Fiona Apple - When the Pawn…

An absolute powerhouse of an album that I was certainly too young to appreciate in 1999. Even now I feel a little bit under-prepared for the force of the songs, the sometimes grimy and sometimes sultry speakeasy jams. Even the album’s title, in reality a 444-character poem, is an expression of deep frustration of the attempts of the media to change people, while simultaneously introducing a work of art that is powerful enough to bring about the very change in its listeners that Fiona warned us against.

From the roundup (Some of) The Greatest Albums of 1999.