A silence, and the fear of falling

I’ve fully listened to the new new Fiona Apple cd, and I must say that – for the most part – I prefer the Jon Brion version, but the difference isn’t as profound as it could have been.

Now, this isn’t always true. Take Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song), the new version of the song formerly titled Used To Love Him. If anything, Mike Elizondo brought out the sardonic undertone of the song in a way that adds a whole new level of depth and reminds me of some of Fiona Apple’s best songs (i.e. Paper Bag).

There are the missteps too, though. Red, Red, Red goes from being a powerful angry song to… something else. Something slow and middling. Not something one could listen to over and over when frustrated with the opposite sex.

On the whole though… it’s just a slight variance. A kind of play on the same theme (perhaps like you’d get in concert).

I guess I expected it to sound more like remakes of the songs I already knew then reworkings (perhaps “rewordings” is a better metaphor).

Also, the new song bores me. Oh well…

On an unrelated note, I’m finally giving serious time to Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah! and Kanye West’s Late Registration. They are brilliant and both make me curse the time I wasted trying to enjoy the newest piece of mediocrity from the formerly fun The Dandy Warhols (whom I plan to see in concert December 10th).