Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette
Well, if am going to give an official review, I might as well make it on the 30 years to the exact day of 9 June 1995 of the album release. Seems only fitting. And I promise it will be more than a "not a fan" reply to my little sister who was enjoying this in her high school days when it was first released.
Why do we more enjoy our older sibling's music but not our younger ones? Probably another diversion topic or playlist thread for another day, but as the oldest, I've not time to even think about that now.
Anyways, why I've never given this the proper listen also got me thinking to what I was instead listening to or enjoying at that time. Plenty of alternative bands yes, and of the female singer lead, it was definitely Garbage led by the amazing Shirley Manson from Edinburgh. In fact, I went to see them in concert along with The Smashing Pumpkins the following year - what a double bill that was! I enjoyed revisiting that album too this past week to remind myself that, yes, I was right in my preference all these years later, which was good to make sure about. ;-)
I think the biggest issue I have on many of the tracks, is that while I like the music, the vocals just weren't and still aren't my thing. So, I'll group things into what I remember and found in my proper listen:
Alternative FM overplayed tracks with grating vocal delivery (but good music)
- "All I Really Want" - the vocals immediately are putting me off at the end of every verse
- "You Oughta Know" - sorry mrbelfry, expecting Flea not to play to his Spinal Tap 11 standard just isn't possible, and I never liked that iteration of RHCP with Dave Navarro either
- "Hand in My Pocket" - I'm brave but I'm chickenshit, indeed...
- "Ironic" - a grating chorus, but I always liked the slower delivered verses, Ironic, huh?
Alternative FM overplayed tracks with a passable vocal delivery (and still good music)
- "You Learn" - not sure why, but this mellower slow down rock song was one I've always liked
- "Head Over Feet" - always enjoyed the chorus to this song, very well delivered
So that's half of the album right there, overplayed already I've (been forced to - in most cases) listened to, and I'm not counting the 2nd swing at the 2nd track. And for the record, "Joey" from
Friends was rumoured to be the possible love interest from this song, so there's our BimboBob tie-in from that genre. Full circle is a good thing when making conversation at a dinner party if this were to be playing.
Of the remaining songs I was not familiar with:
- "Perfect" sounded nice musically, but again, on that chorus, those vocals... yeesh. <shudder>
- "Right Through You" sounded derivative of "You Oughta Know", vocally and musically. Mr. Man probably thinks one track of shaming was enough. Sir isn't so sure.
- "Forgiven" was probably the favourite new track I've heard this past week. Not sure why her voice sounds better on the softer whisper parts, but it does to me. Interesting to hear Morissette had her own issues with a Catholic upbringing manifested in this song, but more on that later for the surprising and perhaps even "Ironic" take on that factoid.
- "Mary Jane" a nice slow down song with a more restrained vocals in more parts that I'm learning just works better for me in appreciating her songs.
- "Not the Doctor" - geez doc, haven't we already covered this one? Jagged little pill, indeed. 1+1 may make 2, but 2 + 2 = 5.
- "Wake Up" starts off similarly in a beat musically to the "You Oughta Know" track and not surprising that it was recorded at the same music session. My guess for Foggy's favourite track, and for the most part delivers in the verses, despite the overdubbed vocals, which is the weakest part of the track. The music on this is top notch.
So where does that leave me on this one? Tough to say, but I will admit to really admiring Alanis Morissette's overall story and journey to make this album, and in taking the chance in moving from Ottawa to LA. I'm a big fan of the PBS program "Finding Your Roots", and her appearance on the 2024 "Born To Sing" episode of season 10 really impressed me. Without going into too much detail, I'll only note that most of the high points were covered in this article below, although her grandfather's cigarette break in missing a boat to Australia for her to be born later was quite a thought. That, and her grandmother and mother keeping their Jewish background a secret until her late 20's was quite the surprise to me that she didn't even know until much later after this too. And I thought she had been through a lot just to make THIS album.
The "Ironic" singer only discovered her mother's family was Jewish in her late 20s.
www.today.com
As an artist and the obstacles she's been through to make this and have it be so successful as it was, I'm very impressed. Musically in places, I liked this too. The vocal delivery was mixed so this album on its own is a 6
/10 for me.