Rating: 
Summary: Toriphiles Will Rejoice!
Review: Many Tori Amos fans have been waiting a long time for her to release her first commercially available DVD. And the wait is finally over. Welcome To Sunny Florida is here. The concert is absolutely amazing, and the extras are all very interesting. It's great to show off in front of your friends who may or may not enjoy Tori's music. If they don't, now they'll understand why you enjoy her so much. Once you see Tori live, you begin to grasp why so many people love her as much as they do. And Scarlet's Hidden Treasures is really awesome. The six unreleased songs are all amazing, especially the three brand new ones. They will definitely keep you happy while Tori records her next CD this summer. If you want to see what "all the fuss is about," then you should definitely get this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: The Strange Redhead Is At It Again
Review: One thing that everyone must know, whether a Tori fan or not, is that Tori Amos will always be the most peculiar yet inspiring artist to walk the planet. In all of her wierd yet precious ways she is still trying to tell whoever will listen..."I am going to be the way I am, and am not going to change for anyone." With any item she releases, like this new DVD/CD, this rings very true.
Welcome to sunny florida is a great DVD slash CD combo. On the DVD you get to experience the last concert that Tori performed for her Scarlet's Walk tour. The concert is powerful and mesmerizing, strange and cool, memorable and breathtaking. Most poeople prefer Tori live, and this concert proves a great testament to that. I enjoyed every song, (Tombigbee, Sorta Fairytale, Amber Waves, Take to the Sky, to name a few) and every moment. The extra features are great also. Though the interview is kinda creepy,(strange redhead at it again).
The CD portion contains some songs that were cut from the orignal Scarlet's Walk album, and are just as good as the rest of the album.
So if you are looking for someone who is not afraid to stand up for her image, and who inspires millions, Tori Amos is your girl, and her live concert DVD, Welcome to Sunny Florida is quite a piece of entertainment for you...
Rating:
Summary: TORI AMOS IS A MASTERPIECE
Review: posted May 17, 8:27 PM
I just got the DVD and CD one day early in the mail. It is the most awesome work of her entire career. If you like Tori, go get it. If you don't like Tori, go get it. Have an open mind!!! It will be the best investment for a DVD that you make all year long. I still haven't even listened to her six new songs that are included with the DVD. I can't wait!!!Here is the set list: A Sorta Fairytale
Sugar
Crucify
Interlude #1
Cornflake Girl
Bells for Her Concertina
Interlude #2
Take to the Sky
Leather
Cloud on my Tongue
Cooling
Interlude #3
Your Cloud
Father Lucifer
Professional Widow
I Can't See New York
Precious Things Encore: Tombigbee
Amber Waves
Hey Jupiter She is incredible!!! She has several interviews. Her mom and dad are interviewed, also. She has a tour yearbook and more!!! The DVD is called "Welcome to Sunny Florida." It is over 2 hours longs. She is a frickin' amazing artist and musical genius. She has to be the best pianist of our time!!!
Rating:
Summary: Proves why I'm a Toriphile
Review: The "Scarlet's Hidden Treasures" disc of this set is very enjoyable, some of the highlights being Tombigbee and Bug a Martini. It is not as good as her full LP albums, but if you think of it as simply an EP, it is very fulfilling. The best part of the set, however, was the live DVD. I'll go ahead and get the only bad part out of the way first: the editing on Professional Widow. Many of the other reviews go deeply into this so I won't repeat them, but what many of the reviewers did was judge the whole DVD on this one aspect, which I did not. That song would have been an AMAZING performance, but the editing takes away from its splendor. Other than that minor flaw, the DVD is simply superb. All of the songs are excellent, but some of the performances here are the best I've heard for some of these songs (like Crucify and Take to the Sky). Take to the Sky was definitely the highlight for me, especially because it has a surprise hidden song towards the end of it (if you don't know, I won't tell you, because it was the best surprise I have had in a while- I'll just say it's one of my all-time favourite Tori songs). Father Lucifer was a close second though, being one of my other favourites, and having an improv added at the end. It brought tears to my eyes, as did Cooling and Hey Jupiter. There are also some amazing interviews on this DVD, the one with Tori proving exactly why I am such a huge Tori fan. The other interview is with her mother, and it also brought tears to my eyes when she talks of the fans telling her that Tori's music has saved their lives (to which I can most definitely relate).
Rating:
Summary: DVD + six song CD Welcome To Sunny Florida
Review: The DVD is fantastic in picture, sound and Tori! I went to several concerts on this tour of Tori Amos's. Although I didn't go to the last show, which is the one on the DVD (taped in West Palm Beach, Florida) I can tell you that watching the DVD of the concert comes very, very close to being there in person. I am thrilled with the DVD and it's bonus features. As if the treat of a live taping of Tori on DVD is not enough the bonus features are like a cherry on top. Wonderful interview with Tori, amazing in-depth interview with Tori's mom (who's side of the family includes full blooded Cherokee Indians) and a few words from her father (a Methodist minister). I could go on and on, however I'll end here by saying buying Welcome To Sunny Florida has me quite pleased indeed. Oh no, I'm not quite finished the 6 song CD of Tori B-Sides is phenomenal. I've listened to it on repeat. The songs are touching, moving, beautiful, and really even more than that. Tori's voice is felt. I am so happy, I love, love, love this DVD and CD. WTSF is worth all of the 5 stars I'm giving it.
Rating: 
Summary: beautiful music, terrible edits
Review: 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....
Rating:
Summary: A treasure for its content, yet lacking in DVD quality
Review: The last concert in the "Scarlet's Walk" tour, this is a quite enjoyable...as usual...Tori show. Since most anyone reading this is familiar with Tori's shows, I won't go into the content, outside of saying that "Professional Widow" is DEFINITELY NOT censored.
The only "content" comment I'd like to make is that it was a delight to see the interview with Tori's mother. What a charming lady, who is obviously very proud of her daughter.
I'm glad to see the concert was released in widescreen. However, the non-anamorphic picture has a ratio of approximately 1.66:1, so some (mostly) irrelevant information is cut off on the top and bottom when viewing on a widescreen set.
Also when viewed on a widescreen set, the picture appears fairly soft, and grain is visible on numerous shots. The cinematography itself left a lot to be desired, with the cameras focusing during the shots, and frequent spastic editing and zooming.
The biggest dissappointment is that this DVD was not given an anamorphic release, which may have helped with the soft picture when enlarged. Let's hope the next time they release one of Tori's concerts, they correct this misstep.
Rating: 
Summary: As good as a Tori concert
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: "Welcome To Sunny Florida" - A Great Tori Amos DVD!
Review: This is a wonderful DVD for any fan of Tori's, and her Scarlet's Walk Tour. She has always been an electrifying performer, who puts everything into her songs. She is always incorporating new sounds, and extra tidbits of lyrics into her live songs, which makes it a great experience: almost like you're hearing a new song for the first time.
The only thing I found annoying were the *sometimes* constant camera twitching, from one spot to another. It never seems to sit on her for very long in the same place. And, why did they have to alter "Professional Widow", by silencing certain words?
The DVD starts out with a mini documentary. Fans talk about how obsessed they are (and how many times they've seen her in concert), and you also see backstage with Tori before the concert. You even get a glimpse of Tori's daughter, and the *before show* ritual.
Tracklisting:
01. A Sorta Fairytale
02. Sugar
03. Crucify
--Interlude #1: Tori discusses why she chose the songs she decided on.
04. Cornflake Girl
05. Bells For Her
06. Concertina
--Interlude #2: Tori talks about when she started writing and composing music.
07. Take To The Sky (with a bit of Muhammad My Friend)
08. Leather
09. Cloud On My Tongue
10. Cooling
--Interlude #3: Tori talks about having to adapt to the music industry.
11. Your Cloud
12. Father Lucifer
13. Professional Widow
14. I Can't See New York
15. Precious Things
Encore:
16. Tombigbee
17. Amber Waves
18. Hey Jupiter
During the credits, there are some behind the scenes videos, with Tori's parents talking about her when she was younger, and shots with her band, and also fans.
Bonus Features:
A full length interview with Tori. And also a full length interview with her mother. There is also a Tour Yearbook (slideshow of pictures while a live version of "Past The Mission" plays in the background...)
CD of B-Sides - "Scarlet's Hidden Treasures":
1. Ruby Through The Looking Glass
2. Seaside
3. Bug A Martini
4. Apollo's Frock
5. Tombigbee
6. Indian Summer
All in all, I really love this DVD. It's a great concert with great extras. The bonus CD is a real treat also.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying Package
Review: Tori Amos' DVD/CD package "Welcome to Sunny Florida" will be sure to please her most diehard fans, and may very well yield some converts. The DVD contains her last full-length concert to date, the final stop on her Scarlet's Walk tour, filmed two weeks after her fortieth birthday at West Palm Beach's Sound Advice Amphitheatre. More a documentary of a day in the life of Amos with her show included than a simple concert video, many interesting parts of the day are shown. Included are comments from fans before the concert, footage of her pre-show rituals and an extensive interview where she reveals many interesting facts, such as that she had to play a game of "chicken" with her label back when her debut "Little Earthquakes" was being created in order to avoid them replacing her piano work with guitars. "What a thought!" she observes with a slight chuckle. The cameras of Mark Hawley and Marcel van Limbeek follow her from her group huddle with her band mates and three-year old daughter Natasha right out onto the stage, where is she met with frenzied applause. Although she doesn't acknowledge her venerable 1998 album "From the Choirgirl Hotel" and key songs such as "Caught a Lite Sneeze" and her best known single "Silent All These Years," her concert is still over two hours of pure perfection. Anyone who knows how unbelievable this woman is in concert will not be disappointed. Indeed, when one fan admits before the show that one hundred twenty-five shows is a lot for her to have been to, what ensues proves she had little to apologize for. Tori begins with a slick performance of her single "A Sorta Fairytale" that is a perfect mid-tempo tune to start off with. A rearranged version of "Crucify" is included which is more than satisfying, keeping enough of the song's original structure to keep interest, and the performance of "Bells For Her" from her 1994 album "Under the Pink" is particularly enchanting, as is "Your Cloud". Although many have complained about the censorship throughout "Professional Widow," their claims are not justified; it does little to detract from her passionate performance of the song, which ends with an ethereal screech. Closing with "Precious Things" followed by a three-song encore, at the end of which she bites her lip to hold back tears, the concert ends on a high note. It is clear to see the audience would stay put for another two hours if she did. The CD included is a 6-track EP entitled "Scarlet's Hidden Treasures," songs that didn't make the final cut of "Scarlet's Walk". The catchy "Bug a Martini", the simmering "Ruby Through the Looking Glass" and the politically conscious "Seaside" are notable tracks and are sure to become favorites of many fans. The grandiose "Tombigbee" is included here as well as in the concert, and "Indian Summer" proves that protest can be set well to musical rapture. (Indian summer/Fresh mown grass/Can you Mr. Bush light the sage?/Can you anyone that's listening?/It is clear/It is clear/That we need/Another way/Another way to pray.) A neat three hours of material altogether, "Welcome to Sunny Florida" is a superb collection of Amos' work with plenty of insight to offer into her career that will work splendidly holding over fans until she resumes touring next year.
|
