Morrisette for glory

The CollectionAlanis MorissetteOut 14 November« « « « «Since the glory days of her hugely successful debut, Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette has been splitting opinion. Many only claim to like the fantastically accessible though dictionary defying Ironic, but still her albums sell in the millions. Ten years on from this, Morissette has decided its time to do what all good musicians do, especially in the run-up to Christmas, and release a singles compilation.The Collection boosts Alanis’ “hand picked” selection of songs from the past ten years of her career. Admittedly this has turned out to be an almost complete list of her single releases, but full marks for taking the time to pick out the bad ones.Still, this album will be an essential addition to the CDd collection of any Morissette fan, encompassing a range of classics from the mid and late-90s as well as newer material. Her sassy interpretation of Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love), from the 2004 film De-Lovely about Porter’s life, acts as a nice complement to Morissette’s own rather more hard hitting list songs, as well as her more recent cover of Seal’s Crazy.The Collection begins with the unfailingly familiar opening strains of Thank U, the only note-worthy single success from second album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. The core of the album, however, comes mainly from Jagged Little Pill and her surprisinglygood 2004 album So Called Chaos. The five singles taken from Jagged Little Pill are immediately recognisable to anyone who listened to music in the late 90s. Still, they represent a mixed bag, from You Oughta Know, the ultimate song for the dumped, through to the flowing and simple You Learn.More surprising to those who haven’t followed Morissette’s more recent releases will be the two tracks taken from So Called Chaos. Eight Easy Steps is a racing blast of pop rock simple splendour. Simple in structure it lyrically satirises self-help, while musically capturing the sweeping momentum of new ideas. Meanwhile, Everything shows that Morissette can carry off the slow, quiet, last-track type of rock – but only just. This is in stark contrast to the edgier Uninvited, which bubbles from solitary piano and vocals to splintering string accompaniedrock fullness.However, for all its fine songs this new Morissette anthology contains a few mistakes. It drifts towards the end into strained instrumentals and downright weirdness. Such an exampleis Mercy, which is a cross between a choral hymn and West African gospel, sung in Hungarian. Also, Morissette’s core fans will probably not appreciate the straight joy and fun of The Porter. In a world where she is now increasingly having to compete with musicians like fellow angry Canadian female rocker Avril Lavigne, Morissette must continue to produce the deeply felt personal and moody lyrics which this compilation celebrates.Still, the album as a whole captures the essence of Morissette over the past ten years and neatly shows the development of her angsty rock songs of the 1990s and an ever more eclecticrange in the early 2000s. With her lyrics, always a mix of the profane and the profound, she has become one of the sounds of the post-grunge style. An entertaining, engaging and all-together great eighty minutes listening.ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005