Fiona Apple is known to be a crazy chick, no bones about it.

Most people remember her controversial heroin-chic, sexually charged video for her hit song "Criminal," as well as her infamous rant about individualism at the podium of the Grammy Awards a few years ago and her penchant for storming off stage in a huff during live performances.

So after releasing an album with the most pretentious -- sorry, artistic -- album name in history (simply referred to as When the Pawn... because the entire album name takes about a whole minute to recite), Ms. Apple took a break from being the resident musical weirdo and disappeared from public eye shortly after the new millennium began.

Apparently taking six years between albums can sometimes be the best thing for a tortured artist, as Apple's new album, Extraordinary Machine, is one of the freshest comebacks in my recent memory.

Apple takes the high-production road on her newest release, all 12 tracks relishing in the fact that hey, Apple's still a slightly bitter lady when it comes to relationships -- but she's getting over it.

The most appealing tracks on Extraordinary Machine are actually the most darkly upbeat, including the fantastic "Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)," which carries itself with an almost hip-hop vibe as Apple does her best scat-cat impression and manages to pull it off quite well. "Window" is a jazzy piano toe-tapper that really shows off Apple's classic, sultry voice.

Just to make sure she doesn't come off as overly positive, however, Apple still revels in the negative on occasion, on tracks such as "O' Sailor" and the somewhat boring "Red Red Red."

Fiona's not only grown up quite a bit since her hit 1996 album Tidal (she was only 18 at the time of its release) but has taken her infamous public quirkiness and applied it very maturely to her songwriting.

While some people may need a couple listens through to have this album grow on them (the title track is reminiscent of some long-lost Broadway musical number), the brand of songwriting that Apple presents on Extraordinary Machine is something worth checking out.

Hopefully Fiona Apple's worked out most of that internal angst that had her flipping out onstage, because it would be a crying shame to deprive her audiences of the musical beauty that is Extraordinary Machine.

-- Reviewed by Mike Kulick