Tori Amos: Fade to Red

One's reaction to this will completely depend on your reaction to Amos' music. I find her songs lyrically rich and musically powerful, so I really enjoyed this collection of 21 videos. The videos themselves are not generally as inventive and cinematic as those for, say, Peter Gabriel, and indeed often seem less powerful or emotional than the songs they are visualizing. None-the- less, I had enough of what I call 'shiver moments' – where image and music fuse in just the right way that I can feel a palpable physical reaction – that my overall reaction to the set was positive.

I also really enjoyed Amos' commentary. She was very articulate about what the videos meant to her thematically, and in a number of cases I found myself appreciating the videos far more after hearing her explanations. Of course one can see that in a weakness in any art form – we shouldn't have to have them explained – but who cares if the ultimate effect is strong?

Certainly the video for '1000 Oceans' took on an entirely new meaning for me after hearing the background to the concept, and went from being 'interesting' to extraordinarily moving.