Never being “in the know” I have to rely on the popular press to get my information (no time for message boards and such). So I am about 2 weeks behind on this one. In my nightly reading/procrastination session I came across a Wired News Story that Fiona Apple had made a new album, Extraordinary Machine, but Sony BMG (the parent company of Epic, her label) decided not to market the album because of a “lack of commercial value” and “didn’t have a marketable single” (according to a San Francisco Gate article) What a load of crap! Your platinum album winning artist who has not released an album in 5 years has tons of fans waiting for more of her creations to blossom forth once again and you just dump it. Crazy, shear madness for a work that was been finished since May of 2003! Why would you ever want to produce something original and from someone who has genuine talent? You have to love a songwriter that writes a song called “Waltz” that is in triple meter.
The Wired story also points out that it is available via BitTorrent. Maybe somebody leaked it or it was released on purpose. This begs the question, “Is it illegal to download an album that might never be released?” Despite and because of the doubt I guess I can’t really provide download for the torrent file, but I can give you a hint (and there is always Google). Not that I would ever steal music myself, but I have heard from a very reliable source that if you liked Apple’s last album you might be in for an enjoyable listen. Really it’s just as accessible as her other albums (or not depending on your tastes). At the very least you can wet your palet with the song list.
