Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
Listened to the new official released version twice now, so here come da review :-p
“It’s like they prescribed her ritalin and then she went back in the
studio.”
– overheard on Love Ridden, the Fiona Apple Yahoo group.
That overall sums up my current feelings for it. It’s not that the album’s bad, not at all – but I’d honestly kill for a properly mastered version of the leaked Jon Brion version of the album instead. It’s not even like I was ever as overwhelmed by the album in any form (as you’ll read below in my original comments on it) compared to “Tidal” or “When the Pawn” which made me an instant fan after only one listen.
This new version just feels too constructed, almost like one of Madonna’s more recent albums, every beat and vocal take precisely placed, and that’s just not Fiona to me. I find it odd how critics of the Brion version, and Brion’s work in general, say his stuff is overdone, too lavish, etc; but Mike Elizondo’s work here is just as guilty in my mind – too precise, nothing that catches you off-guard … at times you can almost see the quantized midi sequence loops on the computer screen, it just doesn’t sound real.
I’m happy she’s happy and everything, I’m glad she’s worked through her demons or whatever and she’s become a more “normal” person, if that makes her happy – but dammit, she was just so much more interesting with the demons, and that was more present on the Brion recordings, I think – “Oh Well” being the ultimate case in point. She sounds about 1% as unhappy on the Elizondo track as she did on Brion’s, and that song needs to be unhappy.
In the end I guess it comes down to personal opinion, and I’m sure this album will win her a ton of new fans who previously thought her too alternative, too weird, too scary. I don’t think I’m gonna be too wild about her music in this alternate future, though.
All that said, maybe it’ll grow on me … the comparison of Elizondo’s production and Brion’s is actually very similar in my mind to that between the new soundtrack for the Rent movie and the original Broadway cast recording. Do you want raw grit and real emotion or something slick and refined? There’s a time for both, I guess.
12th March 2005:
First impressions 1:
It’s not as ‘different’ as I’d expected (I’d read an article, seems like years ago now, about there being wild and wacky time signatures and stuff, but I don’t really hear anything like that – it does, however, sound different from anything else out there right now, the instrumentations etc…). There are surprisingly different styles involved. It almost sounds like a Brian Wilson type record at times (thinking of “Smile”, really, I’ve been listening to that a lot recently). She’s still the same angry cat. For some reason I thought this album might be a little more mellow, but of course I’d forgotten she broke up with Paul Thomas Anderson. I think it’s this angry aspect of the album I’m having a hard time connecting to. I’m just not in that place anymore like I was for “Tidal” and “When the Pawn” (which I bought and listened to in the year of “When the Pawn”’s release). I kind of just wanted some nice music and clever lyrics. The anger seems to be drowning a lot of the album for me.
“Extraordinary Machine,” the title track, is the album’s stand out number. Sony… you’re looking for a single? You’re blind, this is the one. You can really hear the Jon Brion effect going on in this one and the lyrics are clear and just work with the music.
First Impressions 2:
A second listening makes a big difference, as is often the case. You take away the (often false) expectation, you have an idea of what’s coming, and you start to familiarise yourself with the songs. Now I realise the album is actually more sad than angry (“What wasted unconditional love / On somebody who doesn’t believe in this stuff” – ‘Oh Well’). She’s really bearing her soul here. I still don’t know if I like it as much as the other two albums. I’m too overwhelmed by a bunch of other artists these days, and while I keep up with Fiona ‘cos she’s one of those people who, well, made me me, I guess I might be growing out of her. I’ll say nothing more though till I hear the finished, mastered album. The quality of this leaked version is a little muddy, and definitely a distraction. You can read transcribed lyrics, btw, here.