On The Bound
To Your Love
Limp
Love Ridden
Paper Bag
A Mistake
Fast As You Can
The Way Things Are
Get Gone
I Know
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Fiona Apple
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
Sony/Epic 496428-2
Release Date: December 1999
By Sharlene Tan
It's hard to be a female singer these days. To be commercially successful, you either have to imitate Britney Spears or Mandy Moore.
In a world full of bleached blond Mousketeers, it is heartening to see Fiona Apple out with another album.
This is the follow-up to her first album, Tidal.
What attracted me to the album is its colossal 90-word title. When The Pawn... seems to be a song in itself.
Please forgive me for my distance
The pain is evident in my existence
Please forgive me for my distance
The shame is manifest in my resistance
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Fiona sings of love, but of a love that is far away, a love that is wrong.
In an interview with CDNOW, Fiona says she sings about life, but "it's never in a place where somebody can figure out exactly what's going on". Her songs are haunting and her voice brings out the strong piano background. After all, she was the voice behind the mellow, "Across the Universe" on the Pleasantville soundtrack. Probably the only time I ever heard Fiona on the radio!
"Fast as you can" is the first single from the album and I love the way it builds up, reflecting the lyrics (Fast as you can/baby run-free yourself of me/Fast as you can). "Limp" is well, hardly. It's hard and fast and angry. You might be wondering what she could be so angry at. Well, Fiona says, "It's just that when I feel like writing songs is usually when something has upset me."
But as songs can be interpreted in different ways, I'll just say that her songs reflect life experiences. When the Pawn... is a good album to listen to when it's raining inside and you just need some music to make you feel better.
Not so well-known facts: Fiona picked up a Best Rock Female Vocal Grammy in 1997 for 'Criminal' and a 1997 MTV award for best new artiste
Hey, we welcome Sharlene, and this is her first review.
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