The worst that can be said about Tori Amos's live concert DVD, Welcome To Sunny Florida, is that the packaging is somewhat lackluster for a Tori Amos production. Otherwise and more importantly, Welcome To Sunny Florida, which also includes an extensive and remarkably balanced interview with Amos, a briefer backstage interview with her mother, and Scarlet's Hidden Treasures, a bonus CD of six unreleased Scarlet's Walk - era songs, fulfills itself impressively in every way. With Amos's best - of package, Tales Of A Librarian, released as recently as the autumn of 2003, the current collection only strengthens Amos's reputation as an unstoppable artistic juggernaut and workhorse. Amos is among the most prolific recording artists of her generation, and has reached the kind of elevated position today that musicians like Joni Mitchell and Patti Smith enjoyed in the seventies.

The concert footage, culled from the last show in the 2002-2003 Scarlet's Walk tour, represents Amos at her straightforward and ungrandiose best. Unlike some of the earlier such footage the artist has made available, Amos's vocals here are well recorded, high notes are reached with apparent effortlessness, the songs closely resemble the studio originals, and, above all, Amos appears happy, comfortable, and fully in command of the wide range of her talents.

The real importance of the collection, however, is found not on the DVD but on Scarlet's Hidden Treasures; three of the songs-'Seaside,' 'Tombigbee,' and 'Indian Summer'-were made available on the internet after the release of Scarlet's Walk (2002), but 'Ruby Through The Looking - Glass,' 'Bug A Martini,' and 'Apollo's Frock' are entirely new. With the exception of the likable, jazz - based "Bug A Martini," these songs represent Amos at the very height of her creative power. The meditative, somnolent 'Indian Summer' approaches the beauty of 'Cooling,' while the deceptively simplistic 'Seaside,' a fantasia on war that may or may not reference the attack on Pearl Harbor, has the restrained emotional fatalism of 'Playboy Mommy.' Wars both personal and collective underpin these songs thematically.

In the Seventies, songwriters Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon mapped out the battleground in the war between the sexes from positions of fairness, self - assurance, and personal power. In many ways, however, Amos's spiritual and lyrical antecedent is really the perpetually combative, confrontational, and caustic Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, as a study of Amos' hostility-laden song catalogue attests. Like Hynde, Amos's themes largely reflect emotional and spiritual crisis, chronic dissatisfaction with the state of the world, the victimization of the weak by the powerful, personal disillusionment, and the general failure of communication; like Hynde, Amos often responds with straightforward, finger - pointing accusations of blame, open sarcasm, and abrasive mockery.

But Amos is a more openly feminist and women - centered artist than Hynde, something readily apparent throughout the songs on Scarlet's Hidden Treasures. 'Ruby Through The Looking - Glass' describes the emotional and perhaps physical battles between a man and a pregnant woman; the vulnerable unborn child is, not surprisingly, referred to as "she." The children killed while playing innocently by the ocean in 'Seaside' are "girls dancing." 'Apollo's Frock,' which lyrically resembles the early Imagist poetry of Hilda Doolittle, may be Amos's most overt feminist statement yet; lofty Apollo, and men generally, are reminded that "Apollo, your frock...was always as beautiful as your sister's that your light shined on." The rousing, combustible 'Tombigbee' finds Amos hoping to be cleansed by the river after a volatile romantic encounter, and 'Indian Summer,' which begins with an image of "girls in the attic," finds Amos advocating for "another way" of life in the West and addressing President Bush with unusual subtly.

Amos's women - centered perspective begs the same question that matriarchal - based sects of Wicca do; are imbalances corrected or resolved by replacing a patriarchal worldview with a matriarchal viewpoint? At times, Amos seems at least metaphorically Wiccan in her emotional, spiritual, and political perspective. Her own combative feelings and attitudes seem to provide her with little insight into the identical hostilities she so opposes in others.

Longtime listeners who have missed the piano - dominated songwriting of Under The Pink (1994) and portions of Boys For Pele (1996) will be thrilled with Welcome To Sunny Florida and specifically with Scarlet's Hidden Treasures; 'Ruby Through The Looking Glass,' 'Seaside,' 'Apollo's Frock,' and 'Indian Summer' reveal the "girl at her piano" at her very best, and collectively are leagues beyond the material on From The Choirgirl Hotel (1998) and most of To Venus And Back's studio disc (1999).

Let me begin by saying that I've been a complete Toriphile for years and truly feel as though she can do no wrong! That said, I love this DVD. However, even I must admit that it is not without its errors and pitfalls.

One of the downsides to this DVD includes the annoying edits on Professional Widow. I really don't understand why the editor felt the need to cut out certain words during the performance, yet leave them in for the interview. Furthermore, there is a clear shot of Tori flipping the middle finger to the crowd. Why leave that in but cut out the vocalization of the swear words? In addition, I felt that the interview was a little short. I would have liked to have heard more about what Tori had to say regarding her music and her touring experiences. The edits between shots can be poor at times as well. During many a song, the shots are out of focus or jump from one viewpoint to the next without any transition. Nonetheless, these minor annoyances are not enough, in my opinion, to degrade this DVD to any less than five stars.

The interview with Tori, though short, is great. It's a more personal experience than merely listening to her music. I also love the interview with Tori's mom. It's a little sneak peak into Tori's childhood, and the start of her career. Her improvisational transitions are excellent, and different for every show. Indeed, as Tori herself states, each song and performance are fluid entities that can take on a new shape and form, and grow as inspiration changes. No song in this live performance is quite the same as its studio version, nor is it quite the same as any other live performance. This DVD does a great job of capturing just one of Tori's amazing "fairytale" experiences on the stage. Though I still highly recommend attending her show live, this is a great way to bring the experience into the comfort of your living room (and for a cheaper price than her concerts as well!).

The included six song CD, "Scarlet's Hidden Treasures," songs cut from the Scarlet's Walk CD, is also incredible. I especially love Seaside, Bug a Martini, Apollo's Frock, and Tombigbee (also included in the live footage). These songs, to be sure, will be coveted by those who run out to collect every EP and B-side Tori puts out, and can be seen as a standalone reason to pick up this DVD.

I was lucky enough to have seen her while she was on this Scarlet's Walk/Lottapianos tour, and this DVD serves as a way to relive the amazing and nostalgic experience (even if the set list was somewhat different). However, one doesn't need to have seen her perform live, on this tour or ever for that matter, in order to appreciate the DVD & CD set. This is a must for the diehard Tori fan, and a fun and enticing addition for the casual listener as well.

In addition to Welcome to Sunny Florida, pick up her new CD The Beekeeper, as well as her book Piece by Piece!

Wow! That's all I can say after viewing Welcome to Sunny Florida. I've never seen Tori live (wish I had) and this helps ease the anxiety of not doing so. All the excitement, passion, sensuality, spontaneity, and musical genius of the Tori live experience are displayed right here. Backed by bassist Jon Evans and drummer Matt Chamberlain, Tori Amos is truly in a league of her own. You can clearly pinpoint her musical influences (ie. Kate Bush, Led Zep, etc.), but there's none of that hippie-chick/Lilith Fair/Sarah McLachlan ennui going on here. Tori's music is timeless. Included are explosive versions of "Crucify", "Take to the Sky" (my personal favorite), and "Precious Things". At the same time, she brings things down a bit with spontaneous jazzy interludes, including one little ditty she plays while her make-up lady fixes her up on stage. The semi-new "Your Cloud" and old favorites like "Leather" and "Bells for Her" are absolutely gorgeous. The encore is almost a show-killer as "Hey Jupiter" almost sucks the energy out of West Palm Beach, but that's not the real concern here. The real concern is "Professional Widow", which for some reason or another has all the profanity edited out. BAD MOVE. It changes the song ever so slightly and ruins it for the DVD viewer. Absolute buzz-kill. What's worse is that, they don't bleep out Tori when she chats with the audience during the show or during the interview on the DVD bonus extras. I don't get it.
Nevertheless, I still give this tremendous DVD 4 stars, only because of that "PW" editing. Good music, good visual, interesting interviews, and bonus disc with Scarlet's Hidden Treasures makes this an excellent DVD to own. Go out and get it if you haven't already!

Tori's performance is very good, HOWEVER the video and sound quality are awful. The camera work looks like it's a work of amateurs. This really damages the overall experience and that's a shame. Only for hardcore Tori fans.

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....