翻译：thesweetescape

原文链接：https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-best-albums-of-the-1990s/

Fiona Apple: When the Pawn… (1999)

《当一个小兵加入了战争，他就会像个国王般去思考，他所知道的就是在战争时奋力出击，这样他一旦加入了战争就会获得全面性的胜利；在你的信念成为你所持有的武力时，就没有人能打倒你；所以如果你是一个人独自奋斗，你要自己坚持下去，记住深度是最崇高的，如果你能认清你的立足点，你才会看到你应该要在哪裡降落，如果子掉下来了也没关係，因为你知道你是对的》

《When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing ’Fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter,Cuz You’ll Know That You’re Right》

At the time of the release of Fiona Apple’s second album, few knew what to make of the music—one critic compared it to Korn (!)—but everyone thought they knew what to make of Apple herself, their takes plagued by cartoonish misogyny. Apple knew all this; she was always several steps ahead.

当Fiona Apple的第二张专辑发行时，几乎没有人明白该如何欣赏此类音乐——有乐评将这张专辑与科恩乐队相提并论——但更多人都自以为摸清Fiona Apple的门道，局限在狭隘无比的厌女思想中。Fiona Apple看透了这些事物，她总是领先时代几步。

When the Pawn… is about knowing your patterns, knowing the rubble they’ve made of your life—and knowing you’ll do it again. Producer Jon Brion set a baroque stage of arrangements that careen like off-rails Cirque du Soleil. But he just sketched the blueprints. Apple constructed, then wrecked, the house. She played the piano like assassins use knives. Her vocal roles are larger-than-life: precise and unsingably fast, fit for a technical rapper, or open-throated and dramatic, like a stage diva commandeering an encore. On the thunderous choruses of “Limp” and “Get Gone,” she summons hundreds of women against countless detractors. Her force spares no one, much less herself. –Katherine St. Asaph

专辑《When the Pawn…》是关于探索自我的生活模式，通晓那些击垮你生活的事物——拾起重振旗鼓的信心。制作人Jon Brion营造的巴洛克编曲奔腾不息，犹如即将翻车的太阳马戏团（加拿大蒙特利尔的一家娱乐公司及表演团体，也是全球最大的戏剧制作公司）。但他只构造出框架，Fiona Apple构建出整体，随后又摧毁了一切。她弹奏的钢琴就像刺客拔刀一样。她的演唱仿佛比天地还辽阔：超凡脱俗的清晰吐字，媲美专业的说唱歌手，或放声歌唱，慷慨激昂，如同被掌声拥护的天后安可演出。在歌曲 “Limp” 和“Get Gone“雷鸣般的副歌中， 她召集数以百计的女性共同抵抗数不胜数的诋毁污蔑者。她的力量惊天动地，自己也招架不住。 –Katherine St. Asaph