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List Price: $8.99 | | Label: Sony
Salesrank: 1644
Released: July 23, 1996 |
| Our Price: $5.64 |
| Used Price: $0.76 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Tidal Track Listing:
1. Sleep to Dream
2. Sullen Girl
3. Shadowboxer
4. Criminal
5. Slow Like Honey
6. First Taste
7. Never Is a Promise
8. Child Is Gone
9. Pale September
10. Carrion
Editorial Review:
Tidal is the debut album by Fiona Apple, a New York singer-songwriter-pianist who was 18 years old at the time of its 1996 release. Apple is obviously talented--she has a dark, smoky alto and a knack for an arresting turn of phrase--but she's still several years away from realizing her potential. For every fresh lyric she writes ("Daddy longlegs, I feel that I'm finally growing weary of waiting to be consumed by you"), she provides two examples of embarrassingly precious schoolgirl poetry ("Adagio breezes fill my skin with sudden red," from the same song, "The First Taste"). She also has yet to refine her moody piano chords into actual melodies, though "Shadowboxer" comes close. --Geoffrey Himes
Tidal Reviews:
Compromises far more than it should with bad trends 
2009-06-08 - When I was hating trends in music played on commercial radio with dreadful albums like Nirvana's Nevermind and Silverchair's Frogstomp, Fiona Apple, as a singer/songwriter only slightly older than me, appealed greatly because of comparisons I had read with Tori Amos' first two albums.
Being who I was back in 1996, "Tidal" had considerable appeal at the time and I felt it a worthwhile purchase. However, with hindsight, Fiona Apple cannot stand up to any claim to be anything more than an ordinary singer/songwriter. The beautiful ballads "The First Taste" and "Never Is a Promise", however, do come quite close to standing up with the top tier of the field with their touching singing and highly thoughtful lyrics. The morbidity of "The First Taste" in particular is as good as the best traditional folk songs about death, despite Apple's lyrics having a distinctly modern twist. "Never Is a Promise" is not far short of Tori Amos or Renaissance's John Tout in its keyboard work.
Unfortunately, the rest of "Tidal" does not manage to live up to the standard of those two tracks on repeated listening. The opening two tracks, "Sleep to Dream" and "Sullen Girl", sound sly at first but upon repeated listening it is clear that Apple is sacrificing her personal art for something that is far too close to the kind of posturing that allowed Alanis Morisette's annoying Jagged Little Pill to become the first record to sell a million copies in Australia. "Criminal" at first can seem a passionate cry but its overblown nature becomes apparent with more listening experience, and "Shadowboxer" is worse and less intense with far too little melody for a piano-playing singer/songwriter. "Slow Like Honey" is beautiful but far too slight, though "The Child Is Gone" and "Pale September" are touching enough to be worth a recommendation.
All in all, despite a few good songs, "Tidal" is mediocre for its genre and compromises with the dreadfully bombastic alternative rock and synthesiser music of its time too much.
Poetic, Metaphoric, Dark, Amazing 
2009-05-25 - All of her cds are amazing. It's as if she's ripping out a piece of her life and showing her bare soul in each song. She's so open with her emotions and honest about her vulnerabilities. I've seen her interviewed and she's a lot like myself. Unable to express herself verbally but on paper she's a mastermind. Her music forces you to open your mind and not take her words as they come surface wise. She's deep and you have to dig for the meaning through her clever metaphors. For the people who asked does she play piano, yes she does. On youtube there is a video of her at 6 or 7 playing the piano for her father. She's always been very talented, different and wise beyond her years.
If you love poetry, you'll love all of her albums. She writes every song and is NOT manufactured.
Stunning
2009-03-21 - I had this on cassette in the 90's, and it's just as beautiful today as it was then. Fiona Apple's haunting vocals and sexy lyrics in most of the songs on Tidal are simply mesmerizing. Great to make love to or relax to.
When I Wanna Sing, Fiona Goes In
2009-03-13 - Fiona Apple's debut cd is amazing. I've had it for years- have grown up with it! Her lyrics are poetic and so lovely- some are heartbreaking. Her music is memorable and thoughtful- inspiring. I wouldn't call her rhythms "catchy", but her songs all cloud my mind and keep me singing long after I've shut off the sound.
My favorite song on this album is "Never is a Promise". Though I know that her lyrics are a bit more deep than what I relate to them as, who can't relate to being misunderstood? Who can't relate to having it seem like no one can ever endure the life that you lead in the exact same what that you do?
The whole album is amazing, rhythmic, hypnotizing and so astounding. I can listen to it over and over again.
Just Amazing
2009-02-19 - Absolutely worth any amount of money. Read the lyrics, listen to her beautiful voice and the emotions that flows from it. AMAZING! Love her.
