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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Sony
Salesrank: 220609
Released: October 4, 2005 |
| Our Price: $62.99 |
| Used Price: $10.28 |
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| Media: LP Record |
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Extraordinary Machine Track Listing:
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)
Editorial Review:
Critically Acclaimed Fiona Apple Returns with her First Studio Recording in Five Years. Fiona Apple Established Herself as a Visionary Singer/Songwriter at the Age of Nineteen with her Debut Album Tidal in 1996. This Stunning Album Went on to Earn her a Grammy Award in 1998 for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" Establishing her as an Uncompromising and Original Artist Gaining Intensely Loyal Fans all Over the World. CD/PAL Dvd - Live Performance Footage.
Description of Extraordinary Machine:
Fiona Apple, brooding, brainy belter and capital-A artist of near forbidding depth, begins her much gossiped-over third CD on a lark. The title track, one of two songs produced by Jon Brion before the label dispute that prompted hip-hop producer Mike Elizondo (50 Cent, Eminem) to step in, sounds like a Judy Garland number slathered with irony or something Rufus Wainwright might have had a hand in--strings soar, beats bump around skittishly, and notes require a ladder. But playful as it is, by the time the chorus kicks in it's clear why the world has missed Fiona Apple so much. Young female artists who have stepped into the spotlight since she fled it six years ago-- Nellie McKay and Joss Stone spring to mind for their cleverness and heat, respectively--seem slight in comparison. With every track ticked off, in fact, Extraordinary Machine moves listeners a little closer to what might be a correct assumption: that everything they've dipped into since 1999's When the Pawn ... was filler. Fans will feel it especially on "O'Sailor," a gimlet-eyed lament, and "Tymps," a tight piano track with a tip of the hat to hip-hop. It's "Window," though, with its lyric about "a filthy pane of glass" fogging up a clear view, that sums up the experience of this CD best. "I had to break the window," Apple sings, smoky-voiced as ever. "It just had to be." With Extraordinary Machine, she shatters already sky-high expectations. -Tammy La Gorce
Extraordinary Machine Reviews:
I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes. 
2008-07-25 - Fiona returns, and she is on fire. A quite impressive album, though it falls a hair short of achieving the brilliance of 'When The Pawn...' I prefer this over 'Tidal' which in itself is pretty spectacular as well.
A Little Stick of Dynamite 
2008-06-16 - Such a small woman with such a big voice. She is amazing. I listened to this CD today,2008.
Flawed Masterpiece
2008-05-09 - Like all Fionas albums, Extraordinary Machine has fantastic, creative lyrics backed up with a wonderful voice and perfect instrumentation.
So where does it fall short? - the mastering, sadly someone made the decision to have the album mastered by "Big Bass" Brian Gardner who is famous in the industry for making 'hot' or overly loud recordings.
Perhaps having the volume turned up to 11 works for hip hop albums, but it does Fiona no favours here. Having the volume level almost constant all the way through just makes it tiring to listen to.
There are leaked MP3's floating around the net which contain early studio recordings of Extraordinary Machine, although clearly unfinished the leaked tracks sound better simply because you can hear the full dynamic range of the music.
While it's far from being the worst victim of the 'loudness war' it could have been so much more.
Cheesy noodling in the studio. 
2008-03-02 - I can't call this music but I guess it is.
F. Apple shows ANYBODY with a computer these days can pump out some basic songs, getting them out there is the hard part. F. Apple's fame is the mystery.
There are no songs on this album. Just noodlings. Not even clever or original noodlings. This album was released in the 21st century but sounds like half the bad pop you can find in any used CD bin at the local record store. The nineties never died, it appears.
An embarrassing reminder of how low music has fallen over the years...
If you don't like this album, you're beyond help!
2008-02-25 - All other reviewers have sung the worthy praises of "Extraordinary Machine," so I have little else to add other than they're right! The title song is an absolute BLAST to listen to; don't try to over analyze this song at first, just listen to the masterful lyrics (painful and humorous), the unconventional-to-say-the-least sounds of the instrumental arrangement, and bathe in the wonder that is great music, radio be damned!! Also, the last half of "Not about love" is not to be missed: a virtuoso performance lyrically, vocally, and at the keys as the tempo picks up full-throttle, using the same theme from the opening of the song, but at about 5 times the speed. One of the best musicians currently producing music. Just one problem....we need more!!!
