's head, and won't pretend to.

Amber Waves -- "tell the Northern Lights to keep shining"
-- It's an interesting, light way to introduce us to the new album. The opening track is pretty much Tori and the piano (oh drums and bass are still there, but they're never overpowering to Tori's keys). Very similar to her early work on Little Earthquakes with an emphasis on melody in both the piano and her own voice.

a sorta fairytale -- "till you lost me"
-- This is of course the first single, that I've seen damn near no promotion for up here, on the radio or television, I wouldn't even have known about the album if I didn't check HMV regularly like a hawk. It's a nice strong pop song, with some catchy rhythms and chorus, a little more upbeat that "Hey Jupiter" and "1000 Oceans" but in a somewhat similar vein. It seems like a straight forward story-song, about travelling and relationships, kind of encapsulating the entire concept of the album to begin with. Matt Chamberlain's drums are more present, often times just the drums and Tori's voice, but it's still almost wholly a supporting role, almost like a drum track rather than a "real" percussionist. There are some really nice guitar plunkings from Robbie McIntosh and Mac Aladdin, but they're few and far between.

Wednesday -- "can someone help me, I think I'm lost here"
-- This is probably one of my favourites on the album. It's just a short little jazzy number heavy on bass and the band actually has a greater presence. There's a feel similar to some of the Beatles work, specifically Lady Madonna, and Tori's own wonderful song "Mr. Zebra", which I admit is also one of my favourites of hers. I think I just love that bass, heavy on the funk. Sometimes you just need a catchy fast groove. It's just a fun song, despite the fact that there's actually more meaning and darkness in the lyrics themselves.

strange -- "when will I learn"
-- That feeling of "fun" doesn't last long though, as the uber-seriousness and preciousness felt all over the album comes screeching back on this somewhat haunting track. It's fairly down tempo, low key, and a little sad. There's a feeling of self-pity evident in the song, as well as one of the sillier lyrics I've seen in Tori's metaphors for relationships in "I put our snowflake under the microscope". It's kind of like a counter-argument to "1000 oceans", which shows the after effects of reaching too far.

Carbon -- "just keep your eyes on her"
-- Percussive movement forward in short succinct lyrics, in addition to short pulsating rhythms in the drums, piano, and guitars all of which have presence here together, drive this song forward. It also incorporates Neil Gaiman into the song, with Tori wanting him to read his rendition of Snow White (which if I were you, I'd check out in Smoke & Mirrors, or in audio format on Two Plays for Voices. Actually, I'd say check out both, but then I'm like that.)

Crazy -- "paper tigers"
-- Okay, now I'm about up to here with slow, soft pop songs on this album, with long drawn out sequences and lilting melodies. I mean, they're not exactly bad, but there can only be so many on a single album before said album starts putting you to sleep. Case in point, pick up an Enya record or the new Beck disc, Sea Change and try to listen through the entire thing. It's not bad, it just puts you to sleep.

wampum prayer -- "greed is the gift for the sons of the songs"
-- Speaking of putting you to sleep, I guess the only good thing about this is that it's only 44 seconds long.

don't make me come to Vegas -- "she's telling me of all the trouble you're in"
-- There's more presence of bass and drums here, but it's a lot like many of the songs on From the Choirgirl Hotel to me, kind of monotonous and annoying on first listen. Again, it has quite a slow tempo, with Tori's own kind of story-singing guiding overtop the rhythm. I think I could accurately call this and the previous two songs the "lull" on the album.

Sweet Sangria -- "tell my why does someone have to lose?"
-- ...and here's where things start picking up again. Again, it's similar in style and execution to what you'll find on the studio disc of To Venus and Back and From the Choirgirl Hotel, but there's a rousing chorus similar to what you'll find in the song "sugar" and you can almost hear the punched out version that Tori will incorporate into singing it live. Honestly, though, it feels almost like Like a Prayer-era Madonna on tranquilisers.

Your Cloud -- "pick out your cloud"
-- Only the upbeat tracks don't last too long, as Tori seems to be doing her best at creating a slow, haunting lounge song, the likes of which Bobby Darin or Frank Sinatra would have sung a little bit faster and with a greater pinache. It's a nice song, really, with some nice vocal work, interlaying two different lyrics, but again, we're off to slumberland. It's nice background music, actually, but I'm finding that while I'm listening to it intently trying to write this, it has too great a soothing effect, and it's starting to really put me to sleep. It's still beautiful, just incredibly somber.

pancake -- "separate the man from body, from soul"
-- A little bit darker turn here with the music, a haunting chorus behind the main lyric featuring Tori with a rather scratchy voice that will wake you up fairly quickly, along with the overdub pianos with who knows how many effects going into them. It's a nice examination of religion, actually. "messiahs need people dying in their name", how true.

I can't see New York -- "I can't seem to find my way out of your hunting ground"
-- Supposedly the destruction during September 11th is what sparked this album in the first place, even though it's not entirely overly evident in the music itself, but here's the song in which it's presented front and foremost. The song starts off fairly similar to Tori's take on "Raining Blood" from Strange Little Girls, slight discordant sounds and harsh raspy vocals, but goes off into more familiar territory with some beautiful piano and guitar play from the centre of the song on. As the longest song on the album, it truthfully doesn't feel as such.

mrs. jesus -- "your walking on the water bit by far my favourite"
-- This one's another that draws from a similar state of mind as Tori's first three albums and a bit of Beatles influence here again, with a nice, sweet pop song that plays on religion again. The strings are certainly a nice touch.

Taxi Ride -- "I'm glad you're on my side"
-- Which brings us to my favourite song on the album. By far, this one's the most upbeat on the entire album, similar in style and structure to "Concertina" and "Cruel" in its construction, I can see this one being a single in the near future. Again, it's another song about relationships and how they seem to fail and get drawn out. Makes you wonder.

another girl's paradise -- "Does it all come down to the thing one girl fears in the night"
-- We're back to Under the Pink realm with this song, hinting at some of the stronger melodies and bite of Little Earthquakes, with a darker chorus than most of what you'll find on the former album. It's a nice, well constructed song actually, there are hints of the saccharine nature of Under the Pink, but not too many.

Scarlet's Walk -- "yes they're free to leave"
-- Then we get more of the "ambient" noise to kick of the album's title track, that I personally found old and tired when Tori first used it on From the Choirgirl Hotel. Thankfully, though, most of the rest of the song takes on a better structure that reminds me of something else if only the chorus had one more beat. It's a fairly strong song, but it feels as though it's building to something more powerful that just isn't there.

Virginia -- "and even wait for their saviour to come"
-- ...and what would a Tori Amos album be without yet another song that shares stylistic approach to "Sugar". Oh wait, we already had one? ;-) Darker, stronger melodies pepper the song.

gold dust -- "I have your photograph"
-- Just so you're not still awake at the end of the album, here's another long, slow song just to put you to rest. The strings and piano opening is certainly strong, and the strings say as such throughout, but here it seems like the vocals are out of the place. The music is hauntingly beautiful, but it seems at odds with Tori's voice.

From all of that, you may get the impression that I don't like the album. That's not the case. I certainly don't think it's her best album, that goes to either Little Earthquakes or Boys for Pele, but it's still a decent album about as good as Under the Pink and certainly better than the three prior to this one.

Angelus, Oh Angelus, Wherefore Art Thou Angelus?

...rotting in a wooden box at the bottom of the ocean is where. I purport that Angel didn't jump the shark, but managed to strike it and crush it as the coffin sunk to the seabed. Thus far, this season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has shown incredible promise, reinvigorating the series, and making it fun to watch, Angel on the other hand, seems like it's just going through the motions.

On thing that I always loved about Buffy was that each season, despite having character threads that carried on, was essentially self-contained. There have never been any bloody season ending cliffhangers that drive audiences nuts, up until last season Angel was pretty much the same, but we got one hell of a cop-out in this last one. The whole thing just feels tired, there's no pep, no interesting character development, no surprises, and in a word, I'd honestly have to say that Angel has become: boring.

No amount of Wesley sleeping with the enemy or beheading an upper eschelon member of Wolfram & Hart is going to change that feeling right now. This show needs an enema.

Revenge of the Incoherent Sissy Boy

You know, I'm really liking this new season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The first episode was pretty good set-up, and the second episode was damn good. The main focus is on a new woman and her ex-boyfriend who got turned into a giant dog-eating worm, but what's really interesting is the new characterisation of Spike.

Toward the end of last season, Spike really let loose the monster in him, attempting to rape Buffy. In a season that has us empathising with him and essentially cheering him on as a "good guy", it was truly a horrifying turn of events. What he did, in response was to travel of to somewhere in Africa and essentially ask to be returned "the way he was". For some reason, I had the notion that he was turned into a human being, period, but that's not the case.

The season premiere had him as an incoherent sissy hiding in the basement of the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High School, but this episode had him trying to help Buffy with the guy turned into a worm. Pretty normal, seeming back like himself, but it begins to fall apart when Spike gets into a tiff with Anya over keeping his secret, and eventually at the end, when he injures an "innocent". That's when the big reveal (technically, we already know the fact that he's gotten his soul back, I just expected slightly different circumstances) happens and Spike just falls to pieces.

He seems to have been driven absolutely fripping loony by the guilt he feels over everything he's done, everything he thinks he is, what he should be in Buffy and god's eyes, and I can honestly say it's one of the most wrenching portrayals I've seen. I wonder if this happened to Angel when he first got his soul back. I definitely think I'm going to like this season, if it remains as strong as the first two episodes.