What do you do if you made one good album ten years ago and then made
another four since that have been flops. Simple: make the first one again.
I'm taking a somewhat cynical approach just to reassure that I was cynical
as most would be at the news that Alanis Morisette, singer of teen-angst
anthems of the mid '90s, was re-releasing her first album, the smash hit
Jagged Little Pill. Of course, its hard, near impossible, to make a second
album that was up to the calibre of this first effort, particularly when
you're given such a short amount of time to do so. Her next three albums,
though, were equally bad and, to be honest, there is barely one album's
worth of music on those subsequent four.

So, on the tenth anniversary of her first album she released, without any
singles to the best of my knowledge, a reworking of her first, and clearly,
best album to date. Now for a start, the title is a lie; its not an acoustic
album because there is use of a harmonica and percussion among other things,
but certainly the album is unplugged which equates to almost the same thing
- what can I say, I'm a pedant. Nothing has changed, the order of the songs,
amount of them and lyrics are exactly the same - well apart from one minor
change on the ironically titled ironic: a rather amusing lyric, which I
always thought would have sounded funnier but I doubt I could claim for
writing credits now, has been changed from "meeting the man of my dreams,
and meeting his beautiful wife" has been changed to "beautiful husband."
Other than that, the album is, on paper, exactly the same.

The album, in spite of this, is completely different aurally. Each song has
been arranged noticably differently, giving them all the sense that they
have been masterfully covered in a sense - though not so differently
arranged as, say, Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails song, Hurt. The
overwhelming power and emotion of the original album (from which this is
impossible not to compare, so bare with me) is not here, but then again it
is unplugged which gives it an underwhelming, but nevertheless passionate,
sound that touches the soul in a completely different way. If anything, this
album is a testament to how good the original album was; when I heard Pink
Floyd's classic album, Dark Side, was being covered as a reggae version I
wasn't too nervous about the results because I knew the music was versatile.
With Morisette I was not so sure, but I now know that I was wrong. Every
song works without any flaws in this more mellow, slower paced version that
gives more focus on the voice - infact as I write this I'm hearing her whale
out a note on Perfect that lasts a good five-ten seconds more than it did on
the original, it just makes it hit me even more inside.

All the good stuff said about the album though - the passionate vocals, the
way that its a song you love but its the added bonus of being new, the more
relaxed feel, the more intimate feel of the song, as if its being played
live in a smokey jazz club - I feel I must have a rant about that one lovely
track; Ironic. Why you may ask? Because the only ironic thing about that
song is that its called ironic and there's not a damn piece of irony on
there. Then again, what do you expect from North Americans? I'm sure any N.
Americans on HooToo are educated enough to know what irony is, but it seems
the rest of your nations are severely lacking - there is even an article on
H2G2 about irony that gets it wrong. I forever despair.

To sum up, this album is a good buy but possibly pointless if you don't own
the original. As much as I'd salivate over this album with tantalisation
(hmmm, not such a lovely picture as it was in my head) it is only because I
am a huge fan of the first effort, I'd propone it as being in the top ten
albums of the '90-'00 decade. So if you did like the first album then I'd
definitely recommend it, if you didn't like it then surely you wouldn't be
contemplating buying this one now would you? If you haven't even heard the
original, maybe get this one but its not quite how it was meant to be. Its
like appreciating live songs, to truly appreciate them you have to have
heard the studio version to understand the nuances. Also there are moments
where the songs don't quite translate over properly, but if you know and
like the original then you don't mind because you know it works there, and
this is just a gallant effort. Maybe this'll make me listen to JLP for
another ten years.

Tony2Times

01.09.05 Front Page

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