Wage Against The Machine
If you're a serious Fiona Apple fan, you've already heard Extraordinary Machine -- the original Jon Brion-produced one that leaked in February and the one that came out yesterday, re-recorded (save for two tracks) with Dr. Dre producer Mike Elizondo. Pitchfork's Rob Mitchum (after rewriting his review, apparently) gives the former a 7.8, the latter a 6.2. Matt at Fluxblog disagrees, claiming Elizondo's work is superior ("10.0, *****, A+, two thumbs waaaaaaaaaaaaaay up").
Fiona Apple has come clean about Machine being held hostage by Sony and fans' touching but misguided attempts to "free" her. Shelving it was actually her idea, as was exploring new angles with Elizondo on tracks already completed with Brion. In fact, Brion introduced them. He's been very diplomatic about the whole thing.
Entertainment Weekly Fall Music PreviewWhy grouse about Fiona when you've got Kanye on speed dial, I guess.
JON BRION: "It's an artist's prerogative to change their mind. It's an artist's prerogative to be unsure of themselves or of anything else. It's just not that big a deal. My concern from the get-go was that there be another Fiona Apple record. I don't need to have more records with my name on them."
What do you guys think of Extraorindary Machine? I was never a big Fiona fan, though I found her an intriguing character. Now I'm listening to "Oh Well" ... and it's exquisite. Love the pentatonic intro, whoever produced it.
Fiona Apple - "Oh Well" (MP3)
(Stream two more songs at MySpace.)
Here's where Fiona will have an onstage meltdown this fall:
11/22 Portland, OR - Roseland
11/23 Seattle, WA - Moore Theater
11/25 San Francisco, CA - Warfield
11/26 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
11/28 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
11/30 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
12/02 Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
12/04 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
12/05 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
12/07 Boston, MA - Orpheum
12/08 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre
12/09 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre
12/11 New York, NY - Nokia Theater
(Fanfic album covers via our Extraordinary Machine Photoshop Contest.)
Posted at 10:14 PM
Tags: Fiona Apple
Honestly, I can't figure out why anyone would want to buy a full album's worth of Mr. Ed singing. This after watching that woman's pompous attitude all over TV in the interviews. You know there will be plenty of those cuz she's JUST THAT IMPORTANT. Is she still dating mister Boogie Nights?
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No, she broke up with P. T. Anderson a while back.
Anyway, I sort of agree with Scott on Fiona. I really wasn't that interested in her until I got into Jon Brion, and don't really know what to think about this new record. The leaked tracks were rough versions of a work in progress, I hate the fact that some people are judging Brion's abilities as a producer from something that was leaked. However, regardless of which production style a given listener prefers, I think the point should be that Fiona Apple is a pretty big talent. Her songs are complex and compelling, and as a singer she has a tremendous vocal instrument and she knows how to use it.
Anyway, I'm rooting for her - these songs deserve to be heard.
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"as a singer she has a tremendous vocal instrument and she knows how to use it."
With respect, I totally disagree. Every time I've seen her singing live, she runs out of gas and goes flat, after trying mostly unsuccessfully to reign in that wild vibrato. I think her main drawback is that she DOESN'T know how to use it.
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This is how I see it:
It's been six years since "When the Pawn..." and now her fans get two albums. Well, one album and a remix album. If they prefer one version over the other, well, just listen to that one version.
And can you believe PTA knocked up Maya Rudolph?
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Oh jeez, at first I thought you said Maya Angelou. That would be some news. Maya Rudolph -- SNL? "Loving You" high-F singing woman's daughter?
It's a weird world. I just googled both names and found out Maya's having a baby this winter, and Maya & PT are both good friends of crotchety and elitist 80-y-o movie director Robert Altman (last photographed with his hand on Lindsay Lohan's ass.) [shaking head]
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i think the best song on extraordinary machine is "waltz"
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i stopped reading this post immediately when I hit the word (name) Fiona
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So, internet elite, who's got the original "leaked" version of the Pitchfork review? ;-P
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Whatever bitches...(not quite) extraordinary machine, as I like to call it, is a much better album than that overproduced bullshit.
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leaked version > final version. I was kinda sad when I heard the final version, they changed some songs too much and it just kinda killed it for me.
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i gotta concur , fiona is pretty boring
it's weird how we keep going back to washed up stars
do we not have enough now?
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any ideas on where to find the leaked version?
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wha?
why nobody come to Vancouver ever?
except Clap your hands say We Suck Live?
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That whole "captive album" malarkey was just a clever marketing ploy, record companies are always on the lookout for a new buzz conduct.
Savingfiona.com? What tools... Saving Sony's shareholders more like.
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please, jon brion has got him on kanye west on speed dial.. kanye west had to go through rick rubin to get to jon brion, then have the talks to work on the late registration.
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ps - kanye west, fiona interview?
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I talk about this whole subject on my blog recently, but overall the Brion sessions are much stronger in my view than what was officially released. In fact, I'm amazed by how bad most of the new songs sound like. You know when you hear a remix of one of your favorite songs, and it is horrible? That's what the released version of Extraordinary Machine sounds like to me.
I'm also surprised Scott and a lot of you don't like Fiona. I think Tidal & When The Pawn are amazing. Granted, her personality is strange, her rant on MTV was horrible, but I can look past that when I'm listening to her on my Ipod at 2 am.
I'll be front row when she comes to town for sure.
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I'll speak for the indie minority that knows Extraordinary Machine is Really Fuckin Good. (Then again, so was When the Pawn..., but it wasn't cool to like her then, either). Her songwriting ability is easily the most consistent on this album, and her fantastically refined harmonic sensibility places her among the ranks of Elliott Smith and Rufus Wainwright (you'd better believe it. if you like either of these guys, I would definitely recommend this album). Yeah, her voice is still Fiona, but since when does the indie crowd care about vocal ability (hello, Antony and the Johnsons)?
I wish people would get over the Brion/Elizondo thing. Yes, most of the Brion song versions are slightly better, but it's not like those done by Elizondo are bad, they're just different. The songs are still amazing either way. 7.8/6.2 discrepancy? That proves nothing except that Pitchfork will give your album extra points if you get one of their poster children involved somehow.
Favorites? "Oh, Sailor" is particularly heartwrenching. "Not About Love" is probably my favorite, if anything for the strength of its chorus. And I'm really liking the new song, "Parting Gift".
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well, i don't know about "Really Fuckin Good" (i think it's the caps that keep me from seconding), but the leaked version really was a nice album. i'm glad they kept "waltz" and the title track intact, as they were two of my favs, but i think with a few minor exceptions the leaked version is signifcantly better. it's a bit raw, but the motion that brion gives songs is so engaging.
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"Somebody" stopped reading when he read Fiona but he sure had time to post to tell everybody about it
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my mistake, I thought this was a message thread where you could leave your thoughts & opinions, I guess my thought was incorrect & should have realized that I could only leave a comment if I loved Fiona & I was a cool hipster blogger... Sorry
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Clever marketing ploy? Is that what we're calling silence these days, Matthew In London?
Sony wasn't involved with the Free Fiona movement. The "controversy" was a creation of the media and her fans. Both Sony and Fiona were mum throughout the whole thing. Sure, they'll gladly take the free publicity (who wouldn't?) but it doesn't qualify as a marketing ploy.
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Well, looks like an overall thumbs-down on this comment thread.
We win!!
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Heard bits of it in (duh) a coffee shop and couldn't have told you it wasn't any of her other albums...nothing too exciting.
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I'm rather a fan of the new version. I will say that the Brion tracks are two of the stronger ones on the album, but the other Brion cuts that I've heard aren't as strong. Given that Brion introduced Apple to Elizondo, it's not like this is a war, is it?
On the Pitchfork front, it's key to note that the reviewer is the same guy who did Pitchfork's feature on Jon Brion, which was essentially his personal statement of love for Brion's work, so I would theorize that the reviewer had a bit of a bias going into the assignment.
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I heart fiona.
check out her video for "not about love" here - quicktime required:
http://www.fiona-apple.com/video/FionaApple_NotAboutLove_VidQ6.mov
Her lyrics are so beautiful.
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Hi brother Nursing schools 5674bb502f83b40
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