Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette > Reviews > Moan Groan Everybody Hates Me SOB

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	Songs and voice
Disadvantages:	Not many laughs

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

There was a time in the middle of 1995 when Canada's Alanis Morissette was the next big thing, an astonishing caterwaul of pre-menstrual fury, powerful and seething, exuding purest venom with a nice line input downs, mainly of the male sex. She had a lengthy career as a phenomenal child prodigy back home, so it shouldn't have come as any great surprise, yet when Chris Evans played the track You Oughta Know with its near the knuckle lyrics "I want you to know that I'm happy for you, I wish nothing but the best for you both, an older version of me, is she perverted like me? Would you go down on you in a theatre?"

Evans played it for the titillation factor, but quickly slagged her off as a moaning minnie, but the lines certainly struck a chord with the public, as did the bleeped out bit which went "Are you thinking of me when you f*** her?"

Fact is, women don't talk like this in rock music, and the double whammy of a foul mouthed chick and her punk metal image sealed her arrival in a startling manner.

The shock horror headlines would have been enough for a temporary emergence, but as it was Morissette had a bunch of truly wonderful songs in her handbag and she was quite prepared to dance round them at the disco of our souls. It was deep and meaningful and very soulful, but the most overriding impression was the one of total, spiteful rage, rebelling against the everyday laws which mean that women can't enjoy sex or talk like that.

Morissette definitely did the second and her knowing looks hinted that she could also manage the first and we loved her for it.

Sadly (or perhaps happily) for her, the album Jagged Little Pill which showcased her material that year was an enormous platinum smash, but she seemed to fade just as quickly from view as she emerged. She is still around and turning out the sort of stuff she produced back then, but has never recaptured the glorious rush of that first album, a blistering collection of tracks and a spawn of hits which had her on every magazine cover, the queen of the MTV generation

Morissette was aided and abetted in her achievement by Glenn Ballard who produced, helped out on crafting the music and offered guitars, keyboards and programming, and it was very much a joint affair. Morissette provided some harmonica, and the album also featured Dave Navarro (guitar), Flea (bass), Benmont Tench (organ) and Matt Laug (drums) among the faceless studio team.

It was a well realised and powerful album, uniformly good with enough edge to keep even the hardest critics amused for hours. It was hard to like the self indulgent and spiky Morissette, but it was impossible to ignore her talent or her songs. Morissette promised much with this epic, but had burned too brightly too quickly for her own good, and soon became a figure of fun for the same critics who had lauded her so highly.

Still, one great album is certainly better than none, and Jagged Little Pill is undoubtedly a great album.

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All I Really Want
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This was a great, blasting opening number, setting out her stall with standard signature pieces, quirky phrasing and treated voices over huge slabs of hard American rock. It wasn't orthodox, but it was intensely powerful. "Enough about me, let's talk about you for a minute, enough about you, let's talk about life for a while."
All I Really Want is one of the strongest numbers on the album and simply drips with anger, a brilliant opener.

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You Oughta Know
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If All I Really Want was amazing, then You Oughta Know goes a whole heap further, truly one of the great female rock numbers of the last decade. I've already filled you in on the shock aspects of those lyrics, but don't get the impression that there's nothing else here. Bubbling bass undercurrents, manic, spitting, almost disturbed singing, battering, hard as diamond drums and guitar, and an atmosphere you could carve with a knife, this song has it all, together with a neat change in mood and dynamics part the way through which shows the musical control which contrasts so starkly with the paranoid and bitter mood. This song is about sex and lust and betrayal, and reminds you of nothing so much as early Elvis Costello, although with far more authenticity and realism.

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Perfect
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After the harsher and angry fire of the previous two tracks, Perfect is quieter and more restrained in mood, although its subject matter is no less fiery, telling the tale of dominant and demanding parents, perhaps a hint of autobiographical fury at her own child prodigy past. "Be a good girl, you've gotta try a little harder, that simply wasn't good enough to make us proud." She knows her stuff does Morissette, and this is a thoroughly effective song, despite its restraint.

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Hand In My Pocket
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Another brilliant single, Hand In My Pocket sports a quirky, jangling sound over some booming bass and snappy drums, with urgent, breathless vocals, cod-Dylan mouth organ and a wonderful atmosphere. It has none of the bitter fury found elsewhere on Jagged Little Pill, but is nevertheless a great, invigorating number.

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Right Through You
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More spiteful put downs: "You took me for a joke, you took me for a child, you took a long hard look at my ass, and then played golf for a while." Morissette is the Ms Angry and Bitter of Rock and Roll and has certainly built up more than her fair share of resentment. Again the musical mood is relatively restrained and gentle, but the venom oozes from every pore, as she gives all the hangers on and putters down the vicious finger.

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Forgiven
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This time it's religion, "the saviours, the loverless priests" who get the rap. A good rock melody is harnessed to press home the message, while Morissette gets almost histrionic, but there's enough peaks and troughs of mood here to keep the interest - "In the name of the Father, the Skeptic and the Son, I had one more stupid question." All the years of blind obedience and death in the name of religion are given short shrift.

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You Learn
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More insanity and loathing, I'm afraid: "I recommend getting your heart trampled on to anyone, I recommend walking around naked in your living room, swallow it down (what a jagged little pill), it feels so good (swimming in your stomach), wait until the dust settles." However, it's a wonderfully attractive mid-paced number with distinctive vocals, and an addictive beat and melody.

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Head Over Feet
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This is a strange oddity here - a song with words which are quite (whisper it) HAPPY: "You're the best listener that I've ever met, you're my best friend, best friend with benefits, what took me so long. I've never felt this healthy before, I've never wanted something rational, I am aware now." It's a thoroughly optimistic, honest to goodness love song, and quite delightful. If only Morissette could have cut little gems like this in with the anger she'd have been so much stronger a muse. The music and playing are gentler than a lot of the other stuff, but there's still enough power to keep you enthralled.

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Mary Jane
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Jingle jangle acoustic sets an almost Mamas and Papas style opening theme, and the whole piece has that distinctly timeless 60s West Coast feel for the most part, with Morissette showing what a great singer she can be if she lets go of all the rage and concentrates on it. The voice is powerful and moving, cutting straight to the quick, although this isn't one of the better songs here, for all its gentle pleasures.

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Ironic
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This number explores the ironies of life - "A traffic jam when you're already late, a no smoking sign on your cigarette break, it's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife, it's meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife." The mood is wistful and reflective, again relying on acoustic guitar for its gentler parts, while the hard rock of the chorus always drags you screaming away from the peace. Still, it's a nicely staged piece which you'd find hard to dislike.

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Not The Doctor
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A clever, clipped guitar riff punctuates the whole of this song, urging us on over restrained drums and neat bass. I love this song, although it's not as immediate as some of the other stuff here.

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Wake Up
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A wonderfully understated opening ushers in another quite outstanding track with some more great vocals and an almost distant, unsettling faraway mood.

Then the album closes with an ominous, threatening version of You Oughta Know which wends its way over an astonishing five minutes of sheer tension and pain, before the ubiquitous mystery track at the end, delivered in a breathless a capella, unadorned and raw, a suitable end indeed to a blistering album from a wonderful talent.