Fionna Apple - When The Pawn... (1999)

You know, it's been some years now that all music magazines, websites, blogs etc. compete to present the earliest possible their list with the best albums of the year. This means that albums released during November and, moreover, December are not taken into account for these lists, while next year they are also not taken into account because they were released ... last year. If we continue like this the lists with the best albums will start being issued on August or something. Recently, Uncut presented a revised list with the best albums of 2011, and they tend to do so for 2012 as well. So, we could start reading the revised lists from all magazines; it would be an interesting year throughout if each month we would be reading about the revised list of 2004 or something. Moreover, this could be an opportunity to re-evaluate new "buried treasures" from the last decade, albums that were "criminally neglected" that nobody has ever heard of.
So, there I am. I'm proud to be the last one, worldwide, to present the album of the year, as chosen by this blog (i.e. by me). No, it's not because I'm a lazy sod sometimes, nor because I tend to skip my weekly update goal for good reasons such as to join just another children party. This was purely on the basis of (ehm) having enough time to listen to all the stockpiled albums and be absolutely sure for my final choice!
So, after this long prologue I'm declaring as album of the year the album with the great title (in terms of length as well...) "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do", an adventurous recording, full of influences (from cabaret to Mellissa Etheridge) beautifully mixed together to create a unique result. Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes for allmusic: "Alone with her voice, piano, and percussionist Charley Drayton, Apple has nowhere to hide, nor does she give any indication she'd prefer to run. These spare but not skeletal arrangements -- each cut is subtly colored with harmonies, slight effects, overlapping rhythms, and additional keyboards -- never shift focus away from Fiona's magnetic vocals, the human element pulling us into these songs. (...) There are no singles here, nothing concise and concentrated to facilitate an easy sell. But that's not to say that The Idler Wheel is alienating. As elliptical as the melodies and words can be, the music is immediate and the songs unfold quickly, certain turns of phrase or thrilling runs swiftly seeping into the subconscious. Lacking either ornate production or a pop single, The Idler Wheel plays like Fiona Apple at her purest and that's plenty complicated: she takes no shortcuts or easy turns, her intent somewhat shrouded but never absent." I couldn't agree more.

The related upload was Fiona Apple's best album until her latest release, with the even greater title (again in terms of length) "When The Pawn Hits The Conflicts He Thinks Like A King What He Knows Throws The Blows When He Goes To The Fight And He'll Win The Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters The Ring There's No Body To Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right". (The titles of Fiona Apple's albums could lead to a nervous breakdown the reviewer that was said by his/ her editor to write "a 200-word review").

review link

download link