(Eagle Rock Entertainment; 90 minutes)

www.eaglerockent.com

From the very beginning of her career, Tori Amos established herself with a singular presence.  Both tender and tenacious in equal measure, her songs piqued her listeners with intimate observations and searing narratives that surveyed dark and dire circumstance.   Her unbridled passion, coupled with her soaring soprano, situated her midway between the introspective designs of Joni Mitchell and the eccentric musings of Kate Bush, but clearly Amos was already engaged early on, and even her formative albums found her embracing a riveting, unrelenting stance.

It's fascinating, then, to observe Amos in these early performances from the fabled Montreux Jazz Festival, recorded in 1991 and 1992.  Available on both CD and DVD, the set begins with recordings that capture what was essentially her concert debut, when she was still an unknown and untested artist still several months away from the release of Little Earthquakes, her first major release.   (For the record, it wasn't her initial effort - the all-but-forgotten Y Kant Tori Read took that distinction.)  Alone onstage, accompanying herself only on piano without any added accoutrement, she nevertheless betrays little evidence of her inexperience. At one point she acknowledges that she's playing a considerably larger venue than the living room recitals she's used to, and it's nerves no doubt that finds her flubbing the words to "Happy Phantom."  No matter though; running through the bulk of her forthcoming album, Amos exudes confidence and command, giving such songs as the chilling "Silent All These Years," the troubled "Precious Things" and the lovely and lilting "Winter" an urgency and intensity that served the material well.

The show she played the following year provided a triumphant return, and a reprise of "Precious Things" and "Winter" are imbued with added intensity.  The dark desire of "Me And A Gun" finds Amos fully engaged - and, when she has to quiet a member of the audience, somewhat enraged -- but a cover medley that pairs Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" with "Thank You," and her haunting encore, Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," help mollify her seething insurgence. LEE ZIMMERMAN

Special Features for DVD: none.

DVD TRACK LISTING:

1991 Show 1) Silent All These Years 2) Precious Things 3) China 4) Crucify 5) Leather 6) Song For Eric 7) Upside Down 8) Happy Phantom 9) Winter 10) Thank You

1992 Show 1) Little Earthquakes 2) Crucify 3) Silent All These Years 4) Precious Things 5) Happy Phantom 6) Whole Lotta Love / Thank You 7) Me And A Gun 8) Winter 9) Smells Like Teen Spirit