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This single-artist mix contains b-sides, covers and some live material from the career of Fiona Apple. Information on source material for the songs follows below:

tracks 1-4: MTV Unplugged, NYC
track 5: bootleg live from the Brickyard Cafe, Hartford, CT - 6/97
tracks 6-7: live b-sides
track 8: with Johnny Cash
track 9: b-side to "Criminal"
track 10: live b-side
track 11: Modern Day Storytellers
track 12: kbco live, vol. 9
track 13: kmtt on the mountain live, vol. 3
track 14: kcrw rare on air live, vol. 3
track 15: cover version with ????
track 16: Friends OST

As a late-'90s overnight sensation, Apple was cast as the antidote to packaged pop divettes like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Considering her angst-ridden lyrics and her propensity to shock interviewers, some critics classed her among such provocateurs as Alanis Morissette and SinTad O'Connor.

Teaching herself piano (and starting psychotherapy) at eight, her primary influence she claims was the poet Maya Angelou. Apple wrote poetry and journals as a girl, then at 11, began combining music and lyrics and moved to L.A. at 16.

Apple has always been controversial, speaking openly about her rape at age 12 (the basis for the song "Sullen Girl") and appearing in her underwear for the video for "Criminal" (directed by Magnolia director and screenwriter, Paul Thomas Anderson, to whom she has been linked romantically). Accorded Best New Artist in a Video honors at the 1997 MTV Video Awards, Apple, in an obscenity-laced acceptance speech, derided the star-making machinery of show biz and its deleterious effects on adolescents, a maneuver that was mocked by some and praised by others.

Apple's third album, Extraordinary Machine, was originally produced by Jon Brion. Reportedly due to a lack of enthusiasm on the part of her label, the project was shelved for two years until the songs began to leak onto the Internet. A fan-led campaign, Free Fiona, was launched in support of the album's official release. Hiring Mike Elizondo, who had played bass on Pawn ...,, the album was re-tooled and released to much acclaim in 2005.

I saw Apple in 2006 when she was touring in support of the new album. She had some discomfort that night but gave a solid performance anyway in her heroin-chic, waif-like way. I found elements of Nina Simone in her music, and that's a good thing.

Enjoy this Second Taste of rarities from Fiona Apple. Quiz: Name the singer she shares the vocals with on the track "Leaving On A Jet Plane" and win a free copy.

"The way I feel about music is that there is no right and wrong. Only true and false." -Fiona Apple

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