Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine - Vinyl

cmy330go

Does anyone else here have this album on vinyl? I picked it up last night and threw it on the table for a quick spin. I was really shocked at how poor the sound quality is. I have had the CD of this album for quite a while and already knew that many of the tracks were mixed rather heavily in the lower frequencies. On the CD I got used to the sound however on the LP the bass seems to actually screw up her voice. It kinda sounds like she is singing through spinning fan blades. Kinda Darth Vaderish. :rolleyes:

Just curious if anyone else has had this problem. I'm not sure if it is due to a poor pressing, or if I just got a bum copy.

Thanks
Dave

Demiurge

It was originally released in 2003, you may have that version. The new one was mixed differently. One of them really sucks bad. If you do have the old version that might be worth some serious bank as far as LPs go. I'm not sure if it was just a leak or if it was actually pressed.

cmy330go

Actually the the '03 was a bootleg and was never pressed to vinyl. I have the current official release.

RuSsMaN

Whats the label?

Demiurge

She's on Epic.

This is why major labels blow. You work, you deliver, and they decide not to release it. If the label doesn't want your work, you should get it back. It's horseshit and this is a prime example why.

cmy330go

Demiurge wrote:

She's on Epic.

This is why major labels blow. You work, you deliver, and they decide not to release it. If the label doesn't want your work, you should get it back. It's horseshit and this is a prime example why.

That's true. But from what I've heard in this case she took the upper hand. Apparently 3 years ago when the albums was supposed to come out, Sony was trying to force her to produce it a certain way to make it more radio friendly or whatever. She didn't like how it was being done and apparently they wouldn't back down so she said screw you and didn't release it at all. After a protest on the steps of Sony records and a large "Free Fiona" movement, they finally agreed to release it the way she wanted it.

I have never been a close follower of her music, that is until I met my wife :rolleyes: , but I do REALLY respect someone that refuses to compromise in the name of money!!! Also I must admit that after lengthy exposure to it....this album is a real gem!

Demiurge

cmy330go wrote:

That's true. But from what I've heard in this case she took the upper hand. Apparently 3 years ago when the albums was supposed to come out, Sony was trying to force her to produce it a certain way to make it more radio friendly or whatever. She didn't like how it was being done and apparently they wouldn't back down so she said screw you and didn't release it at all. After a protest on the steps of Sony records and a large "Free Fiona" movement, they finally agreed to release it the way she wanted it.

I have never been a close follower of her music, that is until I met my wife :rolleyes: , but I do REALLY respect someone that refuses to compromise in the name of money!!! Also I must admit that after lengthy exposure to it....this album is a real gem!

That is what happened, but in the end she always loses, and she did, because this album was changed from how it was originally turned in and the subsequent album that she leaked nearly 3 years ago.

I have worked with a band on Geffen/Interscope who had the same thing happen to them. They submitted an album and had it held hostage. When you're an artist on a major label you do not have control over your music, this is counterproductive. That's why independent bands are selling albums that rival that of major labels. They're wising up, however, and giving bands contracts with total artistic control. Decemberists, for example, have ended their run with Kill Rock Stars and are now signed with Capital records and apparently have a great deal of control. These days, artists are getting discovered by the major labels almost like a lottery system, not based on the best talent available, and they are given a boat load of money up front. They release 2 or 3 albums and then fall into obscurity. Their integrity is often jeporadized in the long run and can't even fall back to the lower key club lifestyle after their major label/arena runs.

It's hard to blame a bunch of kids who are busting their **** for taking a seemingly sweet deal and money they have never seen before. I am just of the opinion that creating your fan base by playing a great deal of shows the hard way is the best option. That way you're in demand, rather than the other way around -- "Hey, here's this new band that we decided to refine and force through your eardrums with all the money we've pumped into marketing them."

Most of them don't want to work for it, and that's the reason we have so much crap out there these days.

cmy330go

Demiurge wrote:

That is what happened, but in the end she always loses, and she did, because this album was changed from how it was originally turned in and the subsequent album that she leaked nearly 3 years ago......

According to a few interviews I've seen and read she claims that this current release is the way she originally wanted it, and that the one leaked was not the way she wanted it, and the reason she refused to release it.

Anyway back to the subject. I think I have found the problem with this record, and actually it seems it wasn't the record at all.

Yesterday I got my new Music Hall MMF-2.1 for my HT system. One of the first records I put on was Extraordinary Machine just out of curiosity. To my surprise I didn't hear the warbled sound like I did on my 2ch rig. Well after further inspection of the 2ch setup I discovered that I had a KT88 tube that was failing in my integrated amp. For some reason this album really emphasized the problem. On most other albums it is virtually undetectable. So fortunately the tube was still just under the 90 day warranty and I have a new one on the way. Hopefully this will clear things up.

Dave

heiney9

Mostly it came down to production. I was going to paraphrase but this quote pretty much hits the mark.

Apple fans who were patiently waiting a long, long time for new material were convinced that her label, Epic, was withholding a masterpiece because they also thought it was uncommercial. And, based on the version of Extraordinary Machine that was widely leaked on the internets in early 2005, if Epic indeed harbored suspicions that the album was uncommercial, they were not wrong -- although Apple reunited with her When the Pawn producer, Jon Brion, for Extraordinary Machine, the original sessions for the album found the singer/songwriter and producer both indulging in their worst tendencies, creating deliberately difficult, obtuse, baroque art-pop with so many creaky details and elliptical melodies that it barely let listeners into their world. It was the kind of record that devoted fans -- say, the kind that will start a website called FreeFiona.com to petition a record label to release an album -- would dissect endlessly, but it was too insular to appeal to even those who passionately loved her second album, which was already dismissed in some quarters as too arty.

I DL'd a bootlegged copy of the the "original" and never really cared for it all that much, very overdone and bloated ,IMO. The "new" version with a different producer achieves much better results without loosing too much of the songs original concepts.

On the official release of the CD you'll notice the 1st and last song are the true originals with Jon Brion producing, and they sound very much different than the rest of songs.

H9