Extraordinary Machine

by Stephen Thomas ErlewineLike Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot before it, Fiona Apple's third album, Extraordinary Machine, turned into an Internet legend as fans leaked the unreleased record as labels left it on the shelves. Since Wilco's album notoriously remained unreleased because their label deemed it uncommercial, Apple fans who were patiently waiting a long, long time for new material were convinced that her label, Epic, was withholding a masterpiece because they also thought it was uncommercial. And, based on the version of Extraordinary Machine that was widely leaked on the internets in early 2005, if Epic indeed harbored suspicions that the album was uncommercial, they were not wrong -- although Apple reunited with her When the Pawn producer, Jon Brion, for Extraordinary Machine, the original sessions for the album found the singer/songwriter and producer both indulging in their worst tendencies, creating deliberately difficult, obtuse, baroque art-pop with so many creaky details and elliptical melodies that it barely let listeners into their world. It was the kind of record that devoted fans -- say, the kind that will start a website called FreeFiona.com to petition a record label to release an album -- would dissect endlessly, but it was too insular to appeal to even those who passionately loved her second album, which was already dismissed in some quarters as too arty. But the leaked album and FreeFiona did result in considerable media attention for the reclusive singer/songwriter, and put both Epic and Fiona Apple in the position to revive the project, since it proved that there was an audience for the album, giving Fiona artistic confidence and Epic the hope of recouping the 800,000 dollars they'd already sunk into the album. So, Apple ditched most of the Brion productions -- according to the flurry of articles to promote its fall release, this was her decision, not the label's, since she was unhappy with the recordings, which is why the album remained unfinished and unreleased for years -- teamed up with producer Mike Elizondo, best known for his productions with Eminem and 50 Cent but also a sideman on records by Sheryl Crow, Gwen Stefani, and Avril Lavigne, and finally finished the record.... Read More...