Some people have wondered when I was going to get around to
\nreviewing Alanis Morissette’s debut release…<\/p>\n
Okay, no, wait… stop there. I’m not – repeat, not – talking
\nabout
\nJagged Little Pill<\/i>. I’ll pause now so most American readers
\ncan catch their breaths and wonder what I’m talking about.<\/p>\n
You see, prior to
\nJagged Little Pill<\/i>, Morissette had two albums that were
\nreleased in Canada – both of them in a more Tiffany-like dance
\nvein. But for some reason, these albums were never released in
\nAmerica. (Whether it’s because the suits think there would be no
\ninterest or it’s because there are some good lawyers making sure
\nthese never see the light of day again is beyond me.)<\/p>\n
Morissette’s real debut album, 1991’s
\nAlanis<\/i>, has some moments on it that are wonderful and
\nshowcase the star in training. But in the end, the album does rely
\ntoo much on insipid, stereotypical tricks that I’ve heard all too
\noften in dance music.<\/p>\n
(Okay, before I get mail from the diehard Morissette fans, I
\nknow that she had a maxi-single out even before
\nAlanis<\/i>. Cripes, it took me this long just to win the two CDs
\non eBay. Thanks to Steve Loter for offering them!)<\/p>\n
The first half of
\nAlanis<\/i> is incredibly good. The opening track, “Feel Your
\nLove,” is a song that is catchy, well written and well performed.
\nMorissette’s voice is in fine form on this cut – and it blows away
\nher Americal mallrat competitors. Likewise, “Too Hot” – which, if
\nmemory serves me correctly, was the first single – is a decent
\ntrack, although it does take some time to warm up to. (It also
\nforetells of the lameness that will soon follow. Line from the
\nbridge: “Throw your hands in the air \/ and wave ’em like you just
\ndon’t care.” Oh,
\nthat’s<\/i> original.)<\/p>\n
Some of the music on the first half of
\nAlanis<\/i> dares to challenge the listener, even if such ideas
\naren’t completely original in this particular genre of music.
\n“Plastic” features a more complicated, but catchy, rhythmic chorus
\nthat is infectious. “On My Own,” the ballad of the album, is the
\ntrack that shows there’s more to Morissette than just the poppy
\ndance numbers, and is a sign of things to come later in her
\ncareer.<\/p>\n
If only the second half of
\nAlanis<\/i> were half the album the first five tracks are.
\n“Jealous” is the only track that comes close to that – but do I
\ndetect an uncredited sample right at the end of the track, making
\none think that it was recorded live? (I’ll go out on a limb and say
\nthat what you’re really hearing are the closing notes of Deep
\nPurple’s “Smoke On The Water” from
\nMade In Japan<\/i> – c’mon, gang, you should know you have to
\ngive credit where credit is due!)<\/p>\n
The final three tracks almost seem to suggest that Morissette
\nand her crew had run out of gas creatively. “Oh Yeah!”, already a
\nweaker song, has the most God-awful annoying sound effect in the
\nchorus – it sounds like an evil duck. “Human Touch” and “Party Boy”
\nare throwaway tracks that could have been written in study hall;
\nthere’s just nothing to these songs musically or lyrically.<\/p>\n
I will say this much for Alanis: it’s still a better album than
\nSupposed Former Infatuation Junkie<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I do question why Morissette would want to completely hide her
\n“dance diva” days, but I do understand why she would not want to
\nhave made this genre the only avenue of music that she explored.
\nBeing the teen queen is one thing, but those people aren’t always
\nin their teens (unless they’re on the cast of
\nBeverly Hills 90210<\/i>), so they almost have to continually
\nlook for new musical roads to plow.<\/p>\n
\nAlanis<\/i> is an album that Morissette and her “team” don’t want
\npeople to know about – and for part of the album, one understands
\nwhy. But there is still enough material on this disc to make the
\nsearch for it worthwhile (if not a bit costly). Die-hard Morissette
\nfans, enjoy the search… but approach certain portions of this
\nalbum with caution. And, don’t worry, we’ll get to her 1992 release<\/p>\n
Now Is The Time<\/i> soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6010],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-38747","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-alanis-morissette","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38747"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}