I read somewhere that this CD is "too long". As for me, the longer the better. Every song of this travelogue is a gem in its own way, and I'm glad Tori takes us with her -- for as long as the trip takes. Highlights are "Amber Waves", "A Sorta Fairy Tale", "Mrs. Jesus", and "Gold Dust". But you really can't go wrong with any track. I'm pretty much a sucker for anything Tori puts out -- even loved the one lots of people panned ("The Beekeeper"). Scarlet's Walk is in the top half of her works, which says a lot.

Amos mellowed down after giving birth to her daughter, and that's best witnessed on "Scarlet's Walk" and "The Beekeeper". "Scarlet" may not be the first time Tori played with a concept (some note how "Under the Pink" is conceptualized around femininity), but it's the first time that a concept brought things down. The album lasts 74 minutes and has eighteen tracks on it, which is too much, even for her fans. She continued in that fashion on her subsequent albums, since they both have a concept and last too long. "Scarlet" is a slight improvement for Amos in terms of instrumentation. While her last couple of records were weak and short on quality material, "Scarlet's Walk" has a handful of highlights in its run and can be considered as Amos' misconception of what "back to basics" meant for her.

The album starts with "Amber Waves", a track that is lacking originality (the clichéd vocal melody of "into every young man's bedroom/he gave it up"), but serves as an opener that is exemplary of the material found on "Scarlet's Walk". "A Sorta Fairytale" proves that she is playing it too safe, not taking any risks instrumentally or doing anything specifically interesting lyrically. Worse still, she is completely stiff vocally in "Carbon", "Crazy", "Strange" and "Your Cloud", all lacking instrumental power. "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" does not evoke emotions in the listener which means that one isn't hearing anything worth hearing. It seems as if every good track on the first half of the record is followed by a bad one. Things improve on the second half where Tori at least seems to be doing interesting things, melody-wise.

She can do good with a sheer power of her voice, as witnessed in the excellent a capella "Wampum Prayer". "Sweet Sangria" starts out promising with bass and organ that work perfectly together. The song doesn't grow, but at least it remains pretty. "Wednesday" and "Pancake" are pure standouts, the former bringing some life into a rather limp release, and the latter being one of the most beautiful songs Amos has crafted to date. Even if there's not much going on lyrically, Amos can make things sound good, as in "Taxi Ride", "Mrs. Jesus", "Another Girl's Paradise" and "Scarlet's Walk". The album closes decently with "Virginia" and "Gold Dust".

While it's good to hear Tori going for a more full-bodied sound, she's still sinking, quality-wise. All she's doing now is creating material she was once above of. Tori seems to be enjoying making bland, radio-friendly, easy-on-the-ears songs and since most of her listeners aren't complaining, she's got no reason to change her approach. "Scarlet's Walk" isn't a bad album, but its first half contains so much filler that one has to wonder why Amos can't stick to a twelve song format instead. Much of the material here should have been left off and she can't seem to separate the bad songs from the good ones. If she simply made shorter albums, the listening experience would not be so dreadful. Even if Amos managed to improve on "Scarlet's Walk", her true talents are nowhere to be seen.

I love this disc. It would make my top 5 all time
should I be dumped on an island - and given the choice.
Pancake is my fav. tune on the disc but when I put it
on I never skip tracks, they are all worth a listen.
Many hard core Tori fans tell me Scarlets Walk is a
bit 'down to earth' given some of her other releases -
but regardless of what planet she is from...
This is great music.

It took me forcing myself to listen to this cd several times to get to where I could differentiate between the songs and enjoy the cd. At first I felt I didn't like it much but I've changed my mind. I actually like it a lot. It's a little more subdued than her other cds. It's great to have playing in the background when company is over and you don't want something too obtrusive, or if you want to have quiet music playing to lull you to sleep. The last song on the album, Gold Dust, is probably one of Tori's most beautiful songs ever. That song alone is worth buying the cd I think.

I really wanted to like this CD, but I just couldn't get into it. I admire what she was sharing, her feelings about humanity's treatment of itself... It just did not convey into musical scores I wanted to listen to.