The Pandemic Soul

Extraordinary Machine
Fiona Apple

I started listening to this at the beginning of the illness, on the day it came out (the CD, I mean — October 4, 2005). So, disclaimer: I have listened to it way too many times, and my review is somewhat tainted by mono.

First: in comparison to her other albums, I’d give it 4 stars out of 5. Wildly entertaining, yes — but there are a couple bombs that make me sick, and not just because I listened to them while puking. “Please, Please, Please” is the one that really gets to me. I’m not sure if it’s just because it gets drilled in to your head with the repeated chorus, or if it’s discordant harmony (I think that’s what it is…) that makes you feel so uncomfortable throughout the song. In general, though, I hate it. I fast forward through it every time.

But in terms of how it stacks of up to Tidal and When the Pawn…, this is definitely a much more whimsical album. The leading track, “Extraordinary Machine” sounds almost like a cartoon soundtrack written by Stephen Hawking. Intelligent, amusing, measured and a bit tempered, and of course fun. And unlike the aforementioned “Please, Please, Please,” there is no jackhammer chorus.

By far, the best track on the disc is “Parting Gift,” a memory poem about a now-dead relationship. Showing her true colors, Fiona shoots:

“Oh! You silly, stupid past-time of mine! You were always good for a rhyme! And from the first, to the last time the signs said ’stop’ but when went on wholehearted…

Bitter, aren’t we? Deliciously.

“Waltz” is another gem. At first delicate, Apple segues into a vocally simple, orchestrally strong lyrical waterfall that leaves one wondering why it isn’t longer. I can imagine the eccentric Fiona waltzing around the studio during the interludes, giving that intense, silly stare to folding chairs and microphone stands.

Don’t miss these, either:

• “Not about love,” a comical song about love. We come to understand how Apple deals with breakups further: “Take all the things that I said that he stole/put ‘em in a sack/swing it over my shoulder/turn on my heel/step out of his sight”
• “Oh well,” is introspective piece, caustically sarcastic about wasted effort: “What wasted unconditional love/on some-body who doesn’t beleive in the stuff — oh well”

Indeed, Fiona takes us to all ends of the spectrum. From playful to quiet and begrudging, Ms. Fiona’s Wild Ride is satisfying. Great place for non-fans to start, and also a must-have for current fans.

As an aside, I purchased the special edition of the CD, which includes a DVD on the alternate side. For the most part, it was a dissapointment. There were a few live videos of smaller-club performances which are fairly humdrum. The highlight of the DVD is some documentary-type video of Fiona discussing how the video for “Not about love,” was made. An overweight, bearish lip-synching friend is brought in for some smattered hilarity. Unfortunately, the video isn’t available on Launch, MTV, or VH1. Not worth the extra price, though.

Finally, as a sidenote, it looks like Fiona might release the Brion-produced version of Machine after all. For those of you who have been living under a soundproof rock, a very early version of Extraordinary Machine was leaked onto the internet last year, resulting in a campaign called “Free Fiona” to get the CD released. A bunch of fanboys were convinced that Epic records wouldn’t let Fiona do the CD her way, so they started this petition to get them to get the music out there. Anyway, it became this big deal, and now Fiona is thinking about letting people “officially” hear the version that leaked onto the internet. I wonder which version we’ll end up calling the ugly stepchild?