There was a period in the late 1990s when John spent a lot of time in America, during which, apart from eating too many burgers and learning to appreciate baseball (go Mets!), he developed a fascination with enigmatic super-cool Fiona Apple.
This entirely healthy and appropriate obsession appreciation was reignited on the release of the incredible Fetch the Bolt Cutters album in 2020 and so prompted her inclusion in the Jeffrey canon. It was all new territory for Gordon who didn’t know much about her, and given his impatience with anything remotely jazzy, you can expect a controversial discussion.
In each podcast episode we talk through the artist’s history chronologically, picking our favourite tracks and ranking the albums as we go, so check that out if you want to know how we came to our decisions and why we picked the playlist tracks we did.
Our ranking and track picks are a compromise of our two different personal opinions, and of course we have to consider the Jeffrey Rulebook, it is also only a snapshot in time, so don’t take them too seriously! But do please comment below with your picks.
The Fiona Apple Jeffrey Podcast Playlist is also available here on Deezer.
Research for the podcast was not so easy, there isn’t a great deal out there about Fiona Apple. We watched various online interviews (including this for the WTF podcast with Marc Maron) and the movie Fiona Has Wings, so maybe’s there’s a gap in the market for a biography … now there’s an idea!
1996: Tidal
Our ranking: 4th
Apple’s debut album is half a brilliant album, and half an OK album. There are some amazing tracks here, full of guile and depth, and there are some mediocre numbers that feel like she is still trying to find her style and working out how to write a full album’s worth of satisfying complete tracks.
The lead single is an incredible achievement for someone so young – not just musically, but lyrically – and her vocal performance is breathtaking.
Our picks: Sleep to Dream and Carrion
1999: When the Pawn …
Our ranking: Top!
Apple’s most straightforward album, written – at the encouragement of her record company – with half an eye on commercial success. Some might frown on this, preferring the purer sounds of her other work, but the more accessible (i.e. less jazzier) sound really works and the singles are strong – so if you’re unfamiliar with her work, this is definitely the place to start.
The full title is a poem written by Apple as a response to some of the criticism of her debut:
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
Our picks: To Your Love and Paper Bag
2005: Extraordinary Machine
Our ranking: 3rd
A strong successor to the brilliant When the Pawn … but feels like it is mining the same territory, albeit with brilliance and pizazz (and a slightly jazzier less-direct feel).
The thing is, when you have to wait so long between releases, you really want an album that is offering something different, and as every other album has a distinct character and takes us new places, this is the first (and only) time that doesn’t really happen. It’s not much of a criticism, it’s more that she’s set the bar so high, prioritising carefully developed quality over banging out lots of quantity, and so it would have been good if she’d taken these ideas further.
Our picks: Please Please Please and Window
2012: The Idler Wheel …
Our ranking: 5th
From John’s perspective, Fiona Apple never made a bad album, they are all good, and one in particular is exceptional. From Gordon’s perspective, Fiona Apple made one good album, some OK stuff, and a couple of shockers … so understand that this list is an attempt to square an impossible circle.
Something has to come bottom, and it is this starker emotional beast from 2012, a beautiful heartfelt album that cuts to the core with raw vocals and sparse music … but didn’t land that well with Our Gordon who mainly felt it missed the target.
Full title: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Our Picks: Daredevil and Every Single Night
We’re not huge fans of her album covers, but probably rate this one the best of the bunch:
2020: Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Our ranking: 2nd
John’s top album by a country mile, left Gordon feeling cold and baffled as to why this remarkable record caused so much fuss when it dropped in 2020 … so perhaps it’s the kind of record that people will either love or hate.
It sounds like nothing else, going big on powerful busy rhythms, and although arguably has some songs that are a little underwritten, it still manages to be a raw powerhouse of rhythmic vocally-jazzy wonderfulness – albeit not to everyone’s taste.
Our picks: Heavy Balloon and Shameika
The Jeffrey Music ranking of Fiona Apple albums (2021):
- When the Pawn … (1999)
- Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020)
- Extraordinary Machine (2005)
- Tidal (1996)
- The Idler Wheel … (2012)
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