Customer Reviews

When the Pawn

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fiona Apple returns in rare form in "When the Pawn..." (plus about ninety more words), her sophomore album -- and one of the rare ones that actually improves on the first. Her passionate bluesy-jazzy sound is blended with her strong, sensitive vocals and one soul-baring song after another.

"Hell don't know my fury." You said it, Fiona. Anger and melancholy permeate her songs, including the rage of "Limp" ("But no matter what I try/You'll beat me with your bitter lies") and the restrained quality of piano-bombast "The Way Things Are." Even the musically gentle "I Know" has a deep sadness, starting to move past some of the bitterness and anger coming before it, and early on Apple seems to apologize for her romantic shortcomings. There are also two additional tracks: the powerful Beatles cover "Across the Universe," from the movie "Pleasantville," and the haunting ballad "Never is a Promise," which doesn't immediately blend in, but works wonderfully and subtlely.

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.

Musically, it has almost as much impact as her writing does. The music is often led by Apple's piano -- not tinkly piano, but dark, fast melodies that match her songs in rhythm and intensity. Percussion booms in songs like "Limp," as if giving vent to Apple's feelings. And cropping up from time to time are odd gurgles and squiggles, as well as some well-blended horn arrangements in the background.

Apple's voice is strong and assured, but it also has that rare quality of expressing vast amounts of emotion. Without, I might add, sounding overwrought. Which, since the mood is that of an Angry Young Woman, is a hard thing to pull off, but Apple's richly poetic lyrics ("And you can use my skin/to bury secrets in") make her songs seem intensely personal.

"When the Pawn..." is an almost exhausting experience -- just try listening to the whole thing without getting your heart rate up. From rotten lovers to personal pain, Fiona Apple explores the bitter side of love... and despite its bitterness, it's a gem.

After someone stole my original copy of "When The Pawn," I decided to by the complete import to see if the reviews of "Across The Universe" were correct. I am happy to say they are. Fiona Apple really puts everything into what she sings, even if the lyrics are not her own. "Arcross The Universe" is worth the extra money. Of course, if you already have the CD without the extra tracks, just buy the cheaper of the imports...you will be getting the same thing all in all.

What was already a perfect album (I rate 'When the pawn' the finest album of 1999) is made better by the release of this Import CD.

Understandably, the only reason to get this is because of Fiona's cover of The Beatles' classic 'Across the Universe'. This song has long been regarded an uncoverable piece because the original was so pristine and incomparable, but Fiona takes it and makes it all her own. To me, this version sounds far better than the original.

The other track here, 'Never is a promise', which gave birth to a website of its' own, has been heard before, and isn't really groundbreaking - but when listened to in the album's entirety, it makes perfect sense! It blends in beautifully, and is quite an achievement.

A definite must-have piece for any serious Fiona collector. Highly recommended.

The inital listening of WHEN THE PAWN... reveals an anger that has developed since the recording of TIDAL. However, the adoption of more upbeat and aggressive tempos make WHEN THE PAWN... mark an unexpected and strangely addictive direction change from Fiona that parades the emotional maturity of TIDAL with less of the hazy jazz vibes from that record. From the shrill exuberance of All I Need to the highly inventive pitching style of Fast As You Can, Fiona has allowed her influences to serve as proof to the considerable talent that she possesses and subsequently, WHEN THE PAWN...screams at the listener to pay attention to the considerable lyrical ability of this amazing young woman. My favourite track is the cover of the Beatles' ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (Best cover ever). No better than TIDAL, no worse. Just different. Not sure about the (full) title though.

'When The Pawn...' is the follow up to Fiona Apple's 3 million selling debut, Tidal. Harder edged, darker, and even more unique, When the Pawn was by far one of the best albums of 1999.

I always loved Fiona Apple's cover of the Beatles' Across The Universe, but was not sure if I wanted to buy the Pleasantville Soundtrack if I only liked that one song. But this album solved the problem since it includes 'Across the Universe' AND a live version of 'Never Is A Promise' (one of my favorite songs). This version is definitely worth paying those extra bucks for.

I could endlessly play this album. Absolutely fantastic, words can not describe how good it is.

For over a year, this was my favorite new CD. The music shows variety and maturity, and Fiona Apple's moody singing carries more depth of feeling than most rock stars--to such an extent that it seems wrong to call her sound "rock." In fact the unexpected arrangements and her smoky voice are her own thing, outside of rock but not quite jazz or blues either. On the downside, her lyrics aren't as mature, often relating only the artist's angst in a way that seems pretty overblown when I'm not in the mood for it. It took more than a year for the lyrics to begin to annoy me, though, and what's good about this CD, remains good.

Fiona Apple's great talent as singer and composer is seriously undermined by her mega-company's sellability standards: "Paper Bag" is the only song that does not sound grossly overproduced and mechanically performed.
Her lyrics, though as interesting as on TIDAL and as full of biblical guilt and post-teenage bourgeois insecure and angry lust, this time spill over with forced intellectualism.
I still love her, though.