I Promise You Everything Will be Just Fine

With music companies worried about shrinking music sales, they have gone to extreme measure to ensure a hit. A couple years ago, it was rumored that executives at Dave Matthews Band’s record companies rejected what would be known as the Lilywhite Sessions because there wasn’t a “hit.” Dave and boys would end up shelving that record and wound up releasing a far more pop, and inferior record, Everyday. The Lilywhite Sessions ended up seeing the light of day a couple years later after reworking the tracks with a new producer on the album Busted Stuff.

The latest battle between the record companies and the artist (and fans for that matter) was spearheaded by the shelving of Fiona Apple’s album. But much like the DMB incident, the fans protested and the record company decided to put the album in the pipeline and Apple decided to rerecord much of the album. In a bit of irony, the original producer who also helped out with Apple previous albums, Jon Brion, went on to co-produce Kanye West’s Late Registration while Apple brought in Mike Elizondo, best know or his work with Dr. Dre’s extended musical family, to replace Brion.

So now we can finally hear for ourselves the finished album, Extraordinary Machine. The album starts off with the title track, one of the few leftovers from the Brion sessions, it's a light song that utilized sparse instruments such as a stand up bass and an occasional ringing of a bell. Apple also uses her voice almost as an instrument itself making it very reminiscent of the jazz singers of early last century. From there, the album utilizes many different interments that many other artists don’t even think of using like a xylophone on Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song). Apple does go simplistic on the beautiful Parting Gift where it’s just here and her piano.

Extraordinary Machine does have it spots though. Upon multiple spins, the chorus to Window, started to get on my nerves. Also the back to back songs with repetitive titles, Please, Please, Please and Red, Red, Red also wear thin after listening to the album a couple times. It’s odd that Apple would slip into these devises when she goes out of her way to push the boundaries of music elsewhere on the album.

Apple has always been a talented lyrist, but this album seemed to get an extra boost thanks to the break up between her and her most recent boyfriend as seen in titles such as Get Him Back, Parting Gifts, and Not About Love. She even starts off Get Him Back with the lines, “One man, he'd disappoint me. He'd give me the gouge and he take my glee. Now every other man I see remind me of the one man who disappointed me.” So obviously the breakup wasn’t a good one. But at least it makes for a good album.

Song to Download – Extraordinary Machine

Extraordinary Machine gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.