"Extraordinary Machine" is the title track and most extraordinary thing about Fiona Apple's long-awaited new release. It leads off the album with a dazzling display of musical maturity and Fiona's trademark lyrical prowess. But, despite everything that's been written, and all the high marks and accolades - Apple shoots the whole orchard on the opener and what follows is a trip to "been there done thatsville." Fiona has a definite signature style, that we first learned of on her first hit "Shadowboxer," from her debut Tidal. A style that leans heavily on a well-worn minor chord progression that she bangs out on her piano, as well as very predictable melodic structures that follow them down the same old path.

To be honest I think she did her most interesting and adventurous work on her second album - the one with the long crazy title, (relying less on simple and spare piano arrangements) and making music that flew well out of the envelope that Extraordinary finds her sealed back within. Not such a surprise really, when you consider that Jon Brion's originally produced version of the album was scrapped (other than the first two tracks) and rap producers Mike Elizondo and Brian Kehew were brought in to give the record a better commercial edge. Since it's obvious that the title track is the only song that demonstrates any musical growth on her part, she would have been better served to stick with Brion. (His version is available out there on the web if you have the tech savvy to download it. Brion's fingerprints are nice, the string arrangements, and in particular the sort of Randy Newman-like production on the title track. But despite lyrics that bear up under scrutiny, that same old piano roll washed most of my interest away in a tidal wave of mechanical cliché. There are fine moments on EM, but certainly nothing to justify the "Album of the Year" type buzz it's received. I'll give you a glass half-empty summation - Extraordinary Machine comes out as either a tie for her second best album to date, or a tie for her worst - you make the call.