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Fandom

Devotion organised into a culture, and sometimes a market.

2: in music
10:36: average
21 min: in total
22: across the network

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10:21

Extraordinary Machine

Fiona Apple · 2005

Extraordinary Machine is Fiona Apple’s third studio album, released in October 2005 after she rejected Jon Brion’s completed 2003 version and rebuilt it from scratch with Mike Elizondo and Brian Kehew. It was recorded across multiple spaces — Ocean Way Recording, the Paramour Mansion (a 1923 building), Cello Studios, Abbey Road Studios, and finally Phantom Studio — but only the latter’s piano-and-drum foundation appears on the final record. Two tracks from the Brion sessions remain unchanged; one new song was added. The album is stylistically eclectic but grounded in live instrumentation: piano, vocals, and drums by Abe Laboriel Jr. and Questlove. It reflects Apple’s insistence on authorship over accommodation — not a refinement, but a replacement.

10:51

Thriller

Michael Jackson · 1982

Thriller is a pop-soul record built for precision—not atmosphere, not accident, not legacy. It lands because it was remixed until nothing extraneous remained.

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8:58

Glassworks

Philip Glass · 1982

Glassworks is a six-movement chamber work Philip Glass wrote for the recording studio after his large concert and stage pieces, released by CBS in 1982 on LP and on cassette, each with its own mix. It was meant to bring his music to a wider audience, and it did: the album sold well and made his name widely known.

2:00

20 Golden Greats

Buddy Holly, The Crickets · 1978

20 Golden Greats was first issued in Britain in 1978, collecting recordings associated with Buddy Holly and the Crickets from 1956–58. It also circulated as Buddy Holly Lives. The release date belongs to the retrospective, not to a newly assembled performing group.

2:05

808s & Heartbreak

Kanye West · 2008

Released in 2008, 808s & Heartbreak followed the death of Kanye West's mother and the end of his engagement. His fourth studio album shifts much of its emphasis from rapping to singing. That change makes the handling of the voice the central question of the record.

2:10

A Nod Is As Good As a Wink... to a Blind Horse

Faces · 1971

Faces' third album was their second release of 1971. Glyn Johns shared production duties, helping shape a programme shorter and more concentrated than its predecessors. Rod Stewart's growing solo profile is part of the context, but Ronnie Lane's three lead vocals make the group's broader identity essential.