When the Pawn
by Fiona Apple
- Type: Album
- Released: November 9, 1999
- Label: Epic, Clean Slate
- Country: United States
- Length: 42:24
- Community rating: 4.17/5 from 58 ratings
Album Notes & Community Reviews
On 'When the Pawn...', Fiona Apple expanded on the piano-based rock of her debut, collaborating with producer Jon Brion to build a dense, musically complex soundscape. [1, 3] The album's intricate arrangements, which incorporate baroque pop, jazz flourishes, and experimental drum loops, provide a dynamic foundation for Apple's virtuosic vocal performance and unflinchingly candid lyrics exploring tumultuous relationships, self-awareness, and personal resolve. [3, 6, 11] Conceived amidst intense media scrutiny, which inspired its famously long 90-word poem-as-title, the work was critically lauded as a significant artistic maturation and remains a landmark of late-90s alternative music. [1, 7, 8]
Genres
Descriptors: piano, confessional, literary, mental-health, rhythmic
Tracklist
- On The Bound (05:22)
- To Your Love (03:40)
- Limp (03:29)
- Love Ridden (03:22)
- Paper Bag (03:39)
- A Mistake (04:56)
- Fast As You Can (04:38)
- The Way Things Are (04:16)
- Get Gone (04:07)
- I Know (04:55)
Credits
- Fiona Apple - piano, vocals, synthesized bass (track 7), design, cover art concept, words, music
- Jon Brion - all other instruments (except "love ridden"), producer, mixing engineer, assistant engineer
- Mike Elizondo - bass (except "i know")
- Matt Chamberlain - drums, percussion (except "a mistake", "i know")
- Mike Breaux - woodwinds (1, 3, 7)
- Patrick Warren - chamberlin (2, 3, 7, 9), wurlitzer (3, 7)
- Charlie Bisharat - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Eve Butler - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Susan Chatman - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Armen Garabedian - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Berj Garabedian - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Gerardo Hilera - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Peter Kent - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Brian Leonard - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Robert Peterson - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Michele Richards - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Edmund Stein - violin (4, 9, 10)
- John Wittenberg - violin (4, 9, 10)
- Robert Becker - viola (4, 9, 10)
- Denyse Buffman - viola (4, 9, 10)
- Scott Haupert - viola (4, 9, 10)
- Maria Newman - viola (4, 9, 10)
- Larry Corbett - cello (4, 9, 10)
- Paula Hochalter - cello (4, 9, 10)
- Suzie Katayama - cello (4, 9, 10)
- Daniel Smith - cello (4, 9, 10)
- Greg Cohen - bass guitar (10)
- Jonathan "Butch" Norton - drums, percussion (2, 3)
- Jim Keltner - drums (10)
- Wendell Kelly - horns
- Jean Martinelli - horns
- John Noreyko - horns
- Paul Loredo - horns
- Rich Costey - mixing engineer
- Eddy Scheyer - mastering engineer
- Ian Sefchick - mastering engineer (2020 lp)
- Tom Banghart - assistant engineer
- Rob Brill - assistant engineer
- Greg Collins - assistant engineer
- Bryan Jackson - assistant engineer
- Steve Mixdorf - assistant engineer
- John Tyree - assistant engineer
- Hooshik - art direction
- Valerie Pack - production coordinator
- Don Sweeney - copyist
- Michael "Jocco" Phillips - design, cover art concept
- Andrew Slater - management