n 2002 and 2003, Fiona Apple recorded what would have been her third album, "Extraordinary Machine." Its producer, Jon Brion, has said that Ms. Apple's label, Sony Music's Epic Records, shelved the album because it didn't hear potential hit singles. An Epic spokeswoman said, "Fiona has not yet delivered her next album." Lately, what purports to be the full album, 11 songs, has been leaked onto the Internet, where - despite the efforts of Sony's legal department - a simple search will find multiple sources of downloads. The album is an oddball gem.
Its producer, Mr. Brion, is fond of instruments that huff and plink and wheeze, as he showed in his soundtrack for "I (heart) Huckabees." Epic may have been discomfited that Ms. Apple's collaboration with him doesn't sound anything like what's on the radio now. As a songwriter, she's the same Fiona Apple who sold millions of copies of her first two albums; she's still sultry and sullen, obsessing in detail over why her romances went wrong and teetering between regret and revenge. Her vocals smolder like torch songs, then boil over with rage and accusations. But this time, the music doesn't always mope with her.
While the "huff and plink and wheeze" which was present in the Huckabees soundtrack isn't as in the forefront in the Apple album as the reviewer suggests, it is present and something that I quite liked about the movie soundtrack.
Google it, you'll find it...