Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel... Review Excerpt by Randall Roberts Lyrics
"Apple’s “The Idler Wheel” is an exquisitely rendered work, with as many thrilling moments of silence and space as with vocal drama. It’s essential 2012 listening for anyone interested in popular music as art. And like all great albums, it’s an encapsulation of all that has come before it as filtered through a singular aesthetic.
“The Idler Wheel” embodies American musical styles ranging from Tin Pan Alley to funk and carries the weight of generations. Inside her craft is a whole lineage, from the stormy R&B of Nina Simone on “Valentine,” to the jazz runs of Thelonius Monk on “Jonathan,” the way she pinches her voice like Billie Holiday on “Left Alone” to the barrel-house style of Fats Waller on “Periphery” (which features percussion that sounds like feet shuffling in gravel).
And knowing a little bit about the breadth of her experience only adds to “The Idler Wheel” impact. Apple was born into a show business family — her grandmother was a dancer in the 1920s married to a singer-woodwind player who toured with big bands; Apple’s parents are both singers and actors, and her sister is a professional cabaret singer in New York."
“The Idler Wheel” embodies American musical styles ranging from Tin Pan Alley to funk and carries the weight of generations. Inside her craft is a whole lineage, from the stormy R&B of Nina Simone on “Valentine,” to the jazz runs of Thelonius Monk on “Jonathan,” the way she pinches her voice like Billie Holiday on “Left Alone” to the barrel-house style of Fats Waller on “Periphery” (which features percussion that sounds like feet shuffling in gravel).
And knowing a little bit about the breadth of her experience only adds to “The Idler Wheel” impact. Apple was born into a show business family — her grandmother was a dancer in the 1920s married to a singer-woodwind player who toured with big bands; Apple’s parents are both singers and actors, and her sister is a professional cabaret singer in New York."