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A former child television and pop star with two out-of-print releases in her native Canada, 19-year-old Alanis Morissette established herself as a very dif-ferent sort of star with "You Oughta Know," Jagged Little Pill's first single. Backed by Flea and Dave Navarro, Morissette's wail of a woman scorned blends obsession, rage, blunt sexuality, and raw pain into a mob hit of a pop song. It may be the best kiss-off song since "Positively 4th Street." Elsewhere on Pill, Morissette's confessional lyrics are as gawky, awkward, and self-important as their subject, adolescence. "You Oughta Know" is Jagged Little Pill's arresting standout, but the entire album -- from "Ironic," "You Learn," to "Hand in My Pocket" has aged extremely well.
Three years later, Morissette and Ballard teamed up again to create Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Although just as lyrically dense as its predecessor, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie suffers from relative indirectness. In songs like "Front Row," Morissette offers paragraphs of lyrics filled with nonsense such as "I'd like you to be schooled and in awe as though you were kissed by God full on the lips." The single "Thank U" and hard rocker "Baba" allow rare moments of Morissette's emotional punch to shine though her lyrical spew.
Besides marking her first tiny step away from Ballard, MTV Unplugged is a premature live disc with little to recommend it. In addition to songs from her first two releases, Morissette pads the set with three new songs and a pointless cover of the Police's "King of Pain." Under Rug Swept represents Morissette finally taking full control of her muse by writing and producing the entire disc. Less dense than the sonic tapestries she created with Ballard, Under Rug Swept nonetheless finds Morissette with more than enough musical intelligence -- from thick guitars and hip-hop beats to Middle Eastern flourishes -- to go it alone, though her lyrics still read like binge entries in a therapy diary. On "Hands Clean," even her posse turns out to contain an "inner posse." But no matter how ridiculous her lyrics may seem, Morissette's increasingly expressive singing is strengthened by her genuine belief in each and every word. As prolific as she is verbose, she also released Feast on Scraps, containing a DVD of a performance from the Under Rug Swept tour and an outtakes audio disc.
Narcissism has always been the major drawback of Morissette's music, and it is one that she has, at her best, struggled against. On the dreadful So-Called Chaos, she seems to have given up. On "This Grudge" she goes back to the relationship that has haunted all her adult work, although this time even she realizes that it's "this grudge that's grown old." Still, she dutifully adds the detritus up to "14 years 30 minutes 15 seconds I've held this grudge/11 songs 4 full journals, thoughts of punishment I've expended." Yet, at the end of the song Morissette is still no closer to moving on. And so, stuck in a rut, So-Called Chaos becomes the sound of Morissette spinning her wheels by revisiting her old themes of verbose insecurity, self-discovery, and empowerment while allowing her music to stagnate under a pop sheen that -- like a nervous tick -- recycles the techno touches and Middle Eastern flourishes of earlier efforts but this time weds them to the weakest songwriting of her career. (RICHARD ABOWITZ)
From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |
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