Machinae Supremacy is a band from Luleå in Sweden, formed in 2000 by Robert Stjärnström (vocals), Kahl Hellmer (bass) and Jonas Rörling (guitar), which has gathered a large underground following, much of it through their release of material over the internet. They play a form of music which they themselves has dubbed SID Metal, after the SID chip from the Commodore 64.

To promote themselves to the masses, Machinae Supremacy decided to use the internet, and in 2001 they put out several promo tracks. Among the tracks made available for download was a cover version of Chris Hülsbreck's Great Gianna Sisters, which made its way around several C64 remix sites, giving the band an early boost to popularity. Their fame within the remix scene was further cemented by the releases of the Sidologies, collections of covers of several famous retro gaming tunes.

During the next couple of years, Machinae Supremacy released some two dozen songs on their website. Then, in 2004, their first commercially released album, Deus Ex Machinae, hit the shelves of the online shop/record label Music By Design. As with the website releases, everything was recorded and mixed by the band members, in their own home studio, dubbed Blind Dog Studios. The first set of 1000 records sold out quickly, but shortly after a second print became available in 2005, Music By Design went out of business. Machinae Supremacy was already working on their second album, but this left them without a record company. Before the fall of MbD, Machinae Supremacy had also released the soundtrack for the retro sidescroller game Jets'n'Guns by Rake In Grass, for free on their homepage.

It took another year before the band was able to release their second album. In the meantime, five more songs were released on their website, including the long awaited Sidology Part 2 (the two formerly released Sidologies were part 1 and 3 respectively).

Not having been able to secure a new record contract, the band eventually decided to do the work themselves. Setting up a business of their own, Hubnester Industries, they released Redeemer Underground Edition in March 2006 through their own webshop. It had earlier been decided that the album should be made in two versions, the Underground and the Retail editions, the latter having a slightly different tracklist excluding some of the arguably harder to get tracks, and including a song from the webography. With no contract in sight, the release of the Retail Edition seemed bleak.

That was to change. In september the same year, the band announced that they had signed with Spinefarm, and that the Retail Edition was to be released later that year. Supposedly, the band had been approached by the record label, politely saying that they understood that they had something going on for themselves, but that if they were interested, they'd like to sign them. Redeemer Retail Edition was released in November 2006.

Machinae Supremacy is now working on their third studio album, as well as the soundtrack for yet another game, War Angels.

The current lineup consists on Robert Stjärnström on vocals (2000-present),Jonas Rörling as lead guitar (2000-present), Andreas Gerdin as rythm guitar (2006-present) (and keyboard/SIDStation on album recordings, as well as live from 2000-2006), Johan Palovaara on bass (2005-), and Tomas Nielsén on drums (2002-present). Kahl Hellmer left in 2005, due to moving to another part of the country, and the original drummer, Tobbe, in 2002.

Okay, now that all that formal info stuff is over with, I'd like to voice my opinion on the band.

I first heard Machinae Supremacy back in 2002, I think. A friend of mine had downloaded a few songs off of their website, and played them for me. It didn't take long for me to get the music myself, and though those old songs sound crude compared to their later works, they were still jewels.

I followed the workings of the band from that day, and irregularly checked the homepage for new songs. I got everything they made, and I think I must have loved every second of it. By the time the news about the album was released, I was a "productive" member of their message board, and hungrily consumed any new info about such things. I of course got myself a copy of the first edition of Deus Ex Redeemer, and I loved it. I actually have a copy of the second edition as well, because it's mixed differently and I don't want to lose my precious first edition (hey, it might become valuable some day. Only 1000 copies, you see. Not that I'd sell it). That one, and the site releases made in 2004, marked a change in their music, not in style but in quality. The sound was simply better.

Redeemer, however, differed more. In many ways darker, it still sounded distinctively Machinae Supremacy. The album got a lot of great reviews from numerous online publications, which in my opinion were absolutely deserved. It has stayed on my mp3 player (a 512MB USB thingy) since I got the album, which should say something.

Granted, the band does require a bit of getting used to. Roberts vocals are rather special, and not everyone seems to like them. I agree that they would be misplaced in almost all other forms of metal, but with Machinae Supremacy's distinct style, his vocals fit perfectly. I wouldn't have it any other way, and I'm sure that if you give them a chance and make yourself familiar with the voice, you will agree with me.

Because you have to agree with me, or I will send all the polar bears in Norway after you! They're highly trained and very deadly.

Album: Drukqs
Artist: Aphex Twin
Label: Warp Records
Year: 2001
Rating: 2/5
Summary: Piano solos and eclectic beat based tracks. Redundant.

Depending on how you want to look at it, Drukqs is either diverse or incoherent. It doesn't feel like an album so much as two EPs and a bunch of B-sides taped together.

Drukqs features several piano solos, a first for Aphex Twin. Some of these, such as the beautifully bittersweet Avril 14th, are performed on a traditional grand piano. As nice as it is to hear pretty melodies played over broken chords, there is nothing outstanding about Aphex Twin's piano compositions. Ludovico Einaudi's album Le Onde covers similar ground, only better.

The other piano solos on Drukqs are played on a prepared piano. Although I am not well versed in this instrument, I suspect John Cage already has it pretty well covered.

The fast tracks feature scattered beats and strange synth sounds, but Aphex Twin later improved on this style himself with his next releases, the Analord series and Chosen Lords album.

Gwely Mernans just sounds as if it fell off of Selected Ambient Works Volume II, got lost, and wandered onto this album by mistake.

Most of the remaining tracks sound like random ideas that didn't fit anywhere else, such as pieces of music in a style all of their own, disconcerting background noises, strange sounds, and an answerphone message (although I'm curious as to whether the good people at Warp Records were goodthinkful enough to pay AOL Time Warner for the privilege of including the answerphone message, which features Aphex Twin's parents singing Happy Birthday to You to him).

Drukqs is only for the hardened Aphex Twin fan. Although it isn't bad, it's largely redundant. You'd be better off with Le Onde and Chosen Lords instead.

Sony and Copy Control Technology

Or, "Just try to get in my way, just try. I'll get you, my little pretty. And your little dog, too!"¹

Sony is going to take aggressive steps to stop this. We will develop technology that transcends the individual user. We will firewall Napster at source — we will block it at your cable company, we will block it at your phone company, we will block it at your ISP. We will firewall it at your PC.²

Imagine sitting in a room crowded with members of academe, silicon valley types, and others interested in furthering the sharing of information via computers, and hearing this coming from a representative of arguably the largest company in the entertainment and technology business. I wasn't there, but in retrospect it sounded to me as if Sony was going to send its minions out, armed with various tools of electronic destruction and *snip* first at Napster, then the TV company, then the phone company, then at our internet wires, and then come barging into our houses and *snip!* and the "Sony" wire on our computers is cut off now and for evermore. Big Brother-style control over what we can listen to. Only the Good Lord knows what the rest of the people in the room thought. I'd hazard a guess that a hushed buzz of angry voices filled the room.

The man from Sony was talking about "Copy Control Technology." Basically, it meant that it had come to Sony's attention that there were thankless whelps out there who were totally ignoring the big, official-looking Federal shield on the back of CDs, as well as the accompanying language warning dire punishment for all who'd make a copy of all or any part thereof. So a big huge corporation like Sony's not gonna take this lying down. They're gonna fight back.
 

What Happened

A few years back, Sony basically went and paid two software companies a princely sum of money in order to develop a program which would insinuate itself into any computer into which a Sony BMG (Sony's music group) CD was inserted. The software, ideally, would essentially block programs like iTunes and Windows Media Player from being able to "rip" or copy the music from the CD. So therefore the only way to make copies of the CD would be to play the CD, preferably through digital output, into an audio recording program; then burn it back onto CDs. Big hassle. Not many people can do. Equals less music "piracy." Therefore Sony's bottom line stays stable and doesn't go plummeting downward. Supposedly.

Let's stop for a minute for a little disclaimer. The ever-controversial Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA") reports the recorded music industry loses approximately $4.2 billion annually to unlawful copying (piracy), file-sharing, and bootleggers*. Sadly, the way it works, it ain't the record labels who're taking the heat. It's the musicians, mostly. So have a heart, unless you're really poor, go out and buy or pay for a download of your favorite music. It's easy to rationalize that high-profile musicians are usually multi-millionaires — so who're you really hurting? But believe me, there are musicians out there who're making little enough on royalties paid by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. And they really get hurt because of the inherent unfairness built into the royalty-paying system.

So back to the issue of Sony and their software. Sony's rationale for what came to be called "copy control technology" verged on the ridiculous. One Sony press release actually hinted that copy control technology would save would-be lawbreakers from themselves and therefore make the world a happier place to live in. Well, it backfired.
 

Darn, It Didn't Work Like They Said It Would!

Copy control technology, in the case of Sony BMG, is called "Digital Rights Management Software." Two companies, SunnComm and First4Internet, were hired by Sony to create the software, which would ideally limit the number of times one could "rip" protected music CDs, (and, while they were at it, report computer music playback software usage back to Sony). Yes, you heard me right, it'd collect data about your listening habits using the same feature of, let's say, Windows Media Player that detects the track names on the CD and provides one with the cute little picture of the album art during playback.)

In layman's terms, what the software did was to run itself as soon as the computer read the disk. Now, the two types of software, installed on just over 100 CD titles, basically altered the structure of the file system of computers so as to hide certain files, and alter others. It'd also "phone home" via the internet and report your music player use to Sony BMG. The software basically opened up a huge hole that would-be hackers could use to gain control over computers with; with disastrous results. That wasn't the worst part of it. Some people discovered the software languishing on their hard drives, and without proper knowledge nor instruction, attempted to uninstall it. This produced even more disastrous results, causing system instability and computer crashes at best, and physically harming the CD-ROM drive at worst.

Sony BMG must've known something was up when everyone from PC owners to PC service centers discovered that Sony BMG's disks were wreaking havoc with what is called in more complex terminology, the computer's rootkit. Would that the folks at the entertainment giant had been smarter and listened to their customers, instead of vigorously protecting their right to sell compromised goods, all would've been hunky dory. But that ain't how it worked.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated federal law when it sold CDs without telling consumers that they contained software that limited the devices on which the music could be played, restricted the number of copies that could be made, and contained technology that monitored their listening habits to send them marketing messages.³

A class action suit was filed in New York and another one in California. The Texas Attorney General filed suit. Governmental agencies in Italy and Canada sued Sony BMG. Finally, after duly noting that Sony BMG was failing to admit liability and fighting tooth and nail to offer purchasers of the software-attached discs token, minuscule settlements, the United States Federal Trade Commission came in and filed charges.
 

Settlement

Had Sony BMG settled the class-action cases to the satisfaction of those involved, perhaps the federal government wouldn't have gotten involved. But that's mere speculation.

As soon as hackers discovered (via newspapers and the Internet) the security hole in "infected" computers, viruses began to flood the Internet, seeking out and damaging computers "infected" with Sony's software. Sony's original offer, before the extent of the damaged population was realized, was to offer anyone a download, from their website, of a "patch" which would effectively and safely remove the offending software. This, basically, added insult to injury because as soon as the patch was released, scientists at Princeton University discovered that whole new avenues of invasion were made available to hackers by the patch software. Sony was not, under any circumstances, going to go farther than that to satisfy its customers and distributors.

Then, after New York State's Attorney General prevailed in a suit against it, Sony BMG recalled over 5 million discs, exchanging them for discs not equipped with Digital Rights Management Software. As a result of further suits, Sony added to the exchange program a "sweetener," allowing damaged CD purchasers up to three free downloads from its music download site. Sony intended to do nothing whatsoever to compensate damaged parties for the time, effort and expense of restoring their computers to useable condition.

Now, probably anyone reading this has experienced what's called an End-User License Agreement ("EULA"). It's the huge file of text one ostensibly need read before checking a box which will allow you to download software, media, games etc. A EULA basically says that the user utilizes the software at his/her own risk, and that the manufacturer of the software, media, etc. is not responsible for damage done to any computer upon which it is loaded, and further that the manufacturer will not reimburse any person or business for losses incurred (of time or money or data) related to use of the software. Well, this is what tripped Sony BMG up. If one did not agree to the legalese of the EULA, one's disk was essentially unplayable. Sony made no indication on the packaging of the disks that there was any software, nor that there was any contractual obligation of the user, to play the music contained therein.

Sony ended up having to pay up to $150 per user of the "infected" CDs "to repair damage that resulted directly from consumers’ attempts to remove the software installed without their consent. Sony BMG is required to publish notices on its Web site describing the exchange and repair reimbursement programs."⁴

Do the math. Millions of CDs. Millions more in return. Up to $150 per CD in damages. Thus the cost of launching what was initially heralded by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) as one of the most innovative and aggressive methods of preventing music piracy in the history of the industry.

UPDATE 3/22/07: Cincinnatus checked my work and found errors. Thank goodness he knows more about the software end of it than did I. I was mislead by one of my sources into believing that the first-generation of the CDs did not contain a EULA, but in fact they did. My apologies to all whom I misled. Cincinnatus's eloquent correction follows: "I checked all the links you provided in your w/u, but didn't find any notes of version without EULAs. I did find notice of sofware install when the EULA was denied, and activities that EULA said would not, but did. That's just as bad, IMHO."

FOOTNOTES:

1. Quote from the film The Wizard of Oz (MGM - 1939) more particularly the Wicked Witch of the West (played by Margaret Hamilton) threatening Dorothy (played by Judy Garland).
2. Quote from Steve Heckler, senior vice president of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., who spoke to more than 1,200 educators, researchers and other computing experts at a conference hosted by California State University (Long Beach) in August, 2000
3. Lede from the website of The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), explaining the suit in detail.
4. Wording taken from the FTC website.

SOURCES:

• "Sony BMG Settles FTC Charges" Website of the United States Federal Trade Commission http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/01/sony.htm (Accessed 3/19/07)
• "Sony's Fix for CDs Has Security Problems of Its Own" By Brian Krebs The Washington Post Thursday, November 17, 2005; Page D01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/16/AR2005111602242.html (Accessed 3/19/07)
• Electronic Frontier Foundation: "Sony BMG Settlement FAQs" http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/Sony-BMG/settlement_faq.php (Accessed 3/19/07)
• "Sony Exec: 'We Will Beat Napster'" by M.A. Anastasi, The Daily Forty-Niner, August 17, 2000 on the website of New Yorkers for Fair Use http://www.nyfairuse.org/sony.xhtml (Accessed 3/19/07)
• Website of Girard Gibbs, LLP http://www.girardgibbs.com/ (various) (Accessed 3/19/07)
• Sony BMG class-action settlement website: http://www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com/ (Accessed 3/19/07)
• Website dedicated to the lawsuit: http://www.sonysuit.com/ (Accessed 3/20/07)
• Groklaw legal website: http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=20051122010323323 (Accessed 3/20/07)
• *Website of the Recording Industry Association of America: http://www.riaa.com/issues/piracy/default.asp (Accessed 3/21/07)

 

 

To Love Again: The Duets

Is Chris Botti trying to replace Wynton Marsalis now that Marsalis has sold out to Classical Music and succeeded in alienating fans of his work in the jazz genre? Perhaps. The two trumpeters sound a lot alike at times. What sets them both apart from their peers is purity of tone, technical proficiency and a somewhat Classical-sounding approach to the attack and release of tones.

Artist: Chris Botti
Producer: Bobby Colombi
Label: Columbia
Release Date: 2005

Featuring: Michael Buble, Paul Buchanan, Paula Cole, Renee Olstead, Rosa Passos, Jill Scott, Sting, Steven Tyler (vocals)
Featuring: Billy Childs (piano)

Botti's public relations and promotion machine have been working at full-steam for quite some time now, and doing a good job at helping make the young musician quite famous. He's been all over the place, performed in front of Royalty, appeared on television both on public TV and with Grande Dame of All Things Homey Martha Stewart. I heard Botti a while ago on NBC's The Today Show. I was impressed, but not enough to go out and buy one of his records, which the jazz grapevine had been, up to that point, waffling about.

First, a bit about Sony BMG. They now own Columbia. Since Sony got too big for its britches, their jazz releases have been, as a proportion of their total output, far too few and far between. What's really silly is that Sony's releasing jazz like crazy in Japan; but none of these fine artists (including my friend vocalist Kim Zombik who was thrilled to be signed by Sony, only to be let down enormously by their contractually forbidding her to sell, gift or otherwise convey a single one of her Japanese CDs to any person or entity in the United States. The only way to get 'em is to have a friend in Japan purchase one and ship it to the U.S.) To add insult to injury, a Sony album Kim recorded in Montreal was restricted to Canadian distribution only, as well. But I digress

Embraceable You

It turns my head when Sony releases an album for a jazz artist. Botti must be doing something right, because he's released a total of 4 on the Columbia (read "Sony") label. His latest is worth a listen for a number of reasons. George and Ira Gershwin wrote "Embraceable You" many, many years ago. Botti swings the song but imbues it with a little bit of bebop flavor. The cut is a perfect choice for harbinger of things to come. Botti plays behind the beat, utilizes dramatic tempo changes and arranger Jeremy Lubbock achieves a pleasant effect with a key change that seemingly comes out of nowhere. Botti and his world-class combo (including the likes of Billy Childs on piano, drummer Billy Kilson and a host of others are accompanied by the lush tones of an orchestra called "London Session Orchestra 2005." They're great. When the engineers decide they want you to hear them. But that's just my opinion (if you're going to play with a damn orchestra, let the listener hear the orchestra! Otherwise just use a string machine. Who are you, anyway, Barbra Streisand?)

Sting Sings "What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life"

Michel Legrand's work with The Bergmans includes some of the most contemporary additions to the Great American Songbook beside the work of Hal David and Burt Bacharach. The Legrand/Bergman machine is well-represented here with "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?" Now, this tune is one of those musical near-cliches that can go one of three ways. One can hear it in an elevator, played by "The 101 Strings;" Eydie Gorme does a version that makes one want to don polyester, lean back on a crushed-velvet couch and drink Smirnoff and smoke cigarettes; but Botti's rendition, with none other than Sting performing vocally as I've never heard before (although I kinda miss his lower register on this tune) takes the cake for breathing fresh air into an old jazz/lounge war horse. But for the fact that the words "rest of your life" is rhymed with "West of your life" (ouch!) Botti, Sting and company re-visit this beautiful Legrand-penned melody and do it justice.

My One And Only Love

Jazz singer Paula Cole does a fine job coming in on the second half of "My One And Only Love." It's another great melody and Botti carries it off in classic style without much flourish. The minimalism of the arrangement lets each performer's instrument shine.

"Let There Be Love" is a relative obscurity that I think I heard Sinatra sing once. Singer Michael Buble either decided, or was directed, to attenuate his "Las Vegas Lounge" sound completely for this happy ode to love which utilizes delightful metaphors, including one regarding oysters and another having to do with Chili Con Carne that will have the listener salivating should the album be playing before a dinner party (the whole album's a good bet to get conversation started, by the way, at a dinner party, given the variety and stature of the singers, and the choice of songs). The orchestra gets let off its lease for moments at a time to good effect, giving one a taste of big-band flavor that works really well wit Buble and Botti swinging hard together, yet keeping it all their own; not Sinatra's style of swing-a-ding-ding.

Emulation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery, or, "What's New?"

Oh, dear. The next selection reeks of Sony's placement of commercial success over originality in programming. I just hope it was Botti who chose to solo (absent vocal) on "What's New." Of course, this tune was the namesake for the mid-'80s Linda Ronstadt collaboration with arranger Nelson Riddle and his orchestra. To my relief it was different, in that the orchestra takes a back seat to the purest, most delightfully placed notes Botti plays on this entire album. Arranger Lubbock pays homage to Riddle by emulating Riddle's ballad style (the Ronstadt version was a slow but definitive swing). Now, "What's New" in ballad style as it's played here is almost funereal; so those who know the lyrics realize that Botti and his arranger are familiar with their bittersweet tone, so the music actually tells a story (a characteristic lacking on most of the other cuts on this album, and of the song selection and order on the album itself). Not to worry; the listener's treated to a lovely orchestral sunrise to bring one's emotions back to "even" after this very moving, unique treatment of a great Standard.

Good Morning (Mistuh') Heartache

Singer Jill Scott is a self-proclaimed poet. Her debut recording of song and spoken word, on the Hidden Beach label, should delight fans of poetry. Here, on "Good Morning Heartache" her distinctive voice echoes the haunting high register of Billie Holiday, but unlike Lady Day, this lady's notes are all hit on perfect pitch (not to demean Ms. Holiday's style of starting a little lower, or higher, or drooping in the middle of a tone for effect). A story is told here, with Botti merely adding emotion, color and texture. This song could easily serve as Botti's study of the style of Miles Davis - and he gets an "A" in my book. Ms. Scott actually sighs rather loudly before her first note is sung, and one can envision her sitting down at the kitchen table greeting a real live man named "Heartache." Then she sings and gets up from the table and walks around and speaks and spits and demonstrates that she's an independent woman and will not be overcome by this man. A neat take on a song that could've brought one down actually might have the listener thinking "you go, girl!"

"To Love Again" is a Botti original, co-written with Federico Pena. It's clearly a song of longing, performed minimalist-style. Great contemporary jazz; but certainly not destined to become a part of the classic jazz repertoire.

The Lonesome Song

Now, I have nothing at all against Elvis Presley. But there's a time and a place for everything. "Are You Lonesome Tonight" on an album of jazz is kinda like placing an olive-green Barcalounger in the middle of a Bauhaus-styled home furnished otherwise with the artistry of Marcel Breuer. Kitschy. Now, I have nothing at all about progressive/alternative singer Paul Buchanan of Blue Nile fame. However, would that I had some sort of electronic pencil-eraser, I'd erase this cut from my copy of the record. Really, the song tries too hard to be charming. It nearly charmed my lunch out of me.

Lover Man

The famed Gladys Knight whose recent album "Before Me" was interesting becomes even more interesting here, as she loosens up and lets the soul-jazz fly with "Lover Man." The engineers were kind enough to let the Hammond B-3 organ (part of the orchestra; not part of the combo) shine in this musical version of Collard Greens, Fried Chicken and Corn Bread. It's just delightful. Bass player Robert Hurst has a ball with '70s-sounding plucks and the whole thing just works really well. Sadly, it's the only really soulful cut on the album, beside the modernist, new-millenium soul on "Good Morning Heartache." The combo has a ball with this song and the listener knows it. Botti adds to the fun and keeps it light but flava-ful.

I'll Be Seeing You

I cried when I heard the charming (but not cloying) rendition of "I'll be Seeing You," the Sammy Fain classic melody, here without words. I used a live version of the song at my father's funeral. Pianist/arranger/composer Billy Childs plays off of Botti's pure, unadulterated notes making this one of the less-stylized pieces on the album. It works. Satchmo, when asked for advice on how best to perform a complicated or new melody, told Billy Holiday to "sing it as the guy wrote it, that's all." The arranger, and Botti, both apparently followed Armstrong's advice for this cut, making it simple and beautiful without being cloying. And it certainly has the potential to be sickly-sweet in the wrong hands.

"Pennies From Heaven," a timeless, happy tune with whimsical lyrics, is introduced with a great big blast from the horn section of the orchestra (gee, this album's an emotional roller-coaster, if you like that sorta thing). Bubbly jazz singer Renee Olstead gives us practical advice on what to do if the weather gets in the way of our plans. Botti screams in a post-bop style that's great but which may confuse those listeners looking for something a little more resembling the melody. Jazz fans will feast on this. For good measure, Botti ends the tune with something like a glissando upward that punctuates the statement the tune makes, and leaves one wondering what technical pyrotechnics he'll come up with to top it.

Here's That Rainy Day

Latin Singer Rosa Passos is Botti's next partner in song. "Here's That Rainy Day" is perfectly positioned after the positively popping "Pennies" so that we can try on the advice it gives. The arrangement could've been darker, Ms. Passos's delivery sad; but the choice of tempo, timbre and tone are just fine. Ms. Passos tells a story. Botti helps her. That's it. And it's great.

Smile

How ironic that the man with one of the biggest mouths (not figuratively, physically) in rock 'n roll (with apologies to Mick Jagger); Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fame, was tapped to handle "Smile." Written by none other than the astonishingly talented Charlie Chaplin, the song was "owned" for the longest time by Jimmy Durante. Here we hear Tyler, using his rock voice, but sotto voce, rather than screaming, singing in perfect pitch a ballad. His delivery made me wonder if he wasn't trying to cheer himself up a bit, rather than the listener. But it works and it's hauntingly beautiful. Chaplin's simple rhymes are clever nonetheless, and timeless. This makes a fitting ending for the album.

Why no track list? Well, I've listed 'em all in order, along with commentary. There's a method behind my madness. This is a musical buffet; kinda like a mix-disc. Sony and Botti, by association, are trying here to please everyone. This doesn't work. However, for the few tunes that stand out, the album's worth paying for. Had I not received it from Columbia, I'd probably have bought it just to hear stuff like the Botti/Buble pairing, "What's New" especially with the fine trumpet work, and to enjoy the soulfulness of songstresses Scott and Knight. Like I said before, this disc, at worst, would be a great conversation-starter/background disc for the start of a small dinner party.
 

NOTE: This disc was one of the discs whose initial purchasers were eligible for class-action damage reparations under the Sony BMG copy protection fiasco. Sadly, this review comes past the tolling of the final day purchasers of so-called "infected" discs could reap their legal rewards. Thank goodness the review/preview copies didn't have the software on them at all. The initial pressing of three million Sony BMG discs (this title and about 50 others) contained software that engaged when the disc was placed into a computer for play on Windows Media Player or for transfer to an iPod. The intention being to prevent illegal copying of the disc, and collection of user's player data, the code was so poorly written that it opened, pardon the pun, whole new windows for hackers to maliciously attack computers used to play the disc. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also found that, indeed, the unthinkable was happening to owners of certain hardware. The discs were breaking, I shit you not; breaking , people's CD-ROM drives. The cost to Sony BMG was steep.
 

SOURCES:

• www.chrisbotti.com (Accessed 3/19/07)

• The Blue Nile Fan Website: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palace/5216/ (Accessed 3/19/07)

• Jill Scott's Website: http://www.jillscott.com/ (Accessed 3/19/07)

The Fiona Apple trilogy
An analysis of how Fiona Apple's three studio releases work as a single, three-part musical journey through heartbreak, loneliness and love

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Abstract

The most extraordinary thing about Fiona Apple may be her warm, deep and textured voice. It may be the way her lyrical and musical talents evolved to allow for more complex music and lyrics over time. It may be how she is simultaneously able to write alarmingly personal and revealing lyrics and yet remain alarmingly mysterious. It may, in fact, be a combination of all of these things. There is, however, one aspect of her music that remains largely undiscussed and unanalyzed.

The way in which her three full-length studio albums are ordered and structured provide for fascinating contrast.

First, we must examine the musical and lyrical sophistication of each album. She was quite young -- a teenager, even -- when she composed much of the music that found its way onto Tidal. The result is an album that sounds as though it may have been written and composed by a young person -- an exceptionally talented young person, but a young person nonetheless. Her musical ability is no less evident on tracks such as Never is a Promise as it is on music from later on in her career, but the album lacks the musical complexity that would follow on later albums.

When the Pawn... was an exercise in musical experimentation. She allowed her jazz influences to shine through far more strongly than she previously had. She also began to take more musical risks, crafting songs with less orthodox melodies such as "Fast As You Can." She was also pushing herself further lyrically; while she opined about spurned love on Tidal with "then I say give me mine back and go there for all I care," When the Pawn... provided more thoughtful lyrical gems such as "only kisses on the cheek from now on, and in a little while we'll only have to wave."

Extraordinary Machine, then, was her most ambitious and experimental album to date. In it, she flirted with rock, jazz and ballads, as well as a more pop-friendly sound. It took years to create, record and release, and was held back and re-recorded at her own insistence. It is, arguably, the album she was always destined to make.

It is easy to view these three albums as a trilogy, a troika. None would exist without the other, and together they seem to tell a story of a person who has become decreasingly hostile towards the world at large over a lengthy period of time. It is a record of the process of making peace with the establishment. It is a coming of age story, one that only Fiona Apple could tell.

If you have the means to do it (such as an automatic disc changer), I wholeheartedly suggest listening to all three of her albums in succession without stopping. This may be something best suited to a long road trip or other situation during which you may be inclined to listen to entire albums in one sitting.

Before I delve into this any further, I want to acknowledge that I have indeed noded her three albums elsewhere. Those writeups were about the albums as they stand alone, which they clearly do very well. This writeup is about the whole, which is arguably more moving and more incredible than the mere sum of its parts.

Thesis

Fiona Apple's three albums, Tidal, When the Pawn... and Extraordinary Machine can easily be viewed as a three-part story (that is, perhaps, semi-autobiographical).

This is proven by the fact that the three albums seem to suggest continuity and progress in terms of specific events, emotions and maturity, as well as the fact that all three albums seem to have a common structure.

Act I

Tidal begins and ends with a high amount of anger. It mellows out in the middle, and on its own it seems to tell the story of someone who just can't let someone else go. She starts out bitter, contemplates her situation for another eight tracks, analyzes various causes and effects of said situation, and concludes with an emotional purging of the one she feels has wronged her. Her dismissal of the individual is, at the album's beginning, more tepid: "I've got my own hell to raise." There is little doubt of her meaning by the end, as she declares "My feel for you, boy, is decaying in front of me like the carrion of a murdered prey."

The middle eight tracks are perhaps the most interesting; she is analytical about matters including her past, her loves and her personality. It appears as though she is trying to reconcile the current state of affairs with the way things were; she is trying to make sense of the present using the past.

In the end, though, she is confident that she will prevail over her demons.

Round one: Fiona. She has put "someone else" out of her life, though she has done it by burning bridges and amid a great deal of bitterness and hostility. While the album's end may feel somewhat empowering, this is probably not the case. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side...

Act II

Much like Tidal, When the Pawn... opens with a piece asserting her independence and the change in her life. It seems to pick up right where Tidal left off; the first album ended with an assertion that things were about to change and get better. The second opens with the declaration: "All my life is on me now, hail the pages turning." Much like she did in Tidal, she then proceeds to analyze her past and whatever problems she had with those who were either in her life or are in her life at the present moment. Things don't turn out quite as well in the end this time, however, as she has resigned herself to not being the one that person wants at the moment. This is something that breaks her heart, but she loves him enough to wait for him.

This album also has 10 tracks, and just as Tidal's middle eight tracks posed some analytical observations about her past and the effects it may have had on the present day, When the Pawn...'s middle eight tracks do the same. Some of the angst she exhibited so openly on her first album returns during these eight tracks, but in a somewhat more controlled fashion. She does not hesitate to mock previous lovers, nor does she hesitate to speak frankly of emotional issues that arose in previous relationships.

When the Pawn... does not end well for our heroine. While she has accepted her fate, it is not the ideal situation for her. Acceptance of said fate does not allow her to end this chapter on a particularly triumphant -- or even satisfied -- note. There is, nonetheless, nothing she can do. The one she loves loves another, and she must wait by the sidelines for the day when he realizes he really loves her.

If it ever comes.

Act III

Feeling depressed after "I Know," possibly the most heartwrenching song of all time? Cheer up. Extraordinary Machine opens with the title track -- the only title track Fiona Apple has ever released. It is upbeat, cheerful and quirky. She is as assertive as ever, but without the bitterness we may have come to know and expect from her previous album-openers. She seems to have acquired a wisdom that betrays just how angsty she was two albums ago. She is now apparently wise beyond her years; this is evident both at the album's beginning and at its end, when she declares herself to be "better than fine" and offers some positive philosophies for living.

There are a great many positive references and metaphors throughout this album; she alludes often to things occasionally being problematic, but that things will turn out fine in the end. Even the middle eight tracks reflect this on this album; she seems to be saying "Yes, I made some stupid mistakes, but there's no sense dwelling on them."

It is unclear how much time has passed since the end of When the Pawn... before the beginning of Extraordinary Machine. While we know exactly how long it took for the album to be released, the time lapse between the two chapters of the story is more ambiguous. One can assume it was a reasonably long period of time because of the extent to which she has matured from one album to the next.

The ending of this album is particularly important because it represents her emotions coming full circle from the beginning of Tidal. "Sleep to Dream" was, as mentioned, chock full of so much angst that it might be viewed as making emo music look sort of tame. "Waltz (Better than Fine)" is a much more positive song that encourages others not to worry about things they can't fix; they should, rather, take solace in the fact that things tend to work out in the end.

Conclusion

Fiona Apple's albums can easily be interpreted as a three-part coming of age story due to their common theme of maturity, common structures and increasing complexity.

It is obvious that the albums were not marketed in this way; they may not even have been intended as a three-part story. It may just be the way things turned out. It's quite easy to make a very general comparison between the albums and classic coming of age stories such as the Star Wars Trilogy; their protagonists evolve as they mature and each come to terms with reality. This manifests itself in their respective losses of innocence. While it goes without saying that Star Wars is itself a nod to a very classic archetype of stories such as this, it is perhaps the most recognizable when it comes to a modern audience.

Appendix

 

It probably goes without saying that I grew up listening to Fiona Apple. Tidal came out when I was 11 and my parents gave it to me for my 12th birthday. I got When the Pawn... for Christmas two years later and bought Extraordinary Machine last year.

It's never ceased to amaze me; she puts out whatever I need to hear at that point in time. I was discovering angst at 12 and knee-deep in it at 14. At 19, I first heard a leaked copy of "Extraordinary Machine" (the song). I listened to it constantly; it was the song I'd always needed to hear.

It wasn't until I started thinking about the patterns mentioned in this essay that I considered that each of her albums has had at least one song I've needed to hear during each of those three parts of my life. When I was 12, I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I was probably never going to fit in in the conventional sense, that boys wouldn't be fighting over me and that I was generally thought of as weird. But I had Fiona, and Fiona had "Sullen Girl," and I somehow felt understood.

Then, at 15, I was dealing with the fact that I was not romantically desirable at all, not even by the few guys who seemed to take any interest in me whatsoever. And when I would fall for someone who didn't want me, I had Fiona, and Fiona had "I Know."

It's hard to describe what state I was in at 19, save to say that I was definitely in a state where I could do with being told that I was an extraordinary machine and that "if there was a better way to go then it would find me." And I had Fiona, and Fiona had a group of devoted fans who, thinking her record label had shelved her album due to its supposed "unmarketability," gave me "Extraordinary Machine."

I was 12 when I first put a Fiona Apple album into my CD player and, frankly, had no idea what to expect. It contained a girl who was angry, perhaps justifiably so, and who had no other release than song. When I put her third album into my CD player for the first time, it was astonishing to hear how it contained a woman whose cries of bitterness had turned into songs of joy.

"No, I don't believe in the wasting of time,
And I don't believe that I'm wasting mine."

Thank you, Fiona.