Search - Tori Amos :: Welcome to Sunny Florida

Tori Amos On War And At War

J. E. Barnes | Bayridge, Brooklyn, New York | 06/01/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The worst that can be said about Tori Amos's live concert DVD, Welcome To Sunny Florida, is that the packaging is somewhat lackluster for a Tori Amos production. Otherwise and more importantly, Welcome To Sunny Florida, which also includes an extensive and remarkably balanced interview with Amos, a briefer backstage interview with her mother, and Scarlet's Hidden Treasures, a bonus CD of six unreleased Scarlet's Walk - era songs, fulfills itself impressively in every way. With Amos's best - of package, Tales Of A Librarian, released as recently as the autumn of 2003, the current collection only strengthens Amos's reputation as an unstoppable artistic juggernaut and workhorse. Amos is among the most prolific recording artists of her generation, and has reached the kind of elevated position today that musicians like Joni Mitchell and Patti Smith enjoyed in the seventies. The concert footage, culled from the last show in the 2002-2003 Scarlet's Walk tour, represents Amos at her straightforward and ungrandiose best. Unlike some of the earlier such footage the artist has made available, Amos's vocals here are well recorded, high notes are reached with apparent effortlessness, the songs closely resemble the studio originals, and, above all, Amos appears happy, comfortable, and fully in command of the wide range of her talents. The real importance of the collection, however, is found not on the DVD but on Scarlet's Hidden Treasures; three of the songs-'Seaside,' 'Tombigbee,' and 'Indian Summer'-were made available on the internet after the release of Scarlet's Walk (2002), but 'Ruby Through The Looking - Glass,' 'Bug A Martini,' and 'Apollo's Frock' are entirely new. With the exception of the likable, jazz - based "Bug A Martini," these songs represent Amos at the very height of her creative power. The meditative, somnolent 'Indian Summer' approaches the beauty of 'Cooling,' while the deceptively simplistic 'Seaside,' a fantasia on war that may or may not reference the attack on Pearl Harbor, has the restrained emotional fatalism of 'Playboy Mommy.' Wars both personal and collective underpin these songs thematically. In the Seventies, songwriters Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon mapped out the battleground in the war between the sexes from positions of fairness, self - assurance, and personal power. In many ways, however, Amos's spiritual and lyrical antecedent is really the perpetually combative, confrontational, and caustic Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, as a study of Amos' hostility-laden song catalogue attests. Like Hynde, Amos's themes largely reflect emotional and spiritual crisis, chronic dissatisfaction with the state of the world, the victimization of the weak by the powerful, personal disillusionment, and the general failure of communication; like Hynde, Amos often responds with straightforward, finger - pointing accusations of blame, open sarcasm, and abrasive mockery. But Amos is a more openly feminist and women - centered artist than Hynde, something readily apparent throughout the songs on Scarlet's Hidden Treasures. 'Ruby Through The Looking - Glass' describes the emotional and perhaps physical battles between a man and a pregnant woman; the vulnerable unborn child is, not surprisingly, referred to as "she." The children killed while playing innocently by the ocean in 'Seaside' are "girls dancing." 'Apollo's Frock,' which lyrically resembles the early Imagist poetry of Hilda Doolittle, may be Amos's most overt feminist statement yet; lofty Apollo, and men generally, are reminded that "Apollo, your frock...was always as beautiful as your sister's that your light shined on." The rousing, combustible 'Tombigbee' finds Amos hoping to be cleansed by the river after a volatile romantic encounter, and 'Indian Summer,' which begins with an image of "girls in the attic," finds Amos advocating for "another way" of life in the West and addressing President Bush with unusual subtly. Amos's women - centered perspective begs the same question that matriarchal - based sects of Wicca do; are imbalances corrected or resolved by replacing a patriarchal worldview with a matriarchal viewpoint? At times, Amos seems at least metaphorically Wiccan in her emotional, spiritual, and political perspective. Her own combative feelings and attitudes seem to provide her with little insight into the identical hostilities she so opposes in others. Longtime listeners who have missed the piano - dominated songwriting of Under The Pink (1994) and portions of Boys For Pele (1996) will be thrilled with Welcome To Sunny Florida and specifically with Scarlet's Hidden Treasures; 'Ruby Through The Looking Glass,' 'Seaside,' 'Apollo's Frock,' and 'Indian Summer' reveal the "girl at her piano" at her very best, and collectively are leagues beyond the material on From The Choirgirl Hotel (1998) and most of To Venus And Back's studio disc (1999)."

As good as a Tori concert

Nathan J. Graham | Colorado Springs, CO USA | 01/09/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD seems to be representative of the "Tori Experience" these days, for better or worse.



(An aside to illustrate my perspective: I GREATLY admire Tori and her work, but have mostly felt vastly disappointed with her concerts and with her obnoxious fans. If I wanted to hear 10,000 teenagers and obsessives drown out some Tori songs with their screams of adulation, all trying to prove that they're the ones that love Tori the most... well, I don't want to, and that's the point. "Ears with feet"? Hmph. Should be "Mouths with feet".)



Anyway. It's not a bad DVD. Tori seems tired alot of the time, like she's just kind of getting through. On a few songs she seems to really come alive, and in those moments it's glorious -- she's Tori again, before the fans and obsessives sucked the life out of her. The ridiculous editing of "Professional Widow" offends me -- not only am I disappointed that they blurred out the words, but I'm very disappointed that she let them; from what I hear, she made that decision because so many of her fans are teenagers, and if they left the words in the DVD would get a Parental Warning sticker. I say, don't rape the song, let the sticker happen. Anyway.



It's great to get a DVD of Tori (they really should put her videos from the last 13 years onto DVD as well). It's good to see her perform, and interviews with her are always enjoyable. It's great to see her lovely daughter, and get some glimpses of her friends, family, co-workers, and life.



Overall, though, the DVD left me with the same feeling most of her live performances have (with the exception of a WONDERFUL show back in 1991 at a small bar in Denver) -- I feel sorry for her, lost in stadiums full of screaming mindless idiots, her music and art gradually influenced by them, wearily plugging away at the piano and trying desperately to be heard above the din. Though she says she has enjoyed the touring life (and I greatly hope she has), I for one am very glad -- for her sake, and for the sake of her music -- that she is, at least for now, done."

Beautiful music, terrible edits

A. Pervaiz | Providence, RI | 10/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"THE GOOD:



My itunes has a current playcount of this entire album's audio at roughly over 200 plays (and thats not even counting the times I've played the dvd or played it in the car). The music is wonderful, and if you're a long time fan, I'm sure you'd have no problem agreeing that often times, Tori's renditions of her songs live are often MUCH better than her studio performances. Since this release, I've listened to nothing else of hers.



It's very rare to hear an artist who picks from an entire body of work and changes her setlist EVERY CONCERT, and manages to constantly make it all wonderful. She credits the beauty of each piece as an individual stand-alone thing. On top of that, its often rare to see an artist perform improvisations as strong and as constant (and often as funny) as her.



On here includes versions of songs that are not released in their original studio form, but very amazing in their live transformation, including sugar, crucify, take to the sky, father lucifer, and my absolute favorite on the whole collection, bells for her.



the bonus disc is a strong stand alone project, that reflects as strong as any of her albums. a good 4/6 tracks are particularly excellent. (i only wish she had included the b-side mountain, which is right now released only in mp3 form, I think. oh well.)



THE BAD:



Aside the whole Professional Widow edits (I've learned to live with it), the DVD has terrible transitions. The edits and slices in the footage are just awful. I'm sure working to record footage during a live experience was very difficult, but often watching the DVD I feel like I'm either entirely up in Tori's face or stuck way in the back. There's nothing in the middle. There's also no shots of the entire band as a collective whole. I find that very unfortunate considering how wonderful the whole band works together. (I'm still impressed bassist Jon and drummer Matt can remember so many damn songs). The worst edit would have to be during the credits, when you're trying super hard to listen to Tori's mother speak, but you have one of tori's songs at roughly the same volume competing for attention in the background. Terrible!



The interview with tori is a nice addition, but does not supplement the live footage, and is also very obnoxious to have in the middle of the show. Listening to the fans is atrocious, and I always skip it. It does nothing and says nothing about Tori. I could care less who's seen Tori live the most. I do believe the director tried to add some elements that were of his (or her) own choosing (you know, to add to the experience), but seriously, it was not very concept driven, and failed to add anything interesting to the show. (But, to give him (or her) credit, it's nice to see Tori a bit before a show starts, during the encore, and shortly after. It was also nice to see her folks).



I can't really complain, because I'm sure that there was a lot of thought put into the decision, but it does suck not to have just the few other songs that were cut from the show. Oh well. I guess I'm just craving more...."