Dakota

I have an advance copy of Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine (ok, another one, if you count the mp3s from earlier this year). I already have it on pre-order from Amazon, so my conscience is clear. It probably would be anyway.

Anyway, the horror, my children, the horror. I'm only halfway through it and the same thought keeps coming up: "It wasn't broke before... what's with the fix?"

More thorough analysis to come. But I'm bored and wanted to at least get that out there.

Exceptions, thus:
- "O' Sailor" (I like the new vocals at the end, and while it's been brought up a step or halfstep... or something... I'd have to ask Katie or Genevieve or Danielle; people who actually know music)
- "Extraordinary Machine" (Better vocals this time around)
- "Better Version Than Me" (Swanky!)
- "Waltz" (Wheeeee!)

...I am scared to listen to "Not About Love."

( Fiona Apple fandom stuff )

Word on the Tori Amos "official bootlegs" later. When I'm not working.

The album, "Extraordinary Machine," is the Grammy-winning artist's first studio CD in six years, and is likely to be one of the industry's most closely watched albums at the start of the preholiday rush. The CD may also place Ms. Apple and her label, Epic Records, in the unusual position of watching how fans and critics judge her new release against the leaked versions of her earlier recordings of the same songs. The 12-song CD includes nine new versions of material that had circulated on unlicensed Internet file-swapping networks, two previously leaked songs and one brand-new one, "Parting Gift."( Read more... )

-- The New York Times (and confirmed at fiona-apple.com)

This is very exciting news, and a little startling. For one, the first single is "Oh Sailor," which is exactly the last song that I thought should be the single. Also, the longheld belief that Fiona was held back from releasing the album seems to be completely false... So, geez, egg on all the protesters' faces I guess...

It might be all different, but at the end of a severely downtrodden day, this is quite fabulous to hear. Yaay! You can hear "Parting Gift" streaming on her website. It's pretty, if a little nondescript.

I was staring at the sky, just looking for a star
To pray on, or wish on, or something like that
I was having a sweet fix of a daydream of a boy
Whose reality I knew, was a hopeless to be had

But then the dove of hope began its downward slope
And I believed for a moment that my chances
Were approaching to be grabbed
But as it came down near, so did a weary tear
I thought it was a bird, but it was just a paper bag

Hunger hurts, and I want him so bad, oh it kills
'Cause I know I'm a mess he don't wanna clean up
I go to fold 'cause these hands are too shaky to hold
Hunger hurts, but starving works when it costs too much to love

And I went crazy again today
Looking for a strand to climb, looking for a little hope
Baby said he couldn't stay, wouldn't put his lips to mine
And a fail to kiss is a fail to cope

I said "Honey, I don't feel so good, don't feel justified
Come on, put a little love here in my void, "
He said "It's all in your head" and I said "So's everything"
But he didn't get it
I thought he was a man but he was just a little boy

Hunger hurts, and I want him so bad, oh it kills
'Cause I know I'm a mess he don't wanna clean up
I go to fold 'cause these hands are too shaky to hold
Hunger hurts, but starving works when it costs too much to love.