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Extraordinary Machine
by Fiona Apple


8.7

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 131 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

When The Pawn...

Official Artist Site

The singer-songwriter's third album finally sees the light of day after originally being shelved by her record label in 2003 and then leaked onto the Internet. This official 'Machine' is a newly-recorded version (with producer Mike Elizondo taking over for the original's Jon Brion), so if you've heard the leaked tracks, you haven't heard this. Let the comparisons begin!

LABEL:	Sony
RELEASE DATE:	04 October 2005
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock, Singer-Songwriter

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly

The cleaner take on Extraordinary Machine is like a trip to a less cluttered haunted house, and Apple's more nuanced delivery sticks the knife in, but slowly. It's both charming and devastating. [7 Oct 2005, p.72]

100

Amazon.com

With Extraordinary Machine, she shatters already sky-high expectations.

100

Blender

This is one helluva piece of singer-songwriter art. [Nov 2005, p.129]

Village Voice (Consumer Guide)

Although Mike Elizondo adds momentum, Jon Brion's colors still predominate, and the melodic and structural contours are all Apple's.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

It's another solid set of passionate, angry, marvelously produced songs delivered by a singular voice, and it succeeds by following a muse that doesn't just ignore genre distinctions and pop delineations—it doesn't know they exist.

Village Voice

The title track and "Waltz" bookend Extraordinary Machine. Both excel, set to Brion's signature command of crisp, idiomatic, Van Dyke Parks-influenced Hollywood symphonics. But the Elizondo-Kehew tracks top them.

musicOMH.com

A fine record.

The New York Times

There's a new layer of perspective on her magnificent third album. [3 Oct 2005]

All Music Guide

Extraordinary Machine may be more accessible, but it remains an art-pop album in its attitude, intent and presentation -- it's just that the presentation is cleaner, making her attitude appealing and her intent easier to ascertain, and that's what makes this final, finished Extraordinary Machine something pretty close to extraordinary.

Rolling Stone

Apple's strongest and most detailed batch of songs yet.

Billboard

With a less confessional and more confrontational attitude, this long-gestating album has lost the tenderness found on "Tidal" and some of "When the Pawn . . .," but her execution still commands attention. [8 Oct 2005]

Slant Magazine

For every song that's been improved there's one that's been unnecessarily tooled with.

ShakingThrough.net

Apart the two versions are about equal, combined they could have been amazing.

The Guardian

In a genre hardly noted for springing surprises on its listeners, Extraordinary Machine sounds like a real achievement: however torturous the gestation, it seems worthwhile.

Uncut

There's now a sardonic wit to these break-up ballads. [Dec 2005, p.120]

Drawer B

She’s clever and sharp with her lyrical daggers, and she’s frighteningly aware of the impact of her own voice.

Dot Music

This is a frequently great and occasionally bold statement from an - extraordinary - artist on top of her game.

Q Magazine

With its prowling, piano-led menace and barely contained fury, Extraordinary Machine offers ample confirmation that Apple is far darker than your average singer-songwriter. [Jan 2006, p.126]

Mojo

A fine, off-beat listen. [Jan 2006, p.124]

Spin

Elizondo's zippy production effectively pushes Apple's tendency to plod. [Nov 2005, p.96]

New Musical Express

Lurches spectacularly from lounge-jazz to avant-vaudeville and takes a pop at everything in between. [14 Jan 2006, p.34]

Prefix Magazine

Not only have Brion’s strings been replaced by an indescribably awkward alt-rock guitar riff and a misplaced drum beat, but Apple’s vocals have lost all of their bite and passion. On Brion’s work, she seemed hungry, ready to get back into it all. Here she retains the emotion that such a talented singer can muster on a good day but none of the rawness that signifies her best work.

E! Online

Her voice has grown huskier with age, the songs are barely there, and hip-hop producer Mike Elizondo doesn't have the delicate hand that's required to bring them to life.

Austin Chronicle

If the back end didn't sag, this cyborg would be unstoppable.

Neumu.net

Lacking both the musical and counter-cultural thrill of the Brion recordings, this album turns away from a certain artistic "rawness" in the original recordings, razing away counter-melodies and acoustic decay for a well-polished delivery that presents the photogenic songstress in a more "flattering" light.

Pitchfork

The officially released version of Extraordinary Machine remains a decent-to-good album, one that showcases Apple's considerable vocal and key-pounding talents.... The shame of it all is that Apple, after six years of silence, could've made a more definitive, progressive statement rather than something familiar and similar-- and we've got the bootlegs to prove it.

Stylus Magazine

A rudderless piece of work.

The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 131 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Alfonso G. gave it a10:
Omg, this is her vest album to date! Sure tidal was awesome and so was her other one with the really long name that I cant remember for some reason right now. I think this album just pretty much surpasses any expectations she had for her whole career or any one else. I think as each album she makes, she just continues to do better and better and better and so on. The lyrics and just the melodies and the tempos and everything is sooo on the perfect notch! Every single song has so much to look afford to. This Album will go down as awesome!

Alexis B. gave it a10:
LITERALLY my all time favourite album, im not here to talk abt which version is better but to talk abt fiona's work and evolvement as an artist, she broke every line with EM. Jon Brion did an amazing work with Not About Love, Red Red Red and Used to Love Him while Elizondo did an amazing work for get Him Back, O sailor (2 thumbs up!) and Window...but i must say that, to me, some Brion tracks were totally unhearable (get Him back) and cold (Oh Sailor) while Elizondo did his best to make a world out of every song and indeed, he succeeded...amazing album, one of those that u just listen to but cant quite figure out how to criticize it

Raffaella A. gave it a10:
I'm one of the few who prefer the new version to the baroque one she conceived with Brion - I love it actually! The clean sounds leave room for raw emotions, carried by Fiona's outstanding voice. Obsession (Get Him Back) and wiseness (Better Than Fine) live together well in some of Fiona's best lyrics ever.

C Liam gave it a10:
Her every albums are my all time favourite and I give it a 10 too!

Robbie C gave it a5:
An utter disappointment. The original tracks sounded audacious, ostentatious, grandiose! Unlike any other music being made today. In their finished state, she is part Eminem, part Fiona-on-Quaaludes, all weak and compromised. The only reason this album gets so much as a 5 is because two of the tracks are unchanged and two others might have been improved.

Vin gave it a10:
The leaked version of the album is ten times better than the official release. It was more raw and organic. It had more emotion.

Mike gave it an8:
Very good.... But I liked her 2nd album alot more.

Extraordinary Machine by Fiona Apple

Extraordinary Machine
by Fiona Apple