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Extraordinary Machine

Fiona Apple Audio CD
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
Price: £7.67 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Music

Image of album by Fiona Apple

Photos

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Biography

Fiona Apple made her debut at age 19 with 1996’s Tidal, which is certified triple Platinum. Rolling Stone named her Artist of the Year in 1997 and in 1998 she won a GRAMMY for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for one of the album’s singles, “Criminal.” When the Pawn…followed in 1999, and was hailed by Entertainment Weekly as “the work of an ... Read more in Amazon's Fiona Apple Store

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Frequently Bought Together

Extraordinary Machine + Tidal + When the Pawn...
Price For All Three: £17.58

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  • Tidal £5.77
  • When the Pawn... £4.14

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Product details

  • Audio CD (8 Oct 2005)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Columbia
  • ASIN: B000B6542C
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 28,323 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

1. Extraordinary Machine
2. Get Him Back
3. O' Sailor
4. Better Version Of Me
5. Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)
6. Parting Gift
7. Window
8. Oh Well
9. Please Please Please
10. Red Red Red
11. Not About Love
12. Waltz (Better Than Fine)

Product Description

Product Description

Extraordinary Machine is the long-awaited third album from multi-platinum artist Fiona Apple, who recently re-recorded all vocals and instrumentation with producer Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent) and co-producer Brian Kehew (Moog Cookbook). Extraordinary Machine contains 12 electrifying tracks, including the brand new song "Parting Gift", which features the brilliant music and poignant, passionate lyrics that have inspired legions of intensely loyal fans all over the world.

Product Description

CD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary Machine, indeed. 11 May 2006
By Thomas
Format:Audio CD
This album is indeed an extraordinary piece of work. Fiona has clearly grown as an artist during the six years between this offering and her last; she is embracing more genres, more instrumentation and occasionally moves away from the typical 4/4 time signature. She is also prone to messing around with tempo of her songs and is not afraid to stray from the standard verse/chorus/verse formula, which helps to keep things interesting. Her already excellent vocals have also been improved upon and her vocal phrasing is at times nothing short of stunning.

As is the case with Apple, most of her songs focus on relationships, but she sings upon an old theme with relative originality and she has some interesting lyrics, 'I think he let me down when he didn't disappoint me.'

Some reviewers have called the album commercial, in part due to a dispute with her record label - I cannot comment on this since I know little about it. However, I can say it is not an album made purely with record sales in mind, but an intelligent, well thought out and concise offering that rewards a listener who is prepared to engage with it.

It is worthy of a place within any collection.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars She's an extraordinary machine 25 Feb 2007
By E. A Solinas HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
"Be kind to me or treat me mean/I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine..."

It's been six long years since we last heard from pop's queen of melancholy, Fiona Apple, in her sophomore album "When the Pawn..." (add eighty words). And she was definitely missed during that time.

In those six years, Apple actually created another album, "Extraordinary Machine," only to shelve it for awhile. So imagine the joy of her fans when it was announced that at last, this "Machine" was in motion, and would finally be out and about for public consumption.

With expectations so high, one would expect that Apple's "Extraordinary Machine" would disappoint one way or another. But it doesn't. With dramatic strings and explosive piano rock, Apple proves that she's only grown further during her forced hiatus.

She hasn't lost her knack for pain and angst, or the memory of romantic rage. She can be wounded and angry just as well here. If anything, it's sharper this time around: "Wait 'til I get him back/He won't have a back to scratch/Yeah, keep turning that chin/And you will see my face/As I figure how to kill what I cannot catch..."

Not that it's all on one subject, or based on one emotion -- most of them focus on post-love in all its forms. Apple explores being cheated on, being dumped, being alone, and the heartache of a breakup's aftermath. "I'm either so sick in the head/I need to be bled dry to quit/Or I just really used to love him/I sure hope that's it," she muses.

But the title track is perhaps the most memorable one, where Apple reaffirms her own strength. Perhaps she's answering her critics when she says, "I seem to you to seek a new disaster every day/You deem me due to clean my view and be at peace and lay," over a charmingly little singsongy tune.

Apple has apparently matured musically as well. Her trademarked piano is still She plays strong, complex melodies that ripple under her husky voice like water under a bridge. Sometimes she sounds poppy, sometimes bluesy, and sometimes it borders on rock. And there's a stronger string presence in this album, lurking in the shadows of the piano, then swelling up dramatically.

It took a long time for "Extraordinary Machine" to turn up in stores, but Fiona Apple's third album was worth the wait, showing off the ways she has matured as a musician and a songwriter.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Blurred around the edges 20 Jun 2007
By Mark R. Bannister VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
Her inimitable and morose style clearly stamps this as an Apple album, and being a long-standing Apple fan there are some songs on here I really like. Ironically perhaps, it is her least produced song, Parting Gift, which she recorded in a single take at the piano, that I find the most moving and most listenable to track. In a way, it reminds me of my favourite song on her 1996 debut album Tidal, which was also an acoustic track laying bare her raw emotions - Never is a Promise.

However, her depressive and brooding manner, which suited the clear-cut idealogy of a moody 19 year-old, no longer suits the maturity she represents on Extraordinary Machine. I always liked her edge, her venom, the feeling that this was a dark, angry girl who - if you treated her right - would occasionally shine like a diamond. It was those moments you waited for, and you felt rewarded by them.

In contrast, this album isn't dark enough, nor angry enough, to take you on the same emotional roller-coaster ride. Granted, you can't hold onto teenage rants forever; but it isn't as expressive, as affecting, or as unpredictable as Apple's previous material. It is perhaps a natural progression for her, she is doubtless feeling more emotional stability being a little older and wiser now, but then why retain the sullen style if you don't actually feel like sulking anymore?

This is perhaps where Extraordinary Machine fails to meet up to my expectations - she's not singing with the same attitude, the same conviction. It doesn't sound like she really means it.

Apple continues to be an intelligent song-writer, there's no doubting her talent, and as before you have to dig a little into her lyrics to appreciate the cleverness and dark humour, but I'll not be playing this disc as often as her earlier albums. If you've not heard her work before, and you're up for something gothic and gloomy with the odd twinkle of optimism amid an otherwise black night sky, I'd strongly recommend you start with Tidal.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine CD/DVD
I have to confess that Fiona Apple is new to me and my music collection is all the richer and more vibrant for all three of Fiona's albums to date... Read more
Published 12 months ago by S. D. Stanil
5.0 out of 5 stars A recommendation for people who love music
I had a listen to the cd before I bought it, and my friend, the owner of the cd, said it was jazz. I'm not a fan of jazz mostly, but if this is jazz, I have to review my opinion. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Jef M.
1.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinarily bad
I really liked her first album, thought that the second album was very average at best, but this one is awful. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2011 by MJS88
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant CD that deserves your attention
This is an excellent piece of work that deserves a place in the collection of anyone who likes intelligent, well crafted songs. It rewards repeated listening and close attention. Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2010 by NGH
2.0 out of 5 stars Her best album, but that's very faint praise
Although she has a limited range as a singer and pianist, I think she's a much stronger performer than she is writer. I've always wondered why she's a singer-songwriter? Read more
Published on 30 May 2010 by BS on parade
2.0 out of 5 stars She's obviously upset about this or that...
Love affairs have always been a basic source of inspiration in modern music and failed relationships for some reason have been a very popular theme among female artists . Read more
Published on 26 Oct 2009 by giovanni
5.0 out of 5 stars Young masterpiece from af stunning talent
"If there was a better way to go then it would find my" Fiona Apple Sings in the chorus of the albums first song. Read more
Published on 28 July 2009 by Christoffer Dejgaard
5.0 out of 5 stars You know what you're getting....
This was a purchase for a friend who is a HUGE Fiona Apple fan, so as expected he was over the moon and thinks this is the best thing since sliced bread. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2009 by AK
5.0 out of 5 stars cd
This artist is most odd but have a lovely deep voice it gets better the more you hear it
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by Colinbaker
4.0 out of 5 stars Vaudevillian
I noticed the title track of this advertised on some music site a while ago and gave it a listen. Never having heard anything by Fiona Apple before I was knocked out by just how... Read more
Published on 18 April 2008 by J. Brooke
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