• Record Label: Epic
  • Release Date: Oct 29, 2002
User Score
8.9

Universal acclaim- based on 212 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Mixed: 0 out of 212
  2. Negative: 14 out of 212

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  1. jamesb
    Nov 6, 2002
    1
    don't trust any reviewer that thinks they're on a first-name basis with tori amos. here's the truth about this thing. it's about 10 songs too long. it's completely irrelevant. it will only appeal to her core fanbase and select members of the VH1 crowd who live for this kind of sentimental fluff. nobody needs to hear this. completely irrelevant.
  2. Dec 24, 2017
    3
    Sounds like pop / easy listening music. Don't know why it even has "alternative" tag. It should be classified as pop instead.
  3. JS
    Oct 30, 2002
    2
    Tori's album "Little Earthquakes" is an album that had a profound personal impact on me, and I suspect many others like me. So powerful an impact that I have loyally purchased every subsequent Tori album, even as each new collection has testified to the steady and continuing decline in the quality of her songwriting. The lucid "LE" introduced us to Tori as a vulnerable survivor with Tori's album "Little Earthquakes" is an album that had a profound personal impact on me, and I suspect many others like me. So powerful an impact that I have loyally purchased every subsequent Tori album, even as each new collection has testified to the steady and continuing decline in the quality of her songwriting. The lucid "LE" introduced us to Tori as a vulnerable survivor with incredible pipes, piano playing chops and melodic sensibilities. "Under the Pink" was a more abstract, expressionistic work purportedly on themes of female vulnerability and security, and while it was inferior as a whole to "LE", it remained a serious work. Yet here we are, a decade later, and the person many believed was poised to make a significant contribution to music for years to come has descended into producing homogenized mediocrity. Since "Boys for Pele", and I have increasingly grown to dread the release of each new album, for fear that one day, she would release an album without a single song of merit on it. That day is here. I have just completed "Scarlett's Walk", and found, that despite having 18(!) songs on it, not a single track approaches the quality of even the lesser works of Tori's first two albums. The only good thing I can say about this album is that is has broken the spell for me- I will no longer be compelled to purchase her future albums. "Scarlet's Walk" is noteworthy only in its length, its self-indulgence (songs inspired by my tour of america after 9/11! yay me!) and ultimately, its pointlessness. Expand
  4. JoeSixpack
    Jun 4, 2004
    3
    This album could be runner up to Rush's Vapor Trails as the most overcompressed CD released in the last few years. Large levels of dynamic compression sound fine, and even enhance the music, when applied to AC/DC. Squashing Amos' music utterly ruins it. All the instruments are squashed into a murky stew, and the drums sound utterly pathetic. The music is very dense and This album could be runner up to Rush's Vapor Trails as the most overcompressed CD released in the last few years. Large levels of dynamic compression sound fine, and even enhance the music, when applied to AC/DC. Squashing Amos' music utterly ruins it. All the instruments are squashed into a murky stew, and the drums sound utterly pathetic. The music is very dense and 'busy,' your ears never have time to rest. Compare to Pele's open, airy acoustics. The album has some fantastic songs, and complex, well written arrangements. OTOH, it seems overly long and borderline 'boring' when played in full. Part of this effect is the tiring compression. Music: A- Audio: D Overall: Sorry, not worth 20 freaking dollars. -Greg Expand
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 21
  2. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. Walk isn't groundbreaking as much as typical Tori Amos--a dramatic menagerie of atmospheric tracks filled with manic piano, morose characters and so many literary allusions you'll need CliffsNotes to figure 'em out.
  2. 60
    Her message, so powerful when unadorned, tends to get diluted by the awkward arrangements that accompany it.
  3. Alternative Press
    80
    The new album's themes show that Amos is energized with stories to tell once again - making Scarlet's Walk at once ambitious and also one of her most moving collections yet. [Nov 2002]