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Extraordinary Machine is the third album by American singer/songwriter Fiona Apple. It is scheduled for release on October 4th, 2005, following a tumultuous history that includes two seperate recording sessions, a high profile dispute with Epic, a fan led drive to see the album released, and a notorious leak of the Jon Brion sessions.

Overview

After harsh experiences with the highly competitive music industry, Fiona Apple contemplated retiring from recording. In the spring of 2002, her former producer Jon Brion and Apple met for their weekly lunch. "Please, please make another album," begged Brion, who had recently ended a five-year relationship with the comedian Mary Lynn Rajskub. "I need work that can save me." Apple agreed, and Brion went to Apple's label, Sony Music, with strict stipulations, which the label eventually agreed to.

Fiona started recording the album around July 2002. She debuted the song "Better Version Of Me" live at Club Largo on August 2, 2002; it was unpredictable and fast-paced, and performed solo at the piano. A reworked version of the song was performed once again at the Largo on September 18, 2002, where Fiona was joined by Jon Brion on the celeste.

By late 2002 the album was half-done, and Apple, Brion, engineer Tom Biller, and percussionist Matt Chamberlain were living and recording at The Paramour, a mansion built in 1923 by silent film star Antonio Moreno. A month later, Fiona and Jon travelled to England to record strings and orchestration for the songs at Abbey Road Studios in London. By May 2003, the album was completed.

A release date of September 30, 2003 was set by Sony, but eventually it was pushed back to February 2004, then "early 2004", and later, February 2005.

Little by little, small details about the songs were revealed through newspaper and magazine articles. A New York Times article on Jon Brion in August 2003 revealed the title of another song on the album - "Oh Well" - with Brion stating that he cried the first time he heard Fiona play it. The October 2003 edition of Rolling Stone depicted the album as "all over the place" and "definitely eclectic". The track "Extraordinary Machine" was described as "a Tin Pan Alley-esque blend of Tom Waits and Vaudeville" and "Better Version Of Me" was referred to as "an Outkast-like deluge of beats". A February 2004 Spin article confirmed a new song title, "Red, Red, Red", which was said to be inspired by a book about optical illusions.

Bootlegs

In late June, the title track of "Extraordinary Machine" mysteriously leaked onto the internet. Soon after, a "rough mix" of "Better Version Of Me" also leaked with the following inscription: "It has some good bits, but I still think we never have topped the second version. Ideally, we would combine some of this with that, but obviously we can't. Sigh. Ask the others what they think - I know she was partial to both of them, particularly the second".

After months of no official news, an article on Jon Brion appeared in the October 2004 issue of Entertainment Weekly. It revealed that the album had been shelved since its completion in May 2003 "due to the label not hearing any obvious singles".

Shortly thereafter, fan and musician Dave Muscato and other members of the forum fionahaswings.com started a movement for an international, week-long mail campaign to flood Sony with support for Fiona and the release of the album. A web site devoted to the campaign, freefiona.com, was also created.

On February 26, 2005, radio DJ Harms at 107.7 The End in Seattle received a bootleg copy of the album and began playing previously unheard tracks. Poor quality recordings of the songs played on the radio - "Not About Love," "Get Him Back," and "Used To Love Him" - began circulating on the internet. By early March 2005, radio recordings of "Waltz", "Please, Please, Please", "Oh Sailor", "Window" and later, good quality album cuts of "Oh, Well and "Red, Red, Red" had leaked. They are available online. Soon after, CD-quality versions were released and received a positive review in the New York Times. Nevertheless, Epic and Apple declined to respond.

Official release

On August 15, 2005 Epic released information about the album's official release, scheduled for October 4. The label said that Extraordinary Machine would be the title, and that it was produced by Mike Elizondo and Brian Kehew. Elizondo, known for his work with hip-hop artists such as Dr. Dre, also played bass on When the Pawn.... Working at Elizondo's studio-equipped house, they began to rework each song, track by track, building from Apple's piano and vocals, adding live drums, and then synthesizer flourishes. Once the song frameworks were completed, Apple returned to the studio and recorded final performances.

Of the twelve tracks previously leaked, two would apparently be included unchanged: "Extraordinary Machine" and "Waltz"; but nine are completely redone; and one new song, "Parting Gift", will also be on the album; it is a solo vocal piece with piano that was recorded on the first take. According to Elizondo, most of the production sounds "radically different"; although he listened to Brion's version, "Everything was done from scratch." The New York Times suggested that Epic Records was not impressed with fan interest, and Apple never considered the album finished; by the time of the leak, she and Elizondo had been at work for some time.

Speaking to Billboard, Elizondo acknowledged that it was "strange" to be working while knowing that Brion's version was being dissected by fans, and said Apple was lucky to have an "amazing core" of impassioned fans, but defended her decision to press on until the album reached the finished state that she envisioned.

The label placed "O' Sailor" for streaming on Apple's MySpace site, and announced it would be available along with "Parting Gift" on iTunes.

Despite suggestions that the album had caused a rift between Brion and Apple, they performed together at Largo the weekend before the Epic announcement.

Track listing

• All songs written by Fiona Apple. Tracklisting and times are subject to change.

1. "Not About Love" - 3:46
2. "Red, Red, Red" - 3:30
3. "Get Him Back" - 4:26
4. "Better Version Of Me" - 3:22
5. "Oh, Well" - 3:51
6. "Oh Sailor" - 6:25
7. "Used To Love Him" - 3:36
8. "Window" - 4:28
9. "Waltz" - 3:44
10. "Extraordinary Machine" - 3:41
11. "Please, Please, Please" - 3:50

Personnel

• Fiona Apple - piano, vocals
• Matt Chamberlain - percussion, drums
• Patrick Warren - string arrangements

Production

"Extraordinary Machine", "Waltz", and other leaked tracks

• Producer: Jon Brion
• Engineer: Tom Biller
• Assistant: Steven Rhodes

Official

• Producer: Mike Elizondo
• Co-producer: Brian Kehew

References

• Steven Rodrick, Embrionic: Lost in the Music, New York Times, August 17, 2003
• Extraordinary Machine radio
• Cohen, Jonathan (August 15, 2005). "Fiona Apple fashions a different 'Machine'". {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)

• 2005 albums
• Fiona Apple albums
• Epic Records albums
• Rock albums
• Unreleased albums
• Controversial albums