Fiona Apple - Tidal [enhanced] [audio Cd] CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

flair for tart minor-mode flourishes in her melodies, and the dash of hip-hop flava in "The First Taste" shows she's got more on her agenda than the empty-bed blues. "I got my own hell to raise," Apple claims in "Sleep to Dream"; next time, she should let it all come out.

Erykah Badu lets everything she's got -- illicit desire ("Next Lifetime"), major heart burn ("Sometimes"), battered but steady-rollin' pride ("On and On") -- hang out with bewitching assurance on her hit debut, "Baduizm." As a singer, she's in no hurry to impress. Badu drapes her clear, fluid voice over slow-jack-swing backing tracks like she's unfurling a roll of diaphanous, honey-colored silk. "Baduizm," like a lot of contemporary R&B albums, falters when Badu and her producers (including sharp-eared newcomer Madukwu Chinwah and the Philadelp

Apple's debut was a revelation upon release in 1996. Emerging as one of the most interesting songwriters in years, Apple blew minds with a teenaged talent that dropped big beats on top of haunting piano lines, an unforgettable voice and surprisingly dark lyrics. Tidal may have been a mega pop hit, and Apple an instant star, but the mania was deserved.