When The Pawn...

Amazon.com's Best of 1999
When the Pawn Hits fulfills the promise of Fiona Apple's debut, Tidal, a strong statement given that her first outing was one of 1996's most exciting collections. Dark and emotionally dense, Apple's sophomore effort is awash in alluring and witty undercurrents that belie its creator's youth. --Steven Stolder

Amazon.com
Fiona Apple, what a character. Between the softcore video, the awards show rebuke, and now for her second album concocting history's most ludicrous title (the full thing runs 90 words long), Apple is earning a rep as a world-class oddball. Which may be the case. In contrast to many of her faux eccentric contemporaries, however, this wolf in waif's clothing seems to be genuinely astray in the straight world. And Apple is the real thing in another way--as a talent. When the Pawn Hits picks up where her eye-opening debut, Tidal, left off. With Jon Brion back in the producer's seat, the twosome concoct a heady, keyboard-heavy soundscape that perfectly complements the singer's assertive, dangerously sexy Nina Simone-meets-Chrissie Hynde delivery. Unforeseen embellishments color the arrangements, including the sinister carnival interlude in "On the Bound," the George Harrison-like guitar in "Mistake," and the drum solo (when's the last time you heard one of those on a pop album?) in "Limp." All Brion's enhancements are in service of Apple, who comes through with preternaturally confident expressions of insecure sentiments ("Change my mind, I can't decide, there's too many variations to consider") and cold-eyed accounts of recrimination and self-recrimination. Cohesive, gutsy, and finely honed, When the Pawn Hits pummels any notions of a sophomore slump for 1996's most promising newcomer. A character, yes, but what an artist, too! --Steven Stolder

When The Pawn...,Fiona Apple,Sony,Pop,Popular Music,Rock,Rock/Pop

When The Pawn...

Average customer rating:

The Best Apple CD
Getting extraordinary
a modern classic
Music for the road.. to think and enjoy
"And I'll be your girl if you say it's a gift..."

When The Pawn...
Fiona Apple
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Tidal
Extraordinary Machine
Extraordinary Machine
Little Earthquakes
Happenstance

ASIN: B00002MZ4W
Release Date: 1999-11-09

Tracks:

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

Amazon.com's Best of 1999

When the Pawn Hits fulfills the promise of Fiona Apple's debut, Tidal, a strong statement given that her first outing was one of 1996's most exciting collections. Dark and emotionally dense, Apple's sophomore effort is awash in alluring and witty undercurrents that belie its creator's youth. --Steven Stolder

Amazon.com

Fiona Apple, what a character. Between the softcore video, the awards show rebuke, and now for her second album concocting history's most ludicrous title (the full thing runs 90 words long), Apple is earning a rep as a world-class oddball. Which may be the case. In contrast to many of her faux eccentric contemporaries, however, this wolf in waif's clothing seems to be genuinely astray in the straight world. And Apple is the real thing in another way--as a talent. When the Pawn Hits picks up where her eye-opening debut, Tidal, left off. With Jon Brion back in the producer's seat, the twosome concoct a heady, keyboard-heavy soundscape that perfectly complements the singer's assertive, dangerously sexy Nina Simone-meets-Chrissie Hynde delivery. Unforeseen embellishments color the arrangements, including the sinister carnival interlude in "On the Bound," the George Harrison-like guitar in "Mistake," and the drum solo (when's the last time you heard one of those on a pop album?) in "Limp." All Brion's enhancements are in service of Apple, who comes through with preternaturally confident expressions of insecure sentiments ("Change my mind, I can't decide, there's too many variations to consider") and cold-eyed accounts of recrimination and self-recrimination. Cohesive, gutsy, and finely honed, When the Pawn Hits pummels any notions of a sophomore slump for 1996's most promising newcomer. A character, yes, but what an artist, too! --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

The Best Apple CD.......2007-07-05

I feel that this is the best of the three Fiona CDs. This is probably my most listened and most coveted CD, not just by Apple, but in general. She is an amazing singer/songwriter and this album is a display of that. You WILL NOT be disappointed by this purchase.

Getting extraordinary.......2007-04-19

Disclaimer: I heard this one after Apple's 3rd, and latest, album - so, loving the cabaret touches added to Extraordinary Machine (and sharper songwriting), I was a bit let down by When The Pawn.

The formula is firmly in place, and it's a good one - PlasticOno piano, bitter recriminations, unpredictable metaphors, walloping beats, spooky Chamberlain and retro colors (usually on the coda). It's an intoxicating sound.

"On The Bound" offers classic aggressive Apple and "Get Gone" gets downright nasty, but my fave is "Paper Bag," with its vulnerable stance and super-startling hook, "Hunger hurts but starving works when it costs too much to love."

Her influence throughout pop music since the mid-90's is leviathan.

a modern classic.......2007-01-20

the best record i've heard in the past few years... awesome production... fiona at her best, great songs, great arrangements, great sound...
it puts her right there with my most favored classics... a modern day "abbey road".. can't stop listening to it... absolute masterpiece.a step up form the debut album... it actualy made me by all three fiona records...

Music for the road.. to think and enjoy.......2006-06-16

Asa travelling salesman on the road, i have the unique privilige to hear a cd well and experience all the moods..

Fiona Apple is a musian that its wiser beyond her age.. for contemporary adults (Im in my early forties) this music involves you in an atmosphere (kind of dark but intense) that will challange you.

"And I'll be your girl if you say it's a gift...".......2006-06-12

Fiona Apple's When the Pawn... is an ok album of sorts. Boy is she angry and pissed on these songs. After that MTV fiasco in 1997, Fiona became an outspoken and muchly hated woman for speaking her mind. This album is very different from her debut album, Tidal. Standout tracks include: Limp, Fast as you Can, Love Ridden, Paperbag, Get Gone, and The Way Things Are. The rest of the songs I didn't care for, nothing drastically wrong with them just middle of the road tracks. Some of the songs are too jazzy and slow for my taste. But the songs I do like are strong and gutsy, especially the song Limp, "You feed the beast I have within me, you wave the red flag baby you make it run, run, run, standing on the sidelines waving and grining, you fondle my trigger then you blame my gun..." The song Love Ridden would actually fit better on her Tidal album, haunting and gorgeous song though, "Love ridden I've looked at you, with the focus I gave to my birthday candles, I've wished on the lidded blue flames under your brow and baby I wished for you..." When the Pawn shines in certain places but otherwise average to my picky ears.

When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King...

Average customer rating:

"Pawn" becomes a queen
One of the best albums I have ever heard
Good Stuff
could be so much better
Perfect

When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King...
Fiona Apple
Manufacturer: Japanese Import
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Tidal
Extraordinary Machine
Extraordinary Machine
The Departed (Two-Disc Special Edition)

ASIN: B00003TL49
Release Date: 2002-03-12

Tracks:

On the Bound
To Your Love
Limp
Love Ridden
Paper Bag
Mistake, A
Fast As You Can
Way Things Are, The
Get Gone
I Know
Never Is A Promise
Across The Universe

Album Description

Japanese edition of the hit vocalist's 1999 & second album with two bonus tracks added, 'Never Is A Promise' & her cover of The Beatles' classic 'Across The Universe' that she contributed to the soundtrack to the hit 1998 film 'Pleas antville'. 12 tracks total.

Customer Reviews:

"Pawn" becomes a queen.......2004-11-04

Fiona Apple returns in rare form in "When the Pawn..." (plus about ninety more words), her sophomore album -- and one of the rare ones that actually improves on the first. Her passionate bluesy-jazzy sound is blended with her strong, sensitive vocals and one soul-baring song after another.

"Hell don't know my fury." You said it, Fiona. Anger and melancholy permeate her songs, including the rage of "Limp" ("But no matter what I try/You'll beat me with your bitter lies") and the restrained quality of piano-bombast "The Way Things Are." Even the musically gentle "I Know" has a deep sadness, starting to move past some of the bitterness and anger coming before it, and early on Apple seems to apologize for her romantic shortcomings. There are also two additional tracks: the powerful Beatles cover "Across the Universe," from the movie "Pleasantville," and the haunting ballad "Never is a Promise," which doesn't immediately blend in, but works wonderfully and subtlely.

Female singer-songwriters are a dime a dozen today, but few of them do much more than set basic pop songs to acoustic guitar and piano. But Fiona Apple forges ahead with a noncomformist attitude and strong songs. In a nutshell, she comes across as an excellent musician, with all the power you'd expect from such a singer. And every song is a winner, gut-wrenching and beautiful in its intensity.

Musically, it has almost as much impact as her writing does. The music is often led by Apple's piano -- not tinkly piano, but dark, fast melodies that match her songs in rhythm and intensity. Percussion booms in songs like "Limp," as if giving vent to Apple's feelings. And cropping up from time to time are odd gurgles and squiggles, as well as some well-blended horn arrangements in the background.

Apple's voice is strong and assured, but it also has that rare quality of expressing vast amounts of emotion. Without, I might add, sounding overwrought. Which, since the mood is that of an Angry Young Woman, is a hard thing to pull off, but Apple's richly poetic lyrics ("And you can use my skin/to bury secrets in") make her songs seem intensely personal.

"When the Pawn..." is an almost exhausting experience -- just try listening to the whole thing without getting your heart rate up. From rotten lovers to personal pain, Fiona Apple explores the bitter side of love... and despite its bitterness, it's a gem.

One of the best albums I have ever heard.......2002-09-06

I could endlessly play this album. Absolutely fantastic, words can not describe how good it is.

Good Stuff.......2002-04-22

For over a year, this was my favorite new CD. The music shows variety and maturity, and Fiona Apple's moody singing carries more depth of feeling than most rock stars--to such an extent that it seems wrong to call her sound "rock." In fact the unexpected arrangements and her smoky voice are her own thing, outside of rock but not quite jazz or blues either. On the downside, her lyrics aren't as mature, often relating only the artist's angst in a way that seems pretty overblown when I'm not in the mood for it. It took more than a year for the lyrics to begin to annoy me, though, and what's good about this CD, remains good.

could be so much better.......2002-02-19

Fiona Apple's great talent as singer and composer is seriously undermined by her mega-company's sellability standards: "Paper Bag" is the only song that does not sound grossly overproduced and mechanically performed.
Her lyrics, though as interesting as on TIDAL and as full of biblical guilt and post-teenage bourgeois insecure and angry lust, this time spill over with forced intellectualism.
I still love her, though.

Perfect.......2000-10-26

What was already a perfect album (I rate 'When the pawn' the finest album of 1999) is made better by the release of this Import CD.

Understandably, the only reason to get this is because of Fiona's cover of The Beatles' classic 'Across the Universe'. This song has long been regarded an uncoverable piece because the original was so pristine and incomparable, but Fiona takes it and makes it all her own. To me, this version sounds far better than the original.

The other track here, 'Never is a promise', which gave birth to a website of its' own, has been heard before, and isn't really groundbreaking - but when listened to in the album's entirety, it makes perfect sense! It blends in beautifully, and is quite an achievement.

Product Description

Out of print import edition from Japan, comes with two exclusive Japan-only bonus studio tracks, for a total of 12. 1999, Sony records Japan (SRCS-2188).

Average customer rating:

Better than the first
Give her a shiny red apple for this album.
Sophmore slum avoided

When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King...
Fiona Apple
Manufacturer: Japanese Import
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Rock | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Tidal
Extraordinary Machine

ASIN: B00005G8NH
Release Date: 1999-11-30

Tracks:

On the Bound
To Your Love
Limp
Love Ridden
Paper Bag
Mistake
Fast as You Can
Way Things Are
Get Gone
I Know
Across the Universe [*]
Never Is a Promise [*]

Album Description

Japanese edition of the hit vocalist's 1999 & second album with two bonus tracks added, 'Never Is A Promise' & her cover of The Beatles' classic 'Across The Universe' that shecontributed to the soundtrack to the hit 1998 film 'Pleasantville'. 12 tracks total.

Album Details

Japanese Version featuring Two Bonus Tracks: "Across the Universe", and "Never is a Promise".

Customer Reviews:

Better than the first.......2005-10-12

In many reviews, I see that we compare Apple's first CD to this one. We always come to the conclusion that her first is better because none of the songs on When the Pawn compared to Criminal.
And after much deliberation, I've decided that that theory is false. When the Pawn seems completely like the song Criminal, blended with the hauntingness of Shadowboxer, and with a deeper toned Fiona. The odd random little noises that make Criminal awesome appear over the entire album and her lyrics all seem so sexy in this naughty unsung way. Her piano demands attention in a way that we never heard in Tidal and her voice, husky and deep, seems to have forgotten the self-conciousness that clouded her first album and instead, speaks bravely and unabashedly. Something that, while listening to the CD, I can imagine myself doing though I might never do so.

Give her a shiny red apple for this album........2005-06-19

Apple has a great voice and talent and proves that on "When the Pawn". This is a record you can listen to from start to finish and not be bored. Is it better than "Tidal"? No, but it isn't because of lack of trying on Apple's part. There doesn't seem to be any songs that stand out for me on "When the Pawn". It doesn't mean the songs are bad, but their not as memorable as the songs like "Criminal" from "Tidal". Get this record if you are an Apple fan, she doesn't disappoint.

Sophmore slum avoided.......2005-05-25

This was a good album it took a few spins to really get into it but if you give a chance you'll like it...but it does have a different vibe than the 1st... but still a good "used" purchase.

Average customer rating:

The mistress of melancholy

Tidal/When the Pawn

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Rock | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0006OS72I
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Album Description

Import only two-cd set includes her first two albums, Tidal and When the Pawn.... Two standard jewel cases housed in a slipcase. 20 tracks in all. Sony.

Customer Reviews:

The mistress of melancholy.......2005-08-16

With the announcement of Fiona Apple's forthcoming third album being released, it seems like a good time to revisit her first two albums, "Tidal" and "When the Pawn." Though they are the only other albums that Apple has released, her strong voice and writing make them exceptional.

Her debut was "Tidal," a passionate pop masterpiece full of smoky vocals, excellent piano and intense melodies. First released when she was only eighteen, this debut is a remarkably polished one, with her alto voice twisting around the piano pop melodies.

But what really established Apple was "When the Pawn" (plus about ninety more words), a bluesy-jazzy-pop album that vents all of Fiona's feelings about love, betrayal and anger. "Limp" is full of anger, "The Way Things Are" is a piano bombast, and "I Know" is a musically ballad that moves beyond the bitterness.

Female singer-songwriters are a dime a dozen today, but few of them do much more than set basic pop songs to acoustic guitar and piano. But Fiona Apple forges ahead with a noncomformist attitude and strong songs. In a nutshell, she comes across as an excellent musician, with all the power you'd expect from such a singer. And every song is a winner, gut-wrenching and beautiful in its intensity.

The songwriting varies from one album to another; "Tidal" is a good album lyrically, but suffers from a few songs which are clumsily teen-poetryish. Not bad, but not up to her standards. On the other hand"When the Pawn" is nearly perfect, with lyrics packed with feeling and intensity, but never overwrought or

But honestly speaking, Apple could sing some really dreadful songs and they would still sound good -- her voice is another thing that was much older than she was, the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a thirtysomething torch singer. Her husky alto carries the songs with a rare intensity, backed with swelling strings and her delicate piano melodies.

Listening to Fiona Apple's "Tidal" and "When the Pawn..." is like a doomed love affair -- beautiful and wrenching. And despite its bitterness, her music is a gem.