Scarlet's Walk

Scarlet's Walk is the seventh studio album released by Tori Amos. The 18-track concept album details the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, as well as the concept of America post–September 11, 2001. The album was the first released by Amos on Epic Records after her split with former label Atlantic Records. After a period of trouble with her last label, Amos proved her fan base was still with her when the album debuted at number 7 in the US,[1] selling 107,000 copies in its first week,[2] and reaching RIAA Gold status about a month after its release.[3]

Scarlet's Walk
Studio album by
Tori Amos
ReleasedOctober 28, 2002 (UK)
RecordedCornwall, England, Winter 2001/Spring 2002
Length74:09
LabelEpic
ProducerTori Amos
Tori Amos chronology
Strange Little Girls
(2001)		 Scarlet's Walk
(2002)		 Tales of a Librarian
(2003)
Singles from Scarlet's Walk
  1. "A Sorta Fairytale"
    Released: October 2002
  2. "Taxi Ride"
    Released: January 2003
  3. "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas"
    Released: May 27, 2003
  4. "Strange"
    Released: 2003

Theme description

According to author Neil Gaiman, "The CD's about America — it's a story that's also a journey, that begins in LA and crosses the country, slowly heading east. America's in there, and specific places and things, Native American history and pornography and a girl on a plane who'll never get to New York, and Oliver Stone and Andrew Jackson and madness and a lot more. Not to mention a girl called Scarlet who may be the land and may be a person and may be a trail of blood." The song "Amber Waves" is named after Julianne Moore's character in Boogie Nights.[4]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(76/100)[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Alternative Press[5]
The Austin Chronicle[7]
Blender[8]
Entertainment WeeklyD−[9]
PopMatters[5][10]
Rolling Stone[11]
Spin(9/10)[12]
Stylus MagazineC+[13]
Uncut[5]

Kludge magazine included Scarlet's Walk on their list of best albums of 2002.[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tori Amos.

No.TitleLength
1."Amber Waves"3:38
2."A Sorta Fairytale"5:30
3."Wednesday"2:29
4."Strange"3:05
5."Carbon"4:33
6."Crazy"4:23
7."Wampum Prayer"0:44
8."Don't Make Me Come to Vegas"4:51
9."Sweet Sangria"4:01
10."Your Cloud"4:30
11."Pancake"3:54
12."I Can't See New York"7:14
13."Mrs. Jesus"3:05
14."Taxi Ride"4:00
15."Another Girl's Paradise"3:34
16."Scarlet's Walk"4:16
17."Virginia"3:55
18."Gold Dust"5:54
Bonus DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Gold Dust" (video version)5:44
2."A Sorta Fairytale" (single edit) (video version)3:59
3."Taxi Ride" (overlay with Polaroid feature)4:00
Notes
  • Polaroids
  • Commentary by Amos on Gold Dust and A Sorta Fairytale videos.

Singles and B-sides

Singles

The first single from the album was the track "A Sorta Fairytale" (released September 2002), which proved to be one of Amos's more successful singles, landing her in the US Top 10 Adult Contemporary chart. A commercial single was also released in the UK with a B-side entitled "Operation Peter Pan", based on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. This served as the last commercial CD single of Amos's career to date.

"Taxi Ride", a partial homage to the late make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin, a friend of Amos's who died in May 2002, served as the second single from the album. An on-line contest was held asking fans to direct and submit a music video for the song. The song reached the Top 40 Adult Contemporary chart in the US. The third single, "Strange", was released to radio in a redone version that was given a Country and Western feel with twangy guitars and additional vocals. A Timo Maas dance remix of "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" served as the fourth single continued Amos's fortunes on the dance charts. Of the last three singles, only the latter was released commercially, exclusively on a 12" vinyl single in the US.

B-sides

The album, as with most of Amos's albums, is also known for its collection of original B-sides. Amos recorded a host of songs that did not make the album, but were released as B-sides to various singles or performed live in concerts.

Title Single/EP
"Operation Peter Pan" "A Sorta Fairytale" (2002)
"Mountain" "Scarlet's Web" download (2002)
"Tombigbee" Scarlet's Hidden Treasures (2004)
"Bug a Martini"
"Ruby Through the Looking Glass"
"Apollo's Frock"
"Seaside"
"Indian Summer"

Personnel

Release history

In addition to the standard CD release, a limited edition of Scarlet’s Walk was released in a special box set containing the album, a bonus DVD, a map detailing Scarlet's journey, stickers, a bracelet-charm and mock Polaroid postcards. The album also provided entry to "Scarlet's Web" a web site that was the sole source for special concert ticket offers, photos, merchandise, and unreleased B-side tracks. The elaborate packaging of the limited edition version of the album garnered Amos a Grammy nomination. The UK limited edition did not include a charm bracelet as The Official Charts Company declared it would have been an unfair incentive to purchase the album, otherwise sales of the record would not have been chart eligible.

In an attempt to prevent Internet trading of the album, Amos, in conjunction with her husband and crew, used glue to bind closed portable CD players containing the album. These were then distributed to the press on the understanding that they would be returned within forty-eight hours. If an attempt was made to open the player, both it and the disc inside would shatter. The success of this attempt was so great that the record industry began to follow suit. As an additional incentive to buy the album rather than download its contents illicitly, the CD also served as a key to access "Scarlet's Web", a website which featured several songs ("Tombigbee", "Seaside", "Mountain") as well as various photographs and journal entries that were not available elsewhere.

Region Date
UK October 28, 2002
United States October 29, 2002
Denmark
France
Germany
Australia
Italy
Mexico

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (2002) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 20
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] 26
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[17] 15
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[18] 40
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[19] 13
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[20] 32
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[21] 17
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[22] 20
French Albums (SNEP)[23] 32
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[24] 9
Irish Albums (IRMA)[25] 24
Italian Albums (FIMI)[26] 26
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[27] 45
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[28] 30
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[29] 21
UK Albums (OCC)[30] 26
US Billboard 200[31] 7

Singles
Year Song Peak positions
US
Hot 100
[32]		 US
Adult
[32]		 US R&R
Triple A
Airplay
[32]		 US
Dance
[33]		 US
Dance
Sales
[32]		 UK
[32]		 Canada Germany
2002 "A Sorta Fairytale" 114∞ 11 1 — 9* 41 6 98
2003 "Taxi Ride" — 35 17 — — — — —
"Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" (remix) — — — 6 12 — — —
  • Billboard Hot Single Sales chart/ 2003 *

∞ - Denotes position on Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[34] Gold 618,000 [35]^
Summaries

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "Chart Beat Bonus". Billboard.com. 2002-11-08. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  2. "E! News Em's "8 Mile" Outstrips Christina". E! Online. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  3. "Scarlet's Walk was officially certified Gold". Thedent.com. 2002-12-05. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  4. Gardner, Elysa (2002-10-31). "Amos' 'Walk' goes in search of America's soul". USA Today.
  5. "Critic Reviews for Scarlet's Walk". Metacritic. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  6. Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2002-10-29). "Scarlet's Walk - Tori Amos | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  7. Melanie Haupt (2002-11-22). "Review: Tori Amos - Music". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  8. "Tori Amos : Scarlet's Walk Review on Blender". Archived from the original on 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  9. Ken Tucker (2002-11-01). "Scarlet's Walk". Ew.com. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  10. "Tori Amos: Scarlet's Walk". PopMatters. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  12. Laura Sinagra (2003-07-23). "Tori Amos, 'Scarlet's Walk' (Epic)". SPIN. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  14. "The Best of 2002". Kludge. Archived from the original on July 22, 2004. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  15. "Australiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  16. "Austriancharts.at – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  17. "Ultratop.be – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  18. "Ultratop.be – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  19. "Tori Amos Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  20. "Danishcharts.dk – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  21. "Dutchcharts.nl – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  22. "Tori Amos: Scarlet's Walk" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  23. "Lescharts.com – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  24. "Offiziellecharts.de – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  25. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 44, 2002". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  26. "Italiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  27. "Charts.nz – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  28. "Norwegiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  29. "Swisscharts.com – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  30. "Tori Amos | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  31. "Tori Amos Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  32. "Scarlet's Walk - Chart News for the album and singles". The Dent. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  33. "Tori Amos chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  34. "American album certifications – Tori Amos – Scarlet's Walk". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
  35. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1045442/ask-billboard
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.