Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill


So, at the josinator's dance recital tonight, one of the tracks was Uninvited by Alanis Morrisette, and i was like A) that's the next song she released for the City of Angels soundtrack after her big breakthrough album, and B) you can totally claim that you're going to be a famous musician on Canadian television then go do it, because she totally did exactly that. I long ago had a copy of Jagged Little Pill, so let's go see if it holds up. 

Before we start, Ironic is actually ironic. No, not in the sense that it's a whole song about "unfortunate things." Silly as they sound, they are coherent examples of culturally contextual cosmic irony. Again you're going to raise your hands and say "but no deity created those situations." Sure, fine, but the song can't exist at all if the character singing it doesn't believe that these are signs of Fate intervening in the happenings of us earth dwelling mortals. Madam Coincidence certainly seems content with letting her next song accompany Nick Cage becoming mortal to hook up with pre cosmetic surgery Meg Ryan. Skip would love that one, i thought it was kinda silly. Angry female alt-rock in 3, 2, 1... 

Slap me with a splintered ruler, i forgot how much i love her frantic nasal yodeling. Not backhanded at all, i seriously love Alanis's voice; the only serious contender for my interest is Delores O'Riordan's accent. 

Cubic butt ton of sarcasm on this album. Was You Oughta Know really about Uncle Joey? Man this house is getting crowded, and that's the wrong band. Ok, i oughta know i'm here to remind myself what i was talking about. Right, that's Flea and Dave Navarro because they didn't have an RHCP gig to be at. 

Track 3 cooldowns are the way to go: Track 2 is too split-personality to do anything else. If you haven't keyed in on the intense psychological torture from which this album clearly eminates, then i can't help you at all. Open a can of cola or beer and proceed to some more producer-style beatwork. High five, Glen Ballard, Head Over Feet might be one of my top five favorite songs of all time, but Right Through You and Forgiven are top 200 as well. The whole album, really, this is top to bottom fire. Massive distortion with nylon string noodles on top and synth-string ganache in the middle, why not? 

So, the drum-machine imitating beatwork in alternative rock thing, where did that come from? Oh, Beck's loser was the year before. K, good enough explanation for me. 

I also recommend biting off more than you can chew, but i'm often wrong, so plan accordingly on that one. 

Yep, still love Head Over Feet. More harmonica solos, please. 

Then Ironic. Again, this is less a song about irony and more a song about how it feels to live inside cosmic irony. I personally don't see the problem, but i'm not the doctor, so feed the mogwai, what do i care? 

Which brings us to the empty bottle with holes in it. Think literal. No matter how much you put into it, it all leaks out of those holes. 

And then you wake up. That's about it. Stellar album. I guess i could see how you might not like it, but i think it's fantastic. I'm often guilty of dismissing producerfied albums over my beloved DIY aesthetic, but when they're great they're great. Sure, i might tactfully say "could you stop blowing that guy, i'm trying to pay attention to this crappy Nick Cage movie," but that's exactly as ridiculous as imagining she was actually going down on him in a theater; i think that's just a hyperbolic metaphor. It was the 90s, we said a lot of sarcastically bat-shit things for dramatic effect back then. 

All in all, 7 out of 5 stars for Jagged Little Pill; wish i still had a physical copy of it.

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