2011年 06月 3日 金曜日 06:32
Alanis Morissette - Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/174s/58918761.png
This was one of the first albums in my collection. I bought it a long time ago, in 1999 I think (12 years ago already!). I listened to this album a lot. And then I mean: really really a lot! I almost know every word of every song. And it is a great album! Although I don't like it as much as her previous album: Jagged Little Pill. This album is less angry and more introspective than its predecessor. It is also more experimental, dark and complicated. Most of the songs don't follow the traditional format of verse-chorus-verse, which makes the album a little bit inaccessible. It is a long album, of 17 tracks, but all of them are of a very high quality. The album doesn't contain any fillers in my opinion, which is very rare for an album of this length. The lyrics are just brilliant: some of them are telling little stories. I never listened to them very closely until now, so I just discovered how great they really are! I think it makes her one of the greatest lyricist in modern rock music. Considering both music and lyrics I even think this album is a better album than Jagged Little Pill. It just don't give me the same nostalgic feelings. There are a lot of songs on this album I love, starting with the most well known song on the album: Thank U. I did not like this song that much at the time it was released as a single, almost 13 years ago. I actually hated the video, in which Alanis is standing naked in the middle of a street. Now I think it is a very beautiful song. The lyrics are pretty simple (comparing to her other lyrics) and expressing her feelings of gratitude after her trip to India. She thanks several influences that helped her finding out certain aspects of herself and helped her to reach some kind of inner peace. It is such a personal song. I really love the way how it explains that 'bad things' (terror, consequence, disillusionment) can lead to a better understanding of yourself and therefore are worth to be grateful for. The next song I really like is That I Would Be Good. The lyrics show certain similarities to the lyrics of Thank U. Both are rather simple and have the first words of the sentence repeated: "how 'bout" and "thank you" in Thank U and "that I would be" in That I Would Be Good. The song is about feelings of insecurity and self-judgment and the wish to be considered "good", regardless of what you do, or look like or what other people think about you. To me personally this is a very familiar subject. I really like it that she is playing the flute on this song, I think it is very original. The last song I want to mention is So Pure. It is an up-tempo song and the lyrics are a bit more abstract and cryptic. She describes how she loves it to see when someone (her husband? boyfriend?) is dancing and how pure this form of expression is. I really agree with this feeling. When you dance, just to express yourself and your feelings with your body it is really pure. I really like the influences of dance music in this song.
The booklet of the album is printed on a different kind of paper, not the glossy paper that is usually used for CD booklets, but with a more rough surface. The front side of the booklet shows a picture of Alanis' mouth together with some lines of the 'Buddhistic commandments". One of the recommendations is to 'refrain from playing music, singing' which I think is funny to put on a CD sleeve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dIJY6G72o8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJbU53q2oIY
Best tracks: Thank U, That I Would Be Good, I Was Hoping, Would Not Come, So Pure, Joining You
Tags: rock, alternative, singer-songwriter