Not simply a “fuckin’ piano album,” albeit a beautifully crafted one, Tidal is a profoundly brave and confessional song suite fueled by Apple’s fearless candor and self-possession. I don't want this to be a fuckin' piano album.’ But Andy kept saying, ‘No, this is how you sound. I only wrote songs on the piano because it's the only instrument I know. Back to the roots, that's the only way it's going to sound real.’ And the whole time I was saying ‘But I don't want to play piano on this. It's hard because.when we were making the album, Andy Slater was always saying, ‘No we have to take it back to what you wrote it on. “I can play my own stuff, obviously better than anyone else can, but as far as other music goes, I'm really not very good.
“Honestly, I'm not a very skilled pianist,” Apple admitted during a 1997 Keyboard magazine interview. But Tidal’s power derives primarily from Apple’s adept piano playing, introspective lyrics, and magnetic vocals, a combination that Slater needed to push Apple to embrace with confidence.
Indeed, the 10-track LP was expertly produced by Slater, bolstered by an impressive group of contributing musicians, most notably producer/multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Jon Brion ( Dido, Aimee Mann, Rufus Wainwright). Released in July 1996, Tidal was the grand manifestation of not only Apple’s natural and cultivated artistry, but also Slater’s conviction in the dynamic songstress’ many talents. In addition to orchestrating Apple’s recording contract, Slater also served as her manager and producer of her debut album. I thought someone was playing a joke on me.” “It sounded like a 30 year-old singer who had written a lifetime’s worth of material. “I couldn’t believe was written and sung by a 17-year-old,” a bemused Slater admitted to Billboard in June 1996. Bowled over by the convergence of her piano prowess, astute songwriting skills, emotional depth, and world-weary contralto, all of which belied her seventeen years of age, Slater signed Apple to his Clean Slate label, part of The WORK Group, a subsidiary label of Columbia Records.
FIONA APPLE TIDAL CD FULL
And that voice.’ The next thing I knew, I was forking over an Alexander Hamilton for Tidal, an album that I proceeded to play incessantly that summer and beyond.Ī classically trained pianist born in New York City to a family full of professional entertainers, Apple managed, with a little help from her friends, to get her 3-track demo into the hands of Sony Music executive Andrew Slater.
Not immediately familiar with the name on the jewel box’s spine, I flipped the disc to scan the track listing and upon reading the third track, lead single “Shadowboxer,” the moment of recognition arrived. The eyes are what captured and commanded my gaze, as I perused the new CD display at the Tower Records just a stone’s throw from the UC Berkeley campus that sun-soaked East Bay summer afternoon nearly 25 years ago. Those piercing, all-knowing eyes of pale blue oblivion.
0 kommentar(er)
