 |
(Photo: Courtesy of Lionel Deluy) |
The saga behind Fiona Apple’s third album, her first in six years, is as tricky as the show-tune meters of its verses. The original version, dense with swirling strings and cartoon cabaret atmosphere courtesy of Apple’s longtime producer Jon Brion, was supposedly held by Sony last year for lack of a single. One Internet leak later, it became a mini–cause célèbre, as fans picketed the label, demanding the album’s release. Then came accusations that Sony manufactured the entire controversy. But fans can rest easy: Recorded with Dr. Dre producer Mike Elizondo, the redone Extraordinary Machine is no travesty. Elizondo opens up the arrangements, surrounding Apple’s bold, rolling piano chords with brassy horn charts, spacious rhythms, and electronic coloring. She’s still singing about the kind of doomed, neurotic relationships familiar to any New Yorker, and through it all, her voice rings clearer and more confident than ever before—the sound of a singer in her prime.
Email
Print
Eight Year-End Films Vie for Oscar Contention
Sondheim and Lansbury on a Lifetime in Theater
The Black Keys Release Their Hip-hop Debut 
How the BQE Became an Artistic Muse
On Great Jones Street, Shopping Is Art 
Classic Fare, Old-world Charm at Le Caprice
Buy a Brownstone for Less Than $1 Million
Fifty of the City's Tastiest Soups
Reasons to Love New York 2009
New York Politicians Refuse to Quit
A-Rod Has Babe Ruth in His Sights
McCain Yields to the Party's Pressure
