Dual Disc version w/ excellent live footage of Apple at Club Largo and much more. Fiona Apple, brooding, brainy belter and capital-A artist of near forbidding depth, begins her much gossiped-over third CD on a lark. The title track, one of two songs produced by Jon Brion before the label dispute that prompted hip-hop producer Mike Elizondo (50 Cent, Eminem) to step in, sounds like a Judy Garland number slathered with irony or something Rufus Wainwright might have had a hand in--strings soar, beats bump around skittishly, and notes require a ladder. But playful as it is, by the time the chorus kicks in it`s clear why the world has missed Fiona Apple so much. Young female artists who have stepped into the spotlight since she fled it six years ago-- Nellie McKay and Joss Stone spring to mind for their cleverness and heat, respectively--seem slight in comparison. With every track ticked off, in fact, Extraordinary Machine moves listeners a little closer to what might be a correct assumption: that everything they`ve dipped into since 1999`s When the Pawn ... was filler. Fans will feel it especially on "O`Sailor," a gimlet-eyed lament, and "Tymps," a tight piano track with a tip of the hat to hip-hop. It`s "Window," though, with its lyric about "a filthy pane of glass" fogging up a clear view, that sums up the experience of this CD best. "I had to break the window," Apple sings, smoky-voiced as ever. "It just had to be." With Extraordinary Machine, she shatters already sky-high expectations "4 1/2 stars.. To say that the released version of Extraordinary Machine is a marked improvement over the bootlegged version is not to say that it sounds more complete -- after all, the Brion productions sounded finished, as evidenced by the two cuts that were retained; the intricate chamber-pop of the opening title track and the closing "Waltz (Better Than Fine)" are the only time Brion`s productions not only suited but enhanced Fiona`s songs -- but to say that they`re not only more accessible, but more fully realized, letting Apple`s songs breathe in a way they didn`t on the original sessions. While Brion`s productions were interesting, they stretched his carnivalesque aesthetic to the limit, ultimately obscuring Apple`s songs, which were already fussier, artier and more oblique than her previous work. When matched to Brion`s elaborately detailed productions, her music became an impenetrable wall of sound, but Elizondo`s productions open these songs up, making it easier to hear Apple`s songs while retaining most of her eccentricities. Now, Extraordinary Machine sounds like a brighter, streamlined version of When the Pawn, lacking the idiosyncratic arrangement and instrumentation of that record, yet retaining the artiness of the songs themselves..Extraordinary Machine may be more accessible, but it remains an art-pop album in its attitude, intent and presentation -- it`s just that the presentation is cleaner, making her attitude appealing and her intent easier to ascertain, and that`s what makes this final, finished Extraordinary Machine something pretty close to extraordinary."-AMG.
 Better Version Of Me - mp3
Tymps - mp3
Extraordinary Machine - mp3 |
