Extraordinary Machine 非凡机器 Pitchfork乐评搬运

专辑封面

作者：罗伯.米彻姆

分类：摇滚

发表时间：2005.10.4

评分：6.2（布里昂泄露版7.8）

If you're particularly web savvy, you may have seen the previous version of this review up on the site before its replacement with the edition you're reading right now. Here's the story: I crafted the original to be my most ambitious yet-- epic in scope, embellished with the richest prose I could possibly summon. But alas, the powers that be were not, as they say, feeling it, and sent me back to the drawing board to craft a review less eccentric and more crowd-friendly. Or actually, maybe I had second thoughts about the original review myself, choosing to self-regulate and take a mulligan. I don't know, it's very confusing; but know that all this vacillation was never for publicity's sake, no, never that.

如果您特别了解网络信息，那么在您读的这一替代版本评论之前，您可能已经阅读了此评论的先前版本，故事是这样的：我精心制作的原稿本将成为我最富有野心的评论，史诗般的题目范围，用我所能想到最丰富的散文语言进行美化，但很可惜，上层领导并没有看到，并且他们让我重新感受，将评论打回原稿，重新制作一篇不那么古怪，对听众友好的乐评，又或许我曾经重新考虑过我最初的乐评，我选择对此部分调节，尝试第二次机会。我不知道，这很令我疑惑，但所有的这些犹豫都不是为了宣传，并且从来都不是。

So I can empathize with Fiona Apple, who has gone through a similarly arduous journey on the road to releasing her first album in six years. Earlier this year, Extraordinary Machine appeared destined for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot status, as the nearly-finished album Apple made with longtime collaborator Jon Brion was shelved, then surreptitiously leaked to the world's music thieves. But rather than graciously accepting a starring role in Fuck the Man Rock N' Roll Myth #67, Apple did a do-over, this time working with Mike Elizondo, best known as right-hand man to the good Dr. Dre.

所以我可以同情苹果在发行第一张专辑的六年里经历了类似艰难的旅程。今年早些时候，《Extraordinary Machine》似乎重演了《 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot》的情况，在专辑即将完成时，苹果的长期合作者乔恩·布里昂突然罢工，并且泄曲给全世界，但是苹果并没有欣然接受做67年那些摇滚神话的做的事情，她而是重新做了一次，这次是与与迈克·埃利桑多合作，博士的最好制作人之一。

Unfortunately for Apple and Elizondo, that Brion version isn't going away quietly. And now, upon the release of the official retail version, it only makes sense to compare the two-- a sort of musical Pepsi challenge-- given that they share 11 of 12 songs. The differences are far from subtle: For all but two songs, the title track and "Waltz (Better Than Fine)", Elizondo overhauled the original takes-- or maybe underhauled is the more appropriate term in this case, given the addition-by-subtraction philosophy applied throughout.

不幸的是，对于苹果和埃利桑多来说，布里昂泄露的版本不会悄无声息地消失，现在官方版本发行后，将两者对比就可看出问题——这是一种新的音乐届的百事可乐难题，因为布里昂泄露了12首歌中的11首，并且差异很小，除了同名曲与“Waltz （Better Than Fine）”之外，埃利桑多对原始小样进行彻底检修，又或许在这种情况下，考虑到“加减哲学”，适度做减法是更合适的选择。

Apple is a songwriter who can turn every relationship hiccup into a calamitous tragedy, and Brion fittingly applied his production talents with the intent of blowing up her songs to 2.35:1 aspect ratio. On "Not About Love" and "O' Sailor", Brion scored Apple's compositions no less extravagantly than his soundtracking work for the indie-film elite, applying dollops of lush orchestration to place her piano and throwback vocals in an epic frame. Though the material wasn't always Apple's best-- "Oh Well" and "Window" in particular, sounding a bit through-the-motions-- the symphonic presentation kept it interesting and gave the LP a cohesive flavor.

苹果是一位能将每段关系的冲突变为灾难性悲剧的词曲作者，布里昂恰当地运用了她的创作才能，构思将歌曲制作成 2.35:1的纵横比，在“Not About Love”和“O' Sailor”中，布里昂对苹果作品的制作不亚于他为精英独立电影提供的配乐作品，运用了丰富的配器将她的钢琴和复古人声置于史诗般的框架中，虽然这些材料并不总是苹果最好的——特别是“Oh Well”和“Window”，听起来有点过分——但交响乐的呈现让它保持有趣，并赋予了黑胶 特有的有凝聚力的味道。

Elizondo's approach is more eclectic: Rather than applying copious amounts of strings, he employs bits of organ, backwards loops, and busier drumming to flesh out Fiona's sound. But the fleshing out is kept skeletal, so as not to distract from the central elements of Apple's voice and piano. Though the Brion version was likely unmastered, it's still striking how much the emphasis has shifted from a broader sound to Apple's contributions alone, like demos in reverse. You can also pour a 40 out for fallen countermelodies, as Elizondo hacks away Brion's embellishments upon "Not About Love" and "Window" in his efforts to keep the spotlight fixed solely on the star.

埃利桑多的方法更加折衷：他没有使用大量的弦乐，而是使用管风琴，用向后循环和更为紧凑的鼓点来充实苹果的声音，但充实的内容保持骨架状，以免分散苹果人声和钢琴的核心元素。尽管布里昂的版本可能尚未掌握，但令人惊讶的是，焦点已经从更广泛的声音转移到单独苹果的表演上，就像小样的反转一样。你也可以为下降的反旋律取出40分，因为埃利桑多砍掉了布里昂对“Not About Love”和“Window”的装饰，以努力将聚光灯完全固定在焦点上。

Not to say that there aren't moments where Elizondo either improves or offers a valid alternative to the Brion takes, as "Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)" remakes the routine "Used to Love Him" with twitchy synth-bass and "Oh Well" benefits from a stronger vocal take. The dreamy "O' Sailor", meanwhile, refuses to be ruined, though the new version knocks the original out of its cosmic moody-blue orbit by insultingly replacing actual strings with the synthesized variety. Not so tamper-proof are the triplets "Red Red Red" and "Please Please Please", the former losing most of its drama thanks to a dull ambient backdrop, the latter ironically softening its single-ready punch on what's supposed to be the more traditionally commercial album.

并不是说埃利桑多在任何时候都会改进或提供一种有效的替代布里昂的方法，因为“Tymps （The Sick in the Head Song）”用抽搐的合成贝斯重制了常规的“Used to Love Him”，而“Oh Well”受益于更强的人声。与此同时，梦幻般的“O’Sailor”拒绝被破坏，尽管新版本通过用合成的琴弦侮辱性地替换实际的琴弦，将原版从其宇宙忧郁的蓝色轨道上剔除。三胞胎《Red Red Red》和《Please Please Please》就不那么不可篡改了，前者由于沉闷的环境背景而失去了大部分戏剧性，后者讽刺地软化了它在本应是更传统的商业专辑上的单曲冲击力。

The officially released version of Extraordinary Machine remains a decent-to-good album, one that showcases Apple's considerable vocal and key-pounding talents. In its new clothes, the album fits alongside her prior two albums, with only the slightly less consistent material bringing it down a peg. 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.

《Extraordinary Machine》的正式发行版本仍然是一张不错的专辑，它展示了苹果相当多的声乐技巧和关键技术。在新的阶段，这张专辑与她之前的两张专辑很相配，只有稍微不太一致的材料使它变得不那么稳定。遗憾的是，经过六年的沉默，苹果本可以做出一个更明确、更进步的表达，而不是一些熟悉和类似的表达——我们有盗版来证明这一点。