Customer Reviews

Tidal/When the Pawn

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With the announcement of Fiona Apple's forthcoming third album being released, it seems like a good time to revisit her first two albums, "Tidal" and "When the Pawn." Though they are the only other albums that Apple has released, her strong voice and writing make them exceptional.

Her debut was "Tidal," a passionate pop masterpiece full of smoky vocals, excellent piano and intense melodies. First released when she was only eighteen, this debut is a remarkably polished one, with her alto voice twisting around the piano pop melodies.

But what really established Apple was "When the Pawn" (plus about ninety more words), a bluesy-jazzy-pop album that vents all of Fiona's feelings about love, betrayal and anger. "Limp" is full of anger, "The Way Things Are" is a piano bombast, and "I Know" is a musically ballad that moves beyond the bitterness.

Female singer-songwriters are a dime a dozen today, but few of them do much more than set basic pop songs to acoustic guitar and piano. But Fiona Apple forges ahead with a noncomformist attitude and strong songs. In a nutshell, she comes across as an excellent musician, with all the power you'd expect from such a singer. And every song is a winner, gut-wrenching and beautiful in its intensity.

The songwriting varies from one album to another; "Tidal" is a good album lyrically, but suffers from a few songs which are clumsily teen-poetryish. Not bad, but not up to her standards. On the other hand"When the Pawn" is nearly perfect, with lyrics packed with feeling and intensity, but never overwrought or

But honestly speaking, Apple could sing some really dreadful songs and they would still sound good -- her voice is another thing that was much older than she was, the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a thirtysomething torch singer. Her husky alto carries the songs with a rare intensity, backed with swelling strings and her delicate piano melodies.

Listening to Fiona Apple's "Tidal" and "When the Pawn..." is like a doomed love affair -- beautiful and wrenching. And despite its bitterness, her music is a gem.