Rapidly Diminishing Returns: Why Weeds Isn’t Worth It!

The Good: Moments of character, Moments of humor
The Bad: Repetitive, Terrible protagonist, Ridiculous plot
The Basics: In a story that does little more than prove that enough is never enough, Weeds (the complete series) wears out its welcome long before all eight seasons are viewed.


There are few television series’s that I continued with based on inertia alone the way I did with Weeds. Weeds is a 102 episode (roughly a half hour each) television series that has an immediately original concept that is quickly milked to death and then extended for about six more seasons. The show, which aired on Showtime, won awards for the acting of Mary-Louise Parker (for no discernable reason that I can find given how poorly she acts and differentiates her character of Nancy Botwin from, for example, her character of Amy Gardner on The West Wing, reviewed here!) and writing (from series creator Jenji Kohan), but otherwise was a frequently-nominated strike out for comedy on the awards circuit. The thing is, outside the premium cable amount of drugs and nudity presented, Weeds has shockingly little going for it and that is never more clear than when one sits down and watches Weeds The Complete Series.

The full-series boxed set has all of the content of the previously released DVD (or Blu-Ray) sets of:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
and Season 8.

While I usually do an intensive analysis of a television series’s plot and characters, I find that with Weeds, I am unable to muster up the enthusiasm. What is the show about? Nancy Botwin and her family and the people she uses. Who is Nancy Botwin? Nancy Botwin is a high-functioning sociopath whose husband dies in the series premiere. Botwin and her two children live in Agrestic, a gated community for the wealthy and privileged. When her husband dies, Nancy is forced to acknowledge that she has no marketable skills and so in order to maintain her standard of living, she becomes a pot dealer in the suburbs.

What follows is the story of Nancy Botwin and her descent into crime. Nancy, accompanied by her brother-in-law who lusts after her, her two children and various sidekicks dimwitted (Doug and Dean) and treacherous (Heylia and Celia) gets into trouble with rival dealers and suppliers, local law enforcement and the DEA. She gets out of her troubles by lying to, having sex with or marrying her adversaries when simply setting her enemies against one another or burning a place to the ground does not work. And then she runs away. Dragging her family, Doug, and whichever other lackey is around at the time with her, Nancy relocates to San Diego, Dearborn (Michigan), New York City and Connecticut over the course of the series. So, Weeds is a simple idea relocated repeatedly in an attempt to stay fresh, but utterly failing after its first two seasons to engage the viewers sufficiently to be worth the investment of time and money.

What is so bad about Nancy Botwin? Nancy shows no real regard for anyone in her life. She uses her children as an excuse to do horrible things and she is willing to turn on even her kids when the situation calls for it. In fact, outside protecting her son Shane from a murder charge after he kills a woman in defense of Nancy, Nancy shows no real regard for even her children (whom she claims to be doing everything for). Moreover, Nancy drags Andy around and constantly uses him, even after she learns that he is hopelessly in love with her. She has no qualms about using his love for her to get what she wants from him and then abandoning or betraying him. She is, literally, a sociopath the way she betrays everyone with her single-minded focus on her own survival. As a result, she is neither an empathetic character, nor one who is particularly enjoyable to watch.

What is so bad about Weeds then? In addition to having a pretty lousy protagonist, Weeds has a disturbingly limited concept that makes no real sense. Nancy Botwin is faced with a big financial crisis, like millions of Americans are every day. She makes a bad initial choice, which is to stay in Agrestic and become a pot dealer. The thing is, America is huge and there are plenty of places she could move (one garage sale would have given her more than enough money to move to a place with a lower cost-of-living) and get a job to make ends meet. So, the show starts off with a lousy decision . . .

. . . and then it just keeps making the same bad decision over and over again. There are several times in the course of Weeds where Nancy Botwin gets ahead: she is not just scraping by, she has more than enough to keep her and her family provided for for the foreseeable future. And she never quits while she is ahead. Instead, she gets into increasingly preposterous situations that force her and her family into worse (usually life-threatening) situations. And she never learns. Weeds sucks because Nancy Botwin is horrible, short-sighted, and remarkably stupid for a drug-peddling mother and she is surrounded by idiots who continue to let her use them over and over again. And the ones who manage to escape the dark cloud of Nancy’s influence . . . invariably return to her, even after they can acknowledge how abysmal she actually is!

Outside Mary-Louise Parker, the acting in Weeds is good. Justin Kirk, especially, is impressive with an uncommon amount of range and depth as Andy Botwin. Young actors Hunter Parrish (Silas Botwin), Alexander Gould (Shane Botwin) and Allie Grant (Isabelle Hodes) all grow up over the course of the eight-season series and illustrate an incredible amount of talent and performance ability, even when their characters are emotionally stunted. Like Mary-Louise Parker consistently hitting on only one note, Kevin Nealon plays Doug Wilson with a constant goofy quality one expects from anyone who saw him perform on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s or 1990s.

The end result is a simple analysis for a simple show: Weeds is not clever, not particularly original after the set-up and not enduringly great in any way, shape, or form. That makes it easy to pass up and not worth adding to one’s permanent library.

For other shows that premiered on Showtime, please visit my reviews of:
Dexter - Season 1
The L Word
Dead Like Me
Jeremiah - Season 1
An American Crime

2.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sure, It's A "Collection," But It's Certainly Not The "Best Of" Alanis Morissette!

The Good: Some great songs, Some moments of vocal performance, Moments of instrumental performance
The Bad: Some of the songs are not Morissette's best and contain her trademark screeching vocals.
The Basics: An interesting collection from an artist whose works are rather stylistically fractured, The Collection is worth a listen for those looking for (mostly) familiar Morissette.


I tend to run into a problem when reviewing musical artists who have been on the scene producing for long periods of time. Almost without exception, when the time comes for them to produce a "Best Of" album, it almost never is. Their albums usually contain great nuggets that are vastly better than some of their hits. Similarly, if they call it a "Greatest Hits," all that they are bound to is putting out an album that has high-charting singles and that's usually a qualitative crapshoot, too. In fact, the best compilation albums tend to either be releases of "the singles" which provide a radio-digest version of the musical artist or a "Best Of" album that includes a disc of the known tracks and a collection of the best b-sides from the various albums. Alanis Morissette calls her big compilation The Collection. One thinks this ought not condemn her to the critique of being forced to present either the "best of," her "greatest hits" or her singles, but it seems to be a pretty weak collection of all of those things and the result is an album that is a remarkably average assemblage.

I've listened to and reviewed a number of Alanis Morissette's albums (see links at the bottom) and what tend to be her best works are often the ones she did not achieve commercial recognition for. So, it makes sense that she would not release a "best of" album which would merely recreate such commercial failure as some of her albums. Still, any collection of works that define any sense of genius that Alanis Morissette has must include "That Particular Time" and "You Owe Me Nothing In Return." This album seems to be much more a collection of Morissette's singles and the result is an album that is a hodgepodge between the truly great ("Still," "Uninvited") and the familiar ("Ironic") and the truly annoying ("8 Easy Steps," "You Learn"). The simple way to phrase this is that it's a good, average endeavor - and there are a few pleasant surprises - but one hopes in another decade there will be a more impressive "best of" compilation that illustrates the truly best of Morissette as a singer-songwriter.

With eighteen songs clocking out at 75:45, The Collection is mostly the works of Alanis Morissette. Morissette wrote or co-wrote sixteen of the songs, with only Seal's "Crazy" and Cole Porter's "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" on the album without any writing influence from Morissette. It is worth noting that all of the songs on this album, save "Crazy," are available on other albums, though with four from various soundtracks, this is certainly the most convenient way to get many of them.

Morissette provides the primary vocals for each song as well. She plays instruments on some, though not all and it seems that she has gone from being more a guitar-toting or piano pounding artist to a performer standing before a microphone with a band providing her with the instrumental music. She is listed as a co-producer on some of the tracks, so arguably much of this is Morissette's musical vision as a singer-songwriter.

That vision is a weird collection - never more odd than the jumbled presentation on The Collection of Morissette as an angry young woman developing into a spiritually peaceful and harmonious adult. On The Collection, this could have been done easily by frontloading the album with her angry Jagged Little Pill works and then presenting the more placid, contemplative works so the listener had a transition, a concept album of a woman growing past youthful anger. Alas, this is not that.

What it does have are lyrics that are surprisingly well done. On her earliest works, Morissette stood out to my ears for some seriously inane rhymes and rhyming the same word with itself. This is something that she never truly overcame entirely as some of her later songs, like the loathsome "Eight Easy Steps" has lines like "How to control someone to be a carbon copy of you / How to have that not work and have them run away from you / How to keep people at arms length and never get too close / How to mistrust the ones who supposedly love the most / How to pretend you're fine and don't need help from anyone / How to feel worthless unless you're serving or helping someone." Morissette manages to say something still, but rhyming the same word with itself or rhymes like "anyone/someone" are just creatively lazy.

But Morissette is, after many listens to a number of her albums, one who may be fairly accused of being intellectually or creatively lazy. She had a justified hit with "Uninvited" in no small part of the poetics. Indeed, Morissette sings the song in a soprano tone, but there is very little actual singing as she presents the poetic lines "Like anyone would be / I am flattered by / Your fascination with me / Like any hot-blooded woman / I have simply wanted an object to crave /But you, you're not allowed / You're uninvited / An unfortunate slight / Must be strangely exciting / To watch the stoic squirm / Must be somewhat heartening / To watch shepherd need shepherd" ("Uninvited"). The diction and poetics of the song are beautiful and well beyond the common one-thousand word average pop-rock artist. Moreover, Morissette's presentation of the song is haunting and memorable.

And Morissette manages to be both universal and deeply personal. "Crazy" is well-presented by her, though she tends to do a more literal cover of it than I usually prefer. Similarly, "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" is a very straightforward interpretation of the Cole Porter classic and the distinctive aspect of it on The Collection is that Morissette actually sounds happy while singing it!

The balance between autobiographical and universal is perhaps best exemplified by "Hands Clean." Written as a deeply personal song about a relationship she had with an older man at a young age, Morissette makes a song that can be interpreted in many ways. Lyrically, one need not stick to the literal statutory rape interpretation of "Ooh this could be messy / But you don't seem to mind / Ooh don't go telling everybody / And overlook this supposed crime / We'll fast forward to a few years later / And no one knows except the both of us / And I have honored your request for silence / And you've washed your hands clean of this" ("Hands Clean") and instead it can be viewed as hero worship or even two people who have a pact for any sort of youthful indiscretion. The success of "Hands Clean" is that Morissette doesn't name names and she doesn't make it just about her situation. In fact, there are lines in the song that any woman who has ever been treated poorly by a jerk will be able to empathize with (like the promise to come back, so long as she remains fit and young-looking!).

Vocally, The Collection is indeed a decent collection of the split personality of Alanis Morissette. Songs like "You Oughta Know" and "Eight Easy Steps" have Morissette presenting her lyrics in little more than a screaming diatribe. Conversely, the surprise on the album for me was "Mercy," a magnificent track that has Morissette presenting a slow, soulful ballad that is haunting and beautiful. On that, "Still" and "Uninvited," Morissette dazzles with an amazing soprano voice that has range and the ability to hold notes with a superhuman endurance.

Instrumentally the songs tend to be a mix of thrashing guitars on some tracks and slow, melodical piano work on the ballads. Interestingly, there is very little in between on The Collection, adding to the sense that there are two Alanis Morissettes. Unfortunately for her one of the observations I made when listening to So-Called Chaos is proven true by The Collection; Morissette's songs "Still" and "Everything" which are both on this album are almost identical musically.

Even so, anyone who likes a decent pop-rock performance by a strong female artist will find enough to enjoy on The Collection. It might not be the very best of Alanis Morissette, but it's enough of the recognizable mixed with the great to be worth the time of the casual fans who like what they hear on the radio from her.

The best track is "Still," the low point is "Eight Easy Steps."

For other Alanis Morissette works, check out my reviews of:
Jagged Little Pill
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Under Rug Swept
Feast On Scraps
So-Called Chaos
Jagged Little Pill Acoustic
Flavors Of Entanglement

6/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Much Better Than The Original, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Doesn't Solve All Of The Original Album's Problems!

The Good: Generally good instrumental sound, Some truly wonderful vocals, Occasional lyrics
The Bad: Some lyrics, Some vocals
The Basics: Surprisingly good, Alanis Morissette trades the angst of her original breakout album for a mellow rework that works much better for adults!


Quite some time back, I took a risk, stood against popular opinion and panned the smash hit album Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette and amid numerous comments that tried to convince me my opinion was wrong because of the commercial success of the album, one person piped up to inform me of Jagged Little Pill Acoustic. After complaining about the harsh sound of many of the tracks on Jagged Little Pill that were not mirrored on the best of her subsequent albums and decrying the vocals that were often strained and shriek-like, I was turned on to the idea that there was a vastly superior version of Morissette's breakthrough work to be listened to and that album was Jagged Little Pill Acoustic.

Jagged Little Pill Acoustic is a collection of the same twelve songs that Alanis Morissette presented on Jagged Little Pill, but stripped down and reinterpreted. Gone is the vehemence, the electric, the production elements. What is left is a stark series of songs that are essentially an artist covering herself, in the best way possible. After all, the best possible cover songs not only repeat what another artist does, but they reinterpret the songs, adding a different perspective or nuance. Jagged Little Pill Acoustic is instantly more listenable, enduring and polished than the original, giving the listener (mostly) the benefit of ten years of Alanis Morissette growing out of her anger and desire to shout her lyrics. The result is a completely new album, one that makes Morissette appear more mature, mellow and intellectual as opposed to . . . well, young and loud.

With thirteen songs (there is a hidden track after several seconds of silence on the last song) clocking out at 58:39, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic is mostly the musical vision of Alanis Morissette. Morissette wrote all of the lyrics and co-wrote the music with Glen Ballard, who produced the album. While Morissette does not receive a production credit on this album, it seems unrealistic to suggest that the album does not have the sound she was looking for; after all, why would she bother to re-record the album if it was not producing the sound she wanted this time around? As well, Morissette provides all of the vocals and plays the harmonica on the few tracks that have it. Given that the vocals are treated almost like a musical instrument on this album, this gives Morissette most of the creative control over the album and it is distinctly her vision.

And I am pleased to say, this is a good one. However, it is not flawless and it is worth noting that right up front. The album still has some issues with lyrics as Morissette used the same lines she used the first time around. This means that some of my issues with rhyme schemes on some of the songs still hold (and I remain unimpressed by the way Morissette shook up the rhymes in "Hand In Pocket"). Moreover, Morissette's vocals are not all flawless and indicative of her developed, non-nasal, non-shrieking sound that she used on her follow up albums which were superior to the vocals on Jagged Little Pill. That said, in their acoustic versions, the more mellow sound of Alanis Morissette allows the singer-songwriter to emphasize the lyrics and the reinterpretation of some of the songs truly aids in accepting Jagged Little Pill Acoustic as a brand new album.

So, for example, Morissette wrote and sand a storysong that is much more reminiscent of a folk-rock singer's with her track "Forgiven." She muses on growing up as a Catholic and recalls "I sang Alleluia in the choir / I confessed my darkest deeds to an envious man / My brothers they never went blind for what they did / But I may as well have / In the name of the Father, the Skeptic and the Son / I had one more stupid question" ("Forgiven"). Such articulation, especially with a large portion of the song existing in a nihilistic ethical limbo is uncommon in pop and rock and roll and Morissette makes it articulate and clever in this song.

Similarly, she sings about overachieving on "Perfect," and while this song suffers from a painfully obvious rhyme scheme (rhyming "up" with itself and rhymes like "harder"/"prouder", etc.) it tackles a thought uncommon in this musical genre. Morissette might well be the only musical artist to ever grapple with the pressures that come from parental goadings like "Sometimes is never quite enough / If you're flawless, then you'll win my love / Don't forget to win first place / Don't forget to keep that smile on your face / Be a good boy / Try a little harder / You've got to measure up / Make me prouder" ("Perfect"). In other words, Morissette is grappling with more complex issues on the non-radio singles than most pop-rock artists ever bother with exploring and on Jagged Little Pill Acoustic, the emotional intelligence of those musings is maturely presented.

There is some irony (not so much from "Ironic," which is reinterpreted on the album in a way that makes it rather close to the original) to the whole idea of Morissette as a modern folk-rock artist as opposed to the angry rocker she initially presented herself as. But the shoe might well fit, between her emotive diatribes ("You Oughta Know," "Head Over Feet") and the story-songs ("Mary Jane," "Right Through You"). And while "Right Through You" - Morissette's angry diatribe to those who disregarded her in her youth - did not impress me more in this new, more sweetly sung, incarnation, "Not The Doctor" did.

"Not The Doctor" is a musical story-song about a relationship involving co-dependence and addition and instead of being angry and defiant (the push of such a relationship), this new version has a sad longing to it (the pull of such a situation). The listener feels for the musical protagonist when Morissette sings "Visiting hours are 9 to 5 and if I show up at 10 past six / Well I already know that you'd find some way to sneak me in and oh / Mind the empty bottle with the holes along the bottom / You see it's too much to ask for and I am not the doctor" ("Not The Doctor"). This has become one of my favorite songs to actually stack next to the original just to hear the different relationship dynamics the sounds imply.

Instrumentally, the songs are all acoustic, as the title of the album suggests. As a result, Morissette is accompanied by guitars, bass and keyboards and the result is a more stark, light rock or folk sound. The songs have a musing sound to them that creates an album that is held together almost entirely with a sound bordering on regret, as opposed to the malice that ran through the electric chords of the original.

This also accents Morissette's voice as a musical instrument. Morissette comes through. "You Oughta Know" is melodic and sad, more sensual than irksome. Yes, it is a pleasure to listen to this version, as is the more mellow reinterpretation of "You Learn." Gone are the elements in those songs that sounded like Morissette was being tormented while singing.

Unfortunately, not all of the songs fix the vocals flawlessly. Elements of "Right Through You" and "All I Really Want" still have a nasal or shrieking quality to them. But, the changes are significant enough and those negative elements are sufficiently minimized to not ruin the album when they do pop up.

The result is the album that launched the commercial Morissette is effectively recreated to present a more true vision of the musical artist. And yes, there is artistry on this one. For those who thought they knew Morissette from the radio - especially the ones who loathed her early works - this one is worth picking up!

I still like "Hand In Pocket" (which is still sweet and soft in this version) and I'd say "All I Really Want" is probably the weak track of this album.

For other Alanis Morissette works, check out my reviews of:
Jagged Little Pill
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Under Rug Swept
Feast On Scraps
So-Called Chaos
Flavors Of Entanglement

7.5/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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The Current Flavor Of Alanis Morissette Is Fractured On Flavors Of Entanglement

The Good: Some wonderful moments of music, lyrics and voice
The Bad: Some truly dumb dance-beat tracks, Short!
The Basics: A good album, Flavors Of Entanglement lyrically has the potential to be so much more, without the insipid dance beats on some of the tracks.


For those who have not read any of my many reviews of the works of Alanis Morissette (yes, it is a surprise to me that I have made it through virtually her entire library) I see Morissette as an artist with a split personality. There is the soulful, smart, emotionally aware rocker who writes ballads that can bring a tear to the listener's eyes and there is the angry, snide, guitar banging musician who seems to have gotten most of the success Morissette has enjoyed on the charts. The commercial Morissette is heavily produced, often angry or dancable, the genius Morissette is quieter, more natural and has an emotional maturity that the other Morissette seems to lack.

On Flavors Of Entanglement, Morissette presents the duality of herself with songs that are soulful and slow ("Not As We") and loud and angry and more like dance tracks ("Versions Of Violence"). The result is an album that does not seem to know what it wants to be and ultimately, what saves the disparate musical sounds on the album from plunging it into "not recommend" territory is the overall quality of all of the lyrics. Unlike some of her albums where she uses trite or overdone rhyme schemes, on Flavors Of Entanglement Morissette is more mature and a more adept poet throughout.

With eleven tracks clocking out at only 46:12, Flavors Of Entanglement does not illustrate all of the potential of Alanis Morissette. Instead, on this album she seems to underperform from her full creative ability by ceding a lot of creative control. All of the songs are co-written with Guy Sigsworth, though Morissette does take credit for the lyrics. Morissette provides all of the primary vocals on the tracks. Morissette, however, steps back entirely from the instrumentals and the production. In other words, how much of this album is actually Morissette's musical vision and desire for image is entirely up in the air.

With the lyrics being declared as entirely her own, the lyrics and vocals seem to be the only elements that are inarguably Morissette's. Unfortunately, some of the vocals are produced to the point that they are unrecognizable as any form of natural voice (as on "Versions Of Violence") and some of her best vocals, like when she stretches into the high notes for "Moratorium," also get mixed into the instrumentals in such a way that sounds and feels quite produced.

But largely, the lyrics on Flavors Of Entanglement are good and one of the album's inarguable strength. Morissette sings largely about relationships ("Torch," "Moratorium") but she also opens her repertoire up to socially conscious songs ("Citizen Of The Planet") and abuse ("Versions Of Violence"). There are a number of songs about breaking up ("Not As We," "Straightjacket") and even a travel dance number ("Giggling Again For No Reason"). Morissette makes a decent album in terms of thematic diversity, though the album is largely lacking in a hook, a song that makes it indispensable.

That said, several of the tracks are truly wonderful. Take, for example, her ode to moving on, "Torch." On that song, she sings a song about being forced to get closure on relationships, by contrasting what her musical protagonist had with what she wants thus "I miss your neck and your gait and your sharing what you write / Miss you walking through the front door, documentaries in your hand . . . These are the things that I miss / These are not times for the weak of heart / These are the days of raw despondence / I never dreamed I would have to lay down my torch for you like this" ("Torch"). Morissette has a pretty significant level of diction in her music that is certainly uncommon in musical artists these days.

Lyrically and musically, her dissonance works best on "Tapes." Another one of her breakup song, largely about fear and the difficulty of moving forward, she sings hauntingly "'I'm too exhausting to be loved' / 'A volatile chemical' / 'Best to quarantine and cut off' / All these tapes in my head swirl around / Keeping my vibe down / All these thoughts in my head aren't my own / Wreaking havoc" ("Tapes"). While Morissette might not have intended it, she created a song that is as true for basic natural fear as it is for creating a song from the perspective of a paranoid schizophrenic. The level of daring in that style of writing is welcome and the song is wonderful and terrible to listen to.

And for the artist who began her career with the song "You Oughta Know," it is refreshing to hear a song from Alanis Morissette like "In Praise Of The Vulnerable Man." On that song, Morissette writes and sings "You, with your eyes mix strength and abandon / You, with your new kind of heroism / And I bow and I bow down to you / To the grace that it takes to melt on through / This is in praise of the vulnerable man / Why don't you lead the rest of your cavalry home" ("In Praise Of The Vulnerable Men"). Even on "Jagged Little Pill," Morissette had "Head Over Feet," but this song fits this album and shows some growth given the resurgence of the angry guitars on some of the other tracks on this album.

And that's where the album has its difficulty. Opening with songs like "Citizen Of The Planet," which is a socially-conscious album crying out about how the world community has more merit than many of the individual nations, but is sounds angry with its throbbing guitars. And it is followed by a string of softer, pop-rock songs that mix synthesizers and electric guitars in a way that oscillates between pop and heavier rock. The result is an album that does not hold together well track to track, making for one that is hard to listen to over and over again.

Ultimately, it is likely that Morissette's fans will enjoy the album, but those of us who like the more contemplative Morissette will have to wait until she gets around to a "Flavors Of Entanglement Acoustic" to get the best of her from this work. And just to make clear: this would definitely be an album that has enough potential to revisit if it sounded different and was more consistent, stressing the best of Morissette instead of someone else's commercial vision of her.

The best track is "Torch," the low point is "Giggling Again For No Reason."

For other Alanis Morissette works, check out my reviews of:
Jagged Little Pill
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Under Rug Swept
Feast On Scraps
So-Called Chaos

6/10

For other music reviews, visit my Music Review Index Page!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Not As Harsh As I'd Originally Have Been, But Still So-Called Chaos Is Bad Enough.

The Good: Some lyrics, Moments of voice
The Bad: Return to Morissette shrieking, Instrumentals are hardly original, Short
The Basics: Alanis Morissette presents one of her lesser albums, So-Called Chaos that seems to want to recapture the crowd that loved her yelling, while being meaningful.


I am convinced, as I make it through her musical library, that there are two Alanis Morissettes. There is Alanis Morissette the commercial success who angrily screeched her way to fame with Jagged Little Pill by providing angry anthems for fifteen year-old girls. Then, there is the contemplative, melodic Morissette has something to say, but can't chart a single. I tend to like the latter. I'll take meaning, a great voice and creativity over angry, vacuous success any day. So, when I picked up So-Called Chaos, I had a little apprehension, not knowing which Alanis I'd be getting.

I got both. So-Called Chaos does not have any huge hits for Alanis Morissette and she gets angry again. And there's a sitar, so it's not like she just regressed to her Jagged Little Pill musical limitations, but she comes close. So-Called Chaos has enough anger to appease the young folks, but it's lacking in originality from Morissette and that's disappointing. On this album, it feels like she is attempting to find an equilibrium between the commercial tracks and her personal ones and ultimately, the sound just collapses such that she does neither especially well.

With only ten tracks, clocking out at 41:01, So-Called Chaos is definitely the work and vision of Alanis Morissette. Morissette wrote all ten songs, provides the lead vocals on each song and is credited as one of the album's co-producers. As well, she plays piano and keyboards on the various songs, so it's not like she's slouching in any department; this is her musical vision and it is an unfortunate mix of blase and unoriginal.

In fact, it is somewhat astonishing that So-Called Chaos did so well with fans of Morissette; they've heard most all of it before. Take, for example, "Eight Easy Steps," which opens the album. It sounds (not just because of the repetitive, numbering refrain) a lot like "21 Things I Want In A Lover" from one of Morissette's other albums. "Everything" has almost the same tune as Morissette's magnificent song "Still" and So-Called Chaos (the song) has the same sound as most of the tracks on Jagged Little Pill, adequately recasting Morissette's angry affectation. Even "Knees Of My Bees," which has the sitar, sounds more like something she already did on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. The result is an album that feels uncomfortably familiar.

What then pulls it out of truly abysmal territory? Lyrics and the moments Morissette uses her actual voice. For the latter, "This Grudge" is her superlative work on this album. On that song, her voice is beautifully testing her upper ranges while expressing something thoughtful and heartfelt. The song is about letting go of hatred and anger and Morissette sings it with an earnest quality that is quite beautiful. It is also the exception to the rule on So-Called Chaos.

Like her earlier, more angry works, So-Called Chaos is dominated by songs where Morissette's vocals are more screechy than musical. "Eight Easy Steps" sounds like it is being sung by a cat who is fighting for its life and So-Called Chaos sounds like Morissette is being poked with something sharp while she is singing. Even the songs where Morissette does not appear vocally wrenched while performing tend to be less than her best works. For example, "Knees Of My Bees" has vocals that are so produced and carefully timed with the background vocals that it comes out sounding like a computer sang it!

But what Morissette is singing on So-Called Chaos is almost redeeming of the album. Take, for example, "Doth I Protest Too Much," Morissette actually seems to have a sense of humor, if a dark one. On that, she presents a story with a musical protagonist who is trying to convince herself she is not jealous and petty. This allows Morissette to sing "I'm not threatened, by every pair of legs you watch go by / I don't cringe when you stare at women, it's just a thing called guy / I don't notice your side ways glances or where your loyalty lies / I'm secure and out of me, it's hard to get a rise / I'm not jealous / I don't get moved by much / I'm not enraged /Not insecure as such / Not going insane / Rational stays in touch / Doth I protest too much" ("Doth I Protest Too Much") with a strong sense of conviction and irony. Much may be said about Morissette's writing, but even with the predictable rhyme scheme, Morissette has a beautiful sense of irony that she makes musical.

She also has a serious lyrical wit that comes through in the form of sheer cleverness as a writer. In this case, "Knees Of My Bees" illustrates perfectly a higher level of diction than the average pop-rock musical artist with her lines "We share a culture same vernacular / Love of physical humor and time spent alone / You with your penchant for spontaneous advents . . . With tendencies for conversations that raise bars / You are a sage who is fueled by compassion / Comes to nooks and crannies as balm for all scars / You make the knees of my bees weak, tremble and buckle" ("Knees Of My Bees"). Any musical artist who uses "penchant," "vernacular" and can find a way to turn a pair of common phrases in a clever new way is not all bad and this song easily launches Morissette into that category.

As well, even some of her noisy songs at least have something to say. So-Called Chaos (the song) actually has some reasonable demands when Morissette belts out "I want to be naked, running through the streets / I want to invite this so-called chaos, that you'd think I dare not be / I want to be weightless, flying through the air / I want to drop all these limitations at the shoes upon my feet" but she presents it in a way that is far less intriguing as the lyrics. But for the most part, what saves the album from utter failure is Morissette's writing from the terrible complicity of "Spineless" to the desire for freedom with "This Grudge."

Mostly, though, the sound of So-Called Chaos is boring, predictable pop-rock in the style that made Morissette famous. The songs are guitar or keyboard-driven rock songs with deep percussion and no real surprises to the listener. All of the songs that might have been catchy or interesting are that way because they are reminiscent of songs Alanis Morissette had success with in her past!

There are better pop-rock albums and better Morissette albums to spend one's money on than this lemon.

The best track is "Knees Of My Bees," the low point is "Eight Easy Steps," which still makes me cringe each time I put the album in the player.

For other Alanis Morissette works, check out my reviews of:
Jagged Little Pill
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Under Rug Swept
Feast On Scraps

4/10

Check out how this album stacks up against others I have reviewed by visiting my Music Review Index Page for a listing of albums Best to Worst!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Feast On This, Alanis Morissette Fans! Feast On Scraps Is NOT A Great Concert DVD!

The Good: A few good songs, well presented.
The Bad: Audio fallouts, Prioritization of instrumentals over vocals, Not at all visually exciting
The Basics: In a surprisingly poor video endeavor, Alanis Morissette talks about her work and philosophy in between lousy concert footage taken from one of her tours and mashed (poorly) together.


Does anyone remember the old commercials for Memorex? You'd know the ones, if you saw them: "Is it live or Memorex?" The question was asked because the recording quality was supposedly so good that distinguishing between a live performance and the tape recording was supposed to be impossible. Of course, now it is hard for many of us to imagine that analog tapes ever achieved such quality, but it was a catchy slogan. On DVD, the Alanis Morissette DVD Feast On Scraps is clearly not live, it is a series of recordings, many of which are poor and erratic.

Feast On Scraps is a DVD and CD combo and given that the eight-track compact disc is occasionally found (legitimately or illegitimately) separate and can be downloaded as the album Feast On Scraps. For those sticklers on such things: my rating does not change at all based upon the presence of the eight additional songs. This set becomes no more redeemed by the eight new songs than it is on its own. That said . . .

"Ouch." Sometimes, a one-word summary can truly capture the essence of a thing and for the video presentation of Feast On Scraps, that one word would be "ouch." Just "ouch." Recorded during the recording sessions and concert tour supporting the album Under Rug Swept, Feast On Scraps is, mostly, just that, scraps. It ought to be noted that "Under Rug Swept" might well be my favorite Alanis Morissette album and so, if anything, I came to Feast On Scraps biased toward the DVD.

Unfortunately, the DVD is just a mess. The performance footage includes eighteen songs and three "Purgatorying" interludes of musings. Interspersed through concert footage is Morissette talking to camera or candid recordings near Morissette. As a result, there are amusing moments, like when Morissette in her limo pulls up next to a car, with its windows rolled down, listening to an Alanis Morissette song on the radio, looking over, seeing Morissette and freaking out. That's cute, it's almost kismet.

But largely, the interstitials (the little bits between Morissette actually performing) are duds. The first three and a half minutes of the DVD are all collections of moments pre-concerts as Morissette and her band get dressed, stretch, wrap legs, etc. I get that one needs a lead in but three and a half minutes of stretching, walking through hallways, etc. just to see Alanis Morissette and her mates on stage is just ridiculous. And right before "Thank You," Morissette talks about her guitarist David Levita. I am glad she thinks he is a remarkably great guitarist who takes risks and is real creative, but on DVD, a permanent medium, this wears thin. We get it, she gushes over David Levita. How many times does she honestly think that fans and well-wishers will sit through the individual commentaries on each of her bandmates as opposed to skipping ahead to the next song? It would have worked if this had either been done as a separate feature, all of the thanks for each bandmate had been done together, or this was a documentary. It is not.

Instead, this is a loose amalgamation of songs and thoughts and Morissette getting dressed. And the fact that Morissette has to goad the cameraperson early on into actually asking her questions, just kills the idea that this might actually be a cohesive project for anyone wishing it was a documentary on the tour surrounding Under Rug Swept. But for those just looking to kick back and have an Alanis Morissette concert experience, you, too, are in for an unfortunate surprise with Feast On Scraps. Instead of being one concert or even the best of the concert performances, Feast On Scraps seems to be a random collection of performances throughout the tour.

Take, for example, the presentation of "21 Things I Want In A Lover." This is, honestly, not one of my favorite songs (made more so by the fact that on a later album, Morissette did a similar listing song that sounded virtually identical) but when it began on the video, I actually got excited about it because it had been so long since I had heard it. On Feast On Scraps, "21 Things I Want In A Lover" is presented not only from various camera angles, but from various performances. One moment, Morissette is looking out at a sun-filled meadow packed with fans, the next, Morissette is performing on a darkened stage and in another cut, she is suddenly performing in a stadium with strobe lights and fog all about her. This sounds like it might actually be cool, like it might have a music video quality to it. It does not and it is certainly not cool.

Instead, the viewer is subjected to seemingly random changes of camera angle, performance and - worst of all - sound quality with no sense, sensibility or quality control surrounding it. So, for example, the audio track, like the video track, is presented using recordings that are from the point of recording. What does this mean? It means that when the image on screen suddenly goes to a camcorder-style shot of Morissette's back, the audio recording is being recorded from the same vantage point. Yes, Morissette cuts from singing to camera through a sound system in one frame to a recording of her singing, facing away from an inferior camera twenty feet away. It sounds like it was recorded off the radio, then copied off for friends and this is about a fifth generation copy of that.

Such audio fallouts are spread throughout Feast On Scraps. Because various performances are mashed together with little respect to the performance or the audio quality, Morissette will be in the middle of a song, the recording will shift to a different performance/angle/audio track and it will be impossible to hear her. So, yes, unless one is sitting with one's remote and constantly adjusting the volume up and down, there is no way to truly enjoy this DVD. It is so erratic that it becomes more of a chore than a treat.

As well, the mixing for some of the biggest numbers, like the opening "Baba" and "You Oughta Know" later in the disc, is absolutely terrible. Have you ever been to a concert where it is clear the engineers who are mixing the sound have absolutely no idea what they are doing? You know, like you go to a rock concert and even after the vocals begin, the proportions are so off that the instrumentals dominate? Or the mixing board personnel ups the volume on an instrument that completely changes the sound of the song so it is unrecognizable even after the vocals begin? Feast On Scraps has that type of engineering in almost all of the prime footage from the main - "official" - concert track. So when Morissette comes out and begins singing, the guitars, bass and percussion so overwhelm her vocals that it is impossible to decipher what she is singing. It almost is enough to make one wish for a weird fallout moment where the footage is just poorly recorded as opposed to inappropriately mixed.

And then there is the pointless footage. For all of my gripes against vocal fallout, poor mixing and visually boring scraps, at least the are original. As the DVD trundled on, I kept going because the penultimate track is one of my favorite songs (of all time!) and one that surprises me Morissette never released as a single (Hey, Alanis, why not release it now?!): "That Particular Time." Haunting and sad, this is possibly the best she has ever written and performed and I have listened to the song at least a hundred times since the first time I heard it last year. On Feast On Scraps, we are not given a live performance of the song. Instead, we are given a collection of shots of her writing the song, going over the production and instrumentation of it and singing it for the studio recording. No, it's not new, it's just visual.

And it is not like an Alanis Morissette concert is an extreme visual act, making one wonder why Morissette bothered with this endeavor. Instead of seeing more of Morissette (even at weird angles we can't hear her at) we are subjected to a number of banal visuals. For example, in "Hand In My Pocket," the camera pans to an audience member. As the song begins, he perks up, begins singing along and raises his arms as if he is having a religious experience. If he is, that's nice for him. Any spiritual experience I might be having by seeing Morissette in concert is being gutted by having to watch this guy have his instead of Morissette herself.

In other words, it is hard to get at all excited about this disc and even the excitement one might have for it is seriously undermined by the execution of the compilation. For those who need such things, the tracklisting is: "Baba," "Right Through You," "21 Things I Want In A Lover," "Hand In Pocket," "Unprodigal Daughter," "Flinch," "All I Really Want," "Precious Illusions," "Sympathetic Character," "So Unsexy," "Head Over Feet," "You Oughta Know," "Hands Clean," "Uninvited," "Ironic," "You Learn," "That Particular Time," and 'Thank You." Most are performed live and almost none of them are intact as a single performance with a consistent, decent audio track. And visually, this is a huge disappointment.

For other Alanis Morissette works, check out my reviews of:
Jagged Little Pill
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Under Rug Swept

3/10

For other music reviews, be sure to visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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A More Traditional Pop-Rock Endeavor Yields My Favorite (To Date) Morissette Album With Under Rug Swept!

The Good: Enjoyable and thought-provoking lyrics, Most of the vocals, Some of the instrumentals
The Bad: Music is very conventional, Moments of overproduction
The Basics: Alanis Morissette presents an album that is solidly above average and worthwhile, even if it is less distinctly "Morissette" and more generic pop-rock in its sound.


Those who might have been offended by my panning of two other Alanis Morissette albums are probably not reading this, but I've finally found an Alanis Morissette album I like and can enthusiastically recommend. Some might be wondering why I chose review Morissette's works and there's actually an interesting story behind that. As some might know from my other reviews, I have a small business selling Star Trek cards on-line and at Star Trek conventions and for the past two years, I have made a sojourn out to Las Vegas for the yearly super convention there.

Last year, a young woman walked up to my table and after a few minutes of failing to sell her anything, I noticed her name tag read "Morissette." Looking at the brunette, I commented, "I bet everyone asks you if you're related to Alanis Morissette," to which she responded, "No. But she's my cousin." So, she and I had a nice conversation about the works of Alanis Morissette, which I was largely painfully ignorant of, save loathing the radio hits from Jagged Little Pill (reviewed here!) and enjoying the song Morissette contributed to the soundtrack of Dogma (reviewed here!). We discussed stories like those told on "American Top 40" about Morissette and her band competing for who scored more and it was a pretty wonderful conversation. I was informed that Jagged Little Pill was a gamble of sorts to get Morissette's name out into the marketplace so she was financially able to do albums more like what Morissette truly wanted to do. The young woman said some of Morissette's other albums more truly represented the music Alanis wanted to be creating and she specifically cited either Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (reviewed here!) or Under Rug Swept. I'm hoping it was Under Rug Swept because from the first listen, I knew this was the Alanis Morissette album I would be recommending!

Clocking in at fifty and a half minutes, Under Rug Swept does seem to be a very pure endeavor from Alanis Morissette. Morissette wrote all eleven tracks and provides the only credited vocals on the album. As well, she plays guitars and keyboards and produced the album. In this case, Morissette gets to take the credit for the album and it is credit well deserved. Under Rug Swept is the best album I've heard from Morissette, another key argument that quality does not necessarily generate sales! While this album performed far under her breakthrough Jagged Little Pill, the least impressive track on this album has some aspect to it that is better than the best track on that album.

First of all, Under Rug Swept is a lyrical firestorm for Morissette, focusing primarily on the recurring themes of undercover relationships and not-at-all-closely-veiled songs about a relationship with the divine. In one of my earliest listens, I thought I might write about differentiating between Christian rock and rock and roll that expresses some sense of spirituality, but that seems somehow banal now. While "A Man" (yes, it does seem to be a pun on "Amen") has overt allusions to Christian mythology ("I am a man who has grown from a son / Been crucified by enraged women / . . . I'm often reminded of the fools I'm among"), it is in no way Christian rock, subtly trying to indoctrinate young people with the message that god is cool. Moreover, the most incredible pop-rock endeavor I've heard in some time involving a sense of true spirituality and belief in the unconditional love of the divine (see below) is "You Owe Me Nothing In Return" which has some deeply spiritual insinuations with lines like ". . . You owe me nothing for caring the way that I have / I give you thanks for receiving it's my privilege . . ." Morissette beautifully envisions a concept of a truly all-loving being and that is something that is not presented as either preachy or imposed upon the unbelieving listener.

But lyrically, the album hits its peak when Morissette is singing about the tribulations of relationships on "That Particular Time." Over the cycle of the song, Morissette chronicles the challenges of a relationship of staying, waiting for a partner to make up their mind and finally leaving. The song is truly heartwrenching and wonderful and it contains a powerful level of diction and self-expression with lamentful lines like "I've always wanted for you / What you've wanted for yourself / And yet I wanted to save us high water or hell / [Here's the line!] And I kept on ignoring the ambivalence you felt / And in the meantime I lost myself . . ." ("That Particular Time"). When I panned Jagged Little Pill, I was challenged (justifiably) with the question, "Has there ever been an angry woman's vocal I've liked?" The answer was yes, absolutely; Fiona Apple's seething rage in "Shadowboxer" off Tidal (reviewed here!) blew me away from the first listen. It's not since that first time I heard "Shadowboxer" have I been so caught by a song that expressed such disdain toward a lost love. But where "Shadowboxer" is the anger and defiance, Morissette's "That Particular Time" is the musing lament. She finds the loss and there's not the anger, but there is the sense of loss and Morissette's power on the song is as similar forthrightness in the emotional tenor of the song as Apple's hit. And "That Particular Time" should have been a huge hit. It should have knocked the radio stations over (it was not released as a single).

Lyrically, Under Rug Swept reaches a level of sophistication that almost complete eliminates the thing that initially made me loathe Morissette's works; there are almost no lines that rhyme a word with itself. On "Narcissus" there is one line that does and on "Hands Clean" there are a few lines that insist on rhyming "me" with "me" but outside that, the album is generally better on that front. As a result, it is far less repetitive and in that regard, it holds up much better over repeated listens.

Vocally, Morissette's voice is front and center on almost every track. Any hint of anything outside her range is now gone and she manages to get around some of her more complex lines while actually presenting very decent harmonies. So, as a result, on songs like "Surrendering," Morissette takes some very long lines and right around the point one would suspect she is running out of breath, she begins to infuse more than just a sense of storytelling. After lists, that is when she opens up her range and carries a tune and it works beautifully!

In fact, after the first two tracks, it seems like all of the vocals are wonderful. The album opener "21 things I Want In A Lover" has somewhat banal vocals as the song is mostly a listing song. There is something rather common and predictable in the vocals on that track that does not work as well as some of the others. "Narcissus," the second track, heavily produces Morissette's voice with a phase shift that makes it sound a bit more mechanical than it actually is. The only thing close to being more noisy than musical comes on "So Unsexy," but it never steps over the line.

Conversely, one of the most beautiful vocals Morissette presents is on the somewhat boring final track, "Utopia." The lyrics to the song are somewhat bland and repetitive and the musical accompaniment is one of the most familiar-sounding guitar presentations (it sounds almost like a folk-rock presentation) on the album, but her voice is a beautiful soprano on the track and the effect is impressive for its clarity and simple beauty and the utter undeniability that Morissette can sing!

Indeed, it is often through her vocal presentation that Morissette conveys her meaning. So, for example on "You Owe Me Nothing In Return," Morissette sings with an authoritarian air that changes the connotation from a generic unconditional love to a love from a god figure to its subject. There are moments she lowers her voice and, for lack of a better term, sings down to her audience so that her "voice" becomes clear. She sings her meaning and it's a wonderful use of the medium!

What the album lacks is a sense of musical originality. The guitars and keyboards are very standard pop-rock instrumentals and there are few truly original tunes on the album. In fact, one of the songs utilizes almost an identical-sounding progression as the song "Breakfast At Tiffany's." It's somewhat unnerving to hear on an Alanis Morissette album.

Beyond that, the songs are generally somewhat musically unimaginative with very little in the way of tunes, which forces the musical emphasis to the voice and the attention to the lyrics. The best way I can describe this is that it's virtually impossible for one to imagine any of the songs on this album as musak; something that reconstructed the harmonies in a way that tried to express a musical story without the voice or lyrics.

That is not to call the album atonal at all, I found myself humming "Narcissus," but I quickly discovered that I'd transition from "Narcissus" to "You Owe Me Nothing In Return." The superlative track, "That Particular Time" has a beautiful piano arrangement and it creates the air of musing and loss that makes the song a tear-jerker.

But consider the radio hit from Under Rug Swept, "Hand's Clean;" outside the actual chorus, it's only Morissette's singing that is truly doing anything musical and even that is something of a conversational/list song. Outside the chorus it's almost impossible to come up with a theme and one suspects that if asked to hum the song people would have an easier time singing it!

But this is an album I'm proud to say I enjoyed and I'm happy to be adding to my permanent collection. My recommend is a strong recommend because the best tracks on the album would probably not appear on a "Greatest Hits" album (I have to actually see if Morissette has one yet), which is one of my criteria for albums these days.

The best track is "That Particular Time" and the low point for the album might well be the (sadly) boring "Utopia" which closes up the album. Anyone who likes decent - if slightly mundane - pop-rock will find something to enjoy on Under Rug Swept!

For other Artist Of The Month works, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Any Day Now - Joan Baez
Beginnings - Shania Twain
Femme Fatale - Britney Spears

7/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Getting Better, But Still Not A Successful Outing For The Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie!

The Good: Some moments of musical talent, Some decent lyrics/good sense of philosophy, Moments of voice
The Bad: Most of the production, Much of the music is generic and closer to chanting than harmonic
The Basics: With a very average album, Alanis Morissette impresses but fails to wow the listener with Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, a better album than some.


I made no new friends with my review of Alanis Morissette's commercial breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill (reviewed here!). Though I liked it quite a bit more, I doubt I'll make many new friends with my analysis of Morissette's follow-up Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.

Clocking in at 71:52 with seventeen tracks, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie represents a fundamental shift in Morissette's commercially safe teen-appeal angst and anger from Jagged Little Pill to a more substantial and spiritual album with more direct and sophisticated philosophical overtones. That ought to be rewarded and lyrically and philosophically, the album excels. However, musically, many of the tracks on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie are bland and while Morissette's vocal talents are better explored on tracks like "Thank U" and "Are You Still Mad" than anything on her prior album, she is not still reaching her full (apparent) potential.

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie also represents a growth of Alanis Morissette as an artist, which one presumes she gained by the commercial success of Jagged Little Pill. On Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie Morissette sings all of the songs which she wrote to music she wrote or co-wrote with Glen Ballard. As well, Morissette takes a co-producing credit with Ballard - which she did not have on the prior endeavor - and she plays the harmonica, flute and piano on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. In other words, this is very much the artistic vision of Morissette.

And for the most part, it's a decent outing that is worthy of attention. Lyrically, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie is a stronger album than the average. Alanis Morissette is not plagued by the obsessive need to rhyme all of her end words and that works fairly well for her on this album. So, for example, on "Are You Still Mad" she creates a wonderful rhythm through the less common practice of front repetition as opposed to end rhymes with lines like "Are you still mad I had an emotional affair? / Are you still mad I tried to mold you into / Who I wanted you to be? / Are you still mad I didn't trust your intentions?"

And on this work, Morissette uses a higher level of diction than the average and she has blissfully matured some from the angry young woman who broke onto the scene with "You Oughta Know." So, on tracks like "Can't Not," Morissette opens with far above the usual pop-culture fourth grade vocabulary with lines like "I'd be lying if I said I was completely unscathed / I might be proving you right with my silence or my retaliation / Would I be letting you win in my non reaction?" In that way, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie is a real treat. Lyrically, Morissette reaffirms that she's smarter than the average pop culture princess or diva and she writes about things that are for more interesting and mature than the bland, generic anger of unoppressed youth.

As a result, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie has lines that are more poetic, like the title to the album which pops up rather incongruently in a dance track on the album. But Morissette sings about being in therapy ("The Couch"), growing up independent of peer pressure ("UR"), the power of sudden wealth and celebrity ("One" and "I Was Hoping"), and more importantly finding inner peace ("Thank U") and being humbled by relationships ("Unsent"). Thematically, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie strips away the angry Morissette and reveals a more vulnerable artist who is dealing with the conflicts that come from being a commercially successful musical artist. And I like that thematic unity better than anything on anything else I've heard from her.

But lyrically, Morissette falls on the crutch of rhyming the same word with itself far too often. In addition to rhyming the same word with itself - something she does on 5 tracks - she has a terrible sense of repetition on this album. Song after song, lines are repeated over and over again, over and over and over again, the same words. This kills the relistening to the album and it makes some of the tracks straight out painful to listen to. "Thank U" has "thank you" repeated twenty-one times with alternating lines most beginning with "How 'bout . . ." This would not be a bad thing in and of itself, but as an album, the work suffers because it's sandwiched between songs where the lines are all "I've seen . . . I've watched . . . I've heard" ("Baba") and before "Are You Still Mad") (title repeated fifteen times), "Sympathetic Character" ("you were my" repeated twenty-five times), "That I Would Be Good" ("That I would be" opens fourteen of the fifteen lines) and "Can't Not" ("because I can't not" repeated nineteen times) and on and on.

The result is that vocally, much of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie devolves into simple chanting. Much of the album has Morissette chanting more than singing. Sure, the singing has note changes that are not traditionally simple chanting, but more often than not the instrumentals are more varied than the vocals and illustrate greater range than Morissette's voice. She goes from one vocally limited direct-voice/chant presentation to another and the style becomes tired quickly.

While Morissette illustrates greater vocal range by singing in some of the higher ranges without shrieking and shouting more than on her prior endeavor, she limits her music more by the lyrical repetition that creates very simply themes that are repeated constantly in almost every song. So, on songs like "Joining You," she has a fairly traditional "angry Alanis" sound opposite long, chant-like strains listing what youth would do with power or what the traits of a person define about them (depending on one's interpretation of the lyrics). Regardless, the lines are very melodically simple and the tracks hold up poorly as a result.

Sadly, one of the best vocal presentations comes on "Heart Of The House," where Morissette successfully journeys into soprano territory, but her lilting voice accompanies surprisingly unremarkable lyrics and music. And that song is one of the exceptions to the vocal rules on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie which opens with the heavily produced "Front Row" that introduces the more spiritual lyrics of Morissette with a musical monologue that is not even her actual voice (it is so overproduced!).

Musically, some of the songs are still a mess. "Sympathetic Character" finds Morissette singing about abuse and the instrumentals are chaotic and her voice ventures into the screeching territory one hoped she would leave behind with her new themes of spirituality and inner peace. Instead, the song is an atonal mess wherein the scratchy guitars are dominated by percussion on a cymbal set. As the song reaches a crescendo complete with feedback from the shrieking guitars, the listener wonders why a song about betrayal, loss and anger would pluck its title from one of the less sensible concepts. Musically, the song expresses the frustration of the track, but the sloppy construction and noisy quality to it guts the potential that the title is even ironic. There is nothing truly sympathetic about the character and the song gives the listener no genuine sense of worth for the moping after the loss.

Musically, "I Was Hoping" represents one of the worst transgressions in Morissette's career. Combining the story of a musical protagonist who is penitent and growing beyond being a spiteful angry and using the power of her money is heavy drums, synthesizers and guitars that are actually heavier rock than most would expect from an Alanis Morissette album. I've no problem with Morissette utilizing heavier instruments than those would expect from a pop-rock artist, but the music doesn't match the lyrics and it is troubling how the contrast guts the emotional resonance of the lessons of the lyrics.

One of my most serious problems with the music actually comes on one of the better tracks. The quiet and intriguing "That I Would Be Good" features Morissette on a flute and I applaud the use of other musical instruments on pop-rock albums, like the way Sophie B. Hawkins used a banjo on Timbre (reviewed here!). The problem is that on an album as produced as Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie it seems ridiculous that Morissette is sure to include the breaths while she plays. Yes, people breathe when they play the flute and they usually need to inhale deeply to do that. That's reality. But on so many of the tracks things like breaths are removed from the vocals (they are not on the annoying chant of "The Couch") that when they are prominently in the front sound of the flute playing on "That I Would Be Good" the effort screams of "listen, I'm playing the flute!" We believe Morissette can play and were it not for how produced the vocals, programming and other instrumentals like the synthesizers, this would not be an issue, but it seems strangely pandering on this particular track and it has the effect of telegraphing the emotions of the song the way a soundtrack can tell a moviegoer what to feel and when.

Outside that, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie is a pretty traditional pop-rock album with guitars, piano, drums and when the songs are not being atonal nightmares ("I Was Hoping"), they are rather traditional pop-dance ("So Pure") or pop-rock ("Front Row") tracks. There are a fair number of more quiet ballads, like "Your Congratulations," but most of the lighter tracks are light pop like "Thank U."

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie came down to a coin toss for me on the "recommend" front because it is a remarkably average album in the final analysis. What is good on one track is gutted by the presentation of the album where the highs get high and the lows plummet to fairly low depths of disappointment for the listener. The album does not hold together well because of the musical, vocal and lyrical repetition. Do I think people ought to give the disc a listen? Yes, for sure. But should they buy it and add it to their musical collection enthusiastically? No, it just does not hold up.

The best track is the musing and considerate "Unsent," the low point might well be the moody "Would Not Come," which comes after just one too many chanty songs.

For other, former, Artist Of The Month reviews, check out my takes on:
Hits and Rarities - Sheryl Crow
Jackie’s Strength (single) – Tori Amos
Break Every Rule - Tina Turner

5.5/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Awful Shrieking Begins With Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill (My Next Artist Of The Month!)

The Good: Well, there's "Head Over Feet" and the vocals on the second hidden track
The Bad: Many of the lyrics, Most of the vocals, Much of the production, Many of the instrumentals
The Basics: With its mess of sound and largely lousy lyrics, Jagged Little Pill remains as bad today as it was when it was originally released.


Here's my big confessional moment for the day; for all of my love of Girl Power, Feminism and Equal Rights and Women's Lib and all that, I've never liked the music of Alanis Morissette. I was in college when Jagged Little Pill was released and I heard the five radio singles and I was utterly unimpressed. I joked with my coworker at the time that "angry Canadian" was a stupid oxymoron and Alanis Morissette's music was one of only two things that would get me to change the radio station from the Top 40 pop-rock station I adored in Binghamton (the other, by the way, was Mariah Carey, whose work I loathed as well). I softened toward Morissette when she had the appearance in and song capping Dogma (reviewed here!) and I found myself strangely into the idea of putting her up when she was one of the artists specifically cited as lacking accommodations when Woodstock '99 happened in nearby Rome, NY. No, ultimately she found lodging elsewhere and it's taken me until now to listen to Jagged Little Pill, Morissette's commercial smash album.

And it's a good thing for me I didn't put her up because I don't think any amount of starstruck (which I don't get often anymore) would have stopped me from asking her, "What the hell were you thinking?!"

Jagged Little Pill is a twelve track (or fourteen if one is honest about about it) pop-rock album that clocks in at 57:33 and made Alanis Morissette a household name in the mid-1990s. All of the lyrics were by Morissette and she co-composed the tracks with Glen Ballard. As well, she plays harmonica on a few tracks and sings on all of them. Morissette does not take any sort of producing credit and that is the only out for the artist; otherwise, it seems like she is truly the person moving the works on this album. And in that case, Alanis Morissette's efforts are angry in an amateurish way, lacking in poetics, vocally mismanaged and musically mangled.

Jagged Little Pill is all about being an angry young woman and I suppose it's easy to see why the preteen crowd that wasn't tuned in to Jewel was tuned in to Morissette's works. Her anthemic "You Oughta Know" rocks with a few simple truths. Morissette becomes the right hand of vengeance with her biting lyrics like, "It was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced / Are you thinking of me when you fuck her / . . . Every time you speak her name / Does she know how you told me you'd hold me / Until you died, ' til you died / But you're still alive" ("You Oughta Know"). And yes, there is an emotionally satisfying purge rocking out to her signature song, but it also illustrates a truly immature sense of human relations. As painful as it is, people grow and change - and certainly I'm not one to lecture on this, but that idea of "you promised!" is just too simplistic. Actually, the problem is that it is the dangling implication of that specific bit of "You Oughta Know" that guts the song. It's emotionally immature for Morissette to simply sing, you made this promise and you're still alive, so where are you? It's truly vengeful for the singing protagonist to offer the promised death. Yes, "You Oughta Know" would be a fine song if only it incorporated something more emotionally developed than "you said!"; a real sense of vengeance like, "You said you'd love me until you died, so if you're gonna leave me, why don't you die already?"

Lyrically, Morissette's signature "You Oughta Know" is not the only problem. "Right Through You" is a terrible track that embodies why young people are not respected. Declaring herself a star after being rejected, she sings about going back to those who spite her with lines like, "Hello Mr. Man / You didn't think I'd come back / You didn't think I'd show up with my army / And this ammunition on my back / Now that I'm Miss Thing / Now that I'm a zillionaire [SHUDDER!] / You scan the credits for your name / And wonder why it's not there" ("Right Through You"). This is the same emotional maturity as the person who says "I'll kill myself and they'll be sorry when I'm gone!"

The lines tend to use a lot of predictable rhymes and in this way Morissette is pretty much the natural predecessor to Avril Lavigne. The only real surprise is how Morissette mixes up the rhymes on "Hand In My Pocket;" it's too bad the song is so otherwise lousy that it doesn't matter that she is being creative with the rhyme scheme. The best written track might well be the somber "Perfect" which is all about an abused child. Morissette actually has insightful lyrics with lines like "I'll live through you / I'll make you what I never was / If you're the best, then maybe so am I / . . .I'm doing this for your own damn good / You'll make up for what I blew" ("Perfect").

But that's where the decency of "Perfect" ends; at the lyrics. Like many of Morissette's songs on Jagged Little Pill, Morissette's natural vocal talents - which one assumes she has and there is some evidence of on the final track and the opening to "Perfect" - are quickly crushed for the choice to shriek out the lines. Whenever she goes into the higher ranges, Morissette strains and presents a truly awful vocal sound, like cats being grilled alive.

Yeah, it's that bad. On tracks like "Perfect," "All I Really Want" and "Right Through You," Morissette sacrifices her natural voice for production elements and screaming that is atonal and an insult to the pioneering women of pop rock who set up for her to leap into the angry chick chic niche. There might be other places where Morissette used her vocal talents (the song that closes Dogma and subsequent works) but on Jagged Little Pill, Morissette presents a musical mystery of how someone could get a recording contract while presenting such auditory noise that does not seem emblematic of any genuine vocal talent.

And I'm all for songs knocking the way organized religion is used as an oppressive tool to control young people but on "Forgiven" Morissette undermines her lyrics with her vocal presentation of an angry girl sound. It does her, nor her lyrics any service.

Musically, Jagged Little Pill is just terrible. From the opening track, "All I Really Want," which is overproduced noise, the album does not get to a decent sound until the second hidden track, a quiet, vocal song that resonates and actually showcases Morissette's voice. But "All I Really Want" is a great example of how not to open an album. There's the angry-sounding presentation of the lyrics that have Morissette shrieking opposite computerized background vocals and presenting somewhat ridiculous lyrics. But the instrumentals are generic pop guitars, keyboards and programming.

And it's too much. On Jagged Little Pill, ironically, Morissette is afraid of the quiet, something she explicitly rejects on the opening track. All of the songs, save "Ironic," "Mary Jane," "Head Over Feet" and the second hidden track are just packed with sound. I'm not one of those "rock music is noise" people, but damn if every one of the people making that argument didn't pull out Jagged Little Pill, pop-rock lovers would be forced to concede on one work! There is music here, but it's a very noisy album and there's a feeling that much of the sound is filler instead of actually telling the musical story that the artist is attempting to present.

Nowhere is this more clear than with Jagged Little Pill's two versions of "You Oughta Know." One has heavier guitars and the other is more drum and vocal emphasized, expressing more of a seething anger. But that quieter version is an exception to the rules on Jagged Little Pill. Songs like the title track and epitomized by "Right Through You" present Alanis Morissette as an artist drowning her lyrics and any natural voice in a wall of sound, production elements that overwhelm the meaning and any chance of impressing the listener that the angry Canadian had.

The best track is the second hidden track that closes the album with a glimpse that suggests that Morissette can both sing and present an emotionally intelligent poetic protagonist. The absolute worst track is the opening "All I Really Want."

For other, former, Artist Of The Month artists, be sure to check out:
50 Greatest Hits - Reba McEntire
@#%&*! Smilers - Aimee Mann
Ella Fitzgerald Celebrated - Ella Fitzgerald

3/10

For other music reviews, be sure to visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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