Fade to Red: 21 Videos for Tori Amos fans (or "Toriphiles")
Written: Feb 15 '06
Product Rating:
Pros: Lots of interesting imagery, great music, great bonus material...
Cons: A few missing videos, but I'll live...
The Bottom Line: While it doesn't include every video from Amos, there are enough here to please any level of fan. Fade to Red is an interesting collection.
lambchops's Full Review: Tori Amos - Video Collection Fade to Red
With her trademark flash of red hair and piano at hand, Tori Amos gracefully glided onto the musical radar with her 1992 debut Little Earthquakes. The North Carolina native has always been a difficult personality to understand. She is exceptionally talented as a singer-songwriter but her ominous and often whimsical at the same time as intense approach to music is truly unique. It would be appropriate to call her a modern day enigma.
Over the course of her nearly fifteen year career, Amos has released eight album, a couple compilations, a few EPs, and a bunch of singles loaded with b-sides. Dramatic, beautifully stark, and tragically bittersweet her songs strike a chord in many listeners. This isn’t to say that some albums haven’t been less than stellar (Boys for Pele and Scarlet’s Walk both come to mind) but the fantastic examples of modern musicianship far outweigh the bad. Amos is skilled at so many different parts of writing and performing that she is easily one of the most notable artists to come out of the nineties. Her best albums include striking debut Little Earthquakes (1992), Under the Pink (1994), and From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998). I also hold the bizarre yet compelling Strange Little Girls (2001) close to my heart.
While her music is obviously what attracts listeners, her ethereal appearance throughout her videos is also compelling. Fade to Red is the first and only complete collection of videos from Tori Amos. The Complete Collection 1991-1998 covered just four of her albums and has since become rather dated. Fans of the singer-songwriter will certainly find great joy in the brand new, all encompassing two-disc video collection. While the 21 videos are obviously the centerpiece (this includes bonus videos of the UK version of Cornflake Girl and a remix of Professional Widow) the disc also contains a behind the scene look at A Sorta Fairytale and audio commentary by the artist herself accompanying each video.
Fade to Red is certainly a well thought out, beautifully packaged, and wonderfully evocative video collection. As much as I do enjoy the collection, I’m a bit miffed that a number of videos are excluded. The most obvious omission is Strange Little Girl (there is no representation from that album come to think of it), but there are other songs not represented. That said all the videos you would hope to see are here. Her classic singles, fan favorites, and even a few alternate versions are represented. Fade to Red is definitely a worthwhile purchase for Amos fans.
While I’m unsure in what order the videos are organized (it’s definitely not chronological), I can say that I enjoy watching the DVD discs. It opens with the gorgeous, austere Past the Mission. Amos wrote the song about those individuals who “discovered” Mexico, yet the video was shot at a Spanish village. The imagery is truly outstanding—you can feel the emotion in both the imagery and the words is undeniable. It is an empowering, female-centered video. Another older video, Crucify is next up. Once again, Amos dabbles with Catholic imagery. Amos says it is about Anne Boleyn. I wouldn’t say this is the most obvious of directions, but that doesn’t stop the simple color-on-white (or black) look from being really attractive. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Crucify is one of my favorite songs form the singer-songwriter.
Jackie’s Strength rests on the idea of a woman’s perseverance. She uses the story of Jacqueline Kennedy to introduce her story. It’s about pain, hurt, loss, abuse, and loneliness. The sharp monochromatic video is clearly one of the loveliest of this collection. The orchestral arrangement is the perfect compliment to Amos’ voice which is the perfect compliment to the video. This is one example of everything coming together to form one undeniable work of art. Next up is the delicate and incredibly strange A Sorta Fairytale which co-stars Academy Award winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist). Amos’ head sits atop a high-heeled leg while Brody’s atop an arm. As the title suggests, it is about an unusual and alternative sort of fairytale. Amos insists that not every person needs to follow the same path to happiness—something I can’t help but respect.
Once again returning to the blank white background, Winter features the fire-haired Amos singing, dancing childishly, and playing piano against a blank canvas. It is a kind of portrait. Despite what we know of the artist, she was unafraid of singing and gazing directly into the camera. It takes a confident and wise woman to do this without looking pompous. Spark on the other hand is something very different. This is the one Amos video I remember seeing for the first time. I was struck by its violent, insane, and weird imagery. There is no darker and no disturbing story portrayed in this collection. It is a complex story about kidnapping and death and finding a personal Spark. Amos admits the song is about miscarriage and a metaphorical rebirth.
Culled from 2005’s The Beekeeper, Sleeps with Butterflies is a beautiful video but the song is less compelling than pretty much everything else on Fade to Red. I love the warm, sepia toned way the video is shot but I just can’t follow it because of my lack of attachment to the track. Fortunately, the same can’t possibly be said about the classic U.S. version of Cornflake Girl. Amos was on the direction team for the first time and insisted on a story about female cattiness. She calls it “Mean Girls before Mean Girls.” It is clear that Amos enjoyed herself a great deal on the shoot. Quite to the contrary, the dark allegory of Hey Jupiter is a little less upbeat. Amos is saved by a little blonde girl from a fiery building. It is clear that nobody really sees her—she is a ghost, she is done, she has been separated from this world. It is a delicate, thoughtful, yet disturbing vision.
The first disc wraps up with the highly personal and poignant Silent All These Years. She returns to the white background which is the common thread between all the Little Earthquakes videos. Amos’ voice soars over the words which were apparently so painful for her. It relates childhood innocence to “thinking out of the box” to the pain of being raped. There is little ease I can say about this timeless tale.
One of the most unusual videos here opens up the second disc. Caught a Light Sneeze is a rare standout song from Boys for Pele, but in this context it seems somewhat lacking. That said the imagery here is soft and strange but completely worth watching. It is as if you have stepped into some alien landscape populated by ghosts, waves, and various other disjointed things. This is one case where the song far surpasses the video—in fact I really don’t enjoy watching this vision of Amos’ psyche. 1000 Oceans, from To Venus and Back, features the red-haired singer-songwriter inside a glass box. A large crowd of people alternately watch and then ignore her as she writhes alone and emotionally on the hard and sterile surface. She watches everybody else just as they watch her. It is an engaging and pained story and when paired with the delicate song it is definitely one of the most perfect things on this entire collection. I’m also drawn to the dark God which showcases a herd of rats, some snake dancers and Amos (oddly enough) shaving her legs among other things. While I wouldn’t say that this is a video full of emotion or story, the song is so outstanding that I really don’t care. Plus, I kind of think rats are warm and fuzzy so if they are intended as shock value that doesn’t translate too well to me.
Amos continues with the fourth video of the second disc, Bliss. It is rather bland and unremarkable in the grand scheme of things. There are shots of live performances from Amos singing on stage to her often young and disenchanted female fans holding one another in the audience. I can only assume her intent was to say that even as we may feel alone and different we can turn to one another for support. I am unimpressed but I do like that this is the only glimpse of a live Tori Amos we get. While not up to par visually or song-wise as earlier examples from Little Earthquakes, China is still worth seeing. Amos is shot as though wild and feral on a beach. It is a moment of delicate emotion that works nicely in the context of this album.
From the Choirgirl Hotel is definitely one of the more adventurous musical turns Amos has taken. The songs are definitely faster, wilder, and generally stranger than fans had come to expect from the singer-songwriter. On Raspberry Swirl, Amos crawls through ductwork, gyrates crazily and generally sets herself free. I enjoy seeing her in this light, though it doesn’t exactly seem natural. Still I love the use of light and colors and cameras on this video—it is easily one of my favorites. Talula returns to the weird, inaccessibility I never really enjoyed about Boys for Pele. Apparently trapped in a plastic, medical prison Amos cannot reach her piano. Then there is a high wire act, various strange specimens, and a quartet of street corner musicians.
The whole collection wraps up first with Sweet the Sting from The Beekeeper which alternates the matured artist slithering softly and singing with an apparently impromptu pairing with a small choir. It is a decent song and decent video. That said, it is Pretty Good Year that ends Fade to Red on a positive note. With a smile on her face, Amos reminds her listeners that not everything is band. She is hopeful and despite a few bad happenings realizes that life is still precious. Even better? The images are moving and the shots are evocative. Amos has never looked more relaxed or gorgeous than she does in this video. I can think of no more perfect way to end this unique and interesting collection.
Tori Amos has always prided herself on creating music that makes her listeners feel. As proven by Fade to Red, her videos also accomplish very much the same thing. They alternate between the dark and light, the wild and serene, and the esoteric and simple. The common thread between them all is the woman at the center. I love her confidence and I love her ability to create art that bends the bounds of normalcy. I don’t believe everything she’s ever done is perfect, but I do believe this collection to be a must-own for any Toriphile. Me? I’m a mere, modest “fan” but I still enjoy what I see. My suggestion? Watch all the videos and then choose your favorites and watch them again and again. I know I’ve got a few favorites…
Rating: 5/5 stars
Disc One
01. Past the Mission
02. Crucify
03. Jackie’s Strength
04. A Sorta Fairytale
05. Winter
06. Spark
07. Sleeps with Butterflies
08. Cornflake Girl (US Version)
09. Hey Jupiter (Dakota Version)
10. Silent All These Years
Disc Two
01. Caught a Light Sneeze
02. 1000 Oceans
03. God
04. Bliss
05. China
06. Raspberry Swirl
07. Talula (The Tornado Mix)
08. Sweet the Sting
09. Pretty Good Year
Bonus Videos
01. Professional Widow (remix)
02. Cornflake Girl (UK Version)
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