With apologies to Duran Duran, whose ‘The Wild Boys‘ would have been today’s Throwback Weekend selection, I’m suspending my usual programming to acknowledge another milestone for the blog.
Today is my 6,000th post, a number that frankly feels a little obscene. Have I really been doing this every day for 16 1/2 years? Apparently so.
Another artist I’d love to see inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is Fiona Apple. The singer-songwriter has been eligible since 2022 but has not yet received a nomination.
Apple has earned the honor on a few levels. First and foremost is the sheer quality of her music. Each of her universally acclaimed albums has stretched her songwriting into new territory, experimenting with tempo shifts, discordant chords, and creative instrumentation. She has also been a strong influence on a generation of women mining similar emotionally raw territory outside of the mainstream.
Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 2005…
#2 – Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple
Here’s an album that could have been on this list twice.
Fiona Apple’s long-awaited follow-up to 1999’s When the Pawn… was initially recorded with producer Jon Brion before being shelved (either by the record label, the artist herself, or some combination of the two, depending on which version of events you choose to believe).
That “bootleg” version was later leaked in full to rapturous reviews, causing fans to lobby for an official release that never happened.
Today’s Random Weekend selection is a late track on Fiona Apple’s 1996 debut album TIdal.
Ironically, Tidal is both the biggest success and the most forgotten record in Apple’s 25-year career. She has released only five albums during that span, and it was the second, 1999’s When the Pawn…, that made her a critical darling and indie icon. The three releases since have met with lavish critical praise as her music has become less commercially accessible.
Continuing the chronological presentation of my 25 favorite songs…
‘Fox in the Snow‘ – Belle and Sebastian (1996)
Belle and Sebastian’s ‘Fox in the Snow’ has shown up every time I’ve done some sort of “desert island discs” feature on this blog, and I wasn’t about to exclude it now that I’m coming up with my definitive list of favorite songs.
As with several songs on this list, ‘Fox in the Snow’ is my favorite song on my favorite album by one of my favorite bands. That status doesn’t apply to about two thirds of this list, but when it does the song in question is usually a key reason that artist became a favorite.
Meet Me In Montauk 