Militant said:

I do agree that it was the obvious single, but there were several songs that would have made good singles.

Her voice doesn't fit into the landscape of pop music right now, but the production on her latest album did indeed change the tone of the music and made her sound more 'current'.


Overall, I like her ability to deliver a lyric appropriately. I think a lot of times when you listen to a pop singer it's obvious they're just trying to hit the right notes or to finish the song. With Alanis, you can tell she's appropriately interpreting and conveying the lyric... when she says "This shit's driving me crazy", you feel she actually means it.




I'm in shock she's without a record deal. Jagged Little Pill changed the landscape of female recording acts during the 90's. It was huge.

I think she has some really good songs, but she's not the greatest since sliced bread. This thread made me put some of her stuff on: You Learn, Uninvited and Hands Clean. Thank You is also a great song, and of course the 'jagged' singles.

What was strange to me about Flavors of Entanglement was that the more expensive, deluxe, double disc version had bonus songs on the second disc that were at least as good as, if not better than some of the songs on the main album.

Tracks like "Madness" and "Orchid", and "On The Tequila" which could have been a hit, in a cheesy kinda way.

A lot of missed opportunities with that album. As I said before....it was my favorite album of 2008, bar none.

Militant said:

Yeah, when I heard the bonus CD (or second CD on the deluxe version) I was mildly surprised to see that the tracks were as good as the main CD.

If this album followed Jagged Little Pill, it could have been released as a double album.



Hopefully she doesn't just throw her hands up and retire.

Imago said:

Damn, I don't know whether to be pissed or pleased to hear this. I remember hearing "These Are The Thoughts" ten years ago and being shocked that such a great song was only a b-side, so I guess it makes sense she's relegated some other great songs to obscurity too. But really, half of the songs on FOE weren't all that good so it's a shame to hear that she may have had some other great songs that went to waste.

Anyway, Alanis is a bad bitch! She combines a RARE level of self awareness with an even RARER level of candor. And to top it off she writes great melodies too. It puts her in a category all her own. Her greatness has turned into a closely guarded secret over the years though. Mostly due to the abundance of weak singles she's released this decade.

ernestsewell said:

True. I can take Alanis in small doses, then it's like, enough already! Same with Fiona Apple.

What do you think of the songs from her first two albums that were just released in Canada? Songs like Never Too Hot, The Real World, An Emotion Away were really good.

i like some of her post jagged little pills stuff.i think shes still hanging in there.

http://www.imeem.com/peop...a-capella/

Like Tori to Kate, Alanis is the watered down version of:

I only know her famous stuff, and whilst those are great pop songs and still sound great today, is it coincidence she fell off the pop charts after her writing partner, the talented Glen Ballard (big fan of him), stopped working with her?...

...Not saying her following albums suffered because he wasn't there, but Ballard deserves props at least for all her hit singles surely?

thesexofit said:

Ballard didn't co-write "Uninvited," which was huge, or "Hands Clean," her biggest hit this decade.

AlexdeParis said:

Oh come on LOL. You know what Iam saying, your just getting pedantic. I never heard "univited", but fair enough if it was a big hit, but "Hands clean" wasn't huge or even a big hit. Iam just saying is it coincidence? Personally I couldn't care less if her singles/albums since leaving Ballard havn't charted aswell, as her albums could be better than ever for all I know, but I just find it a little telling that as soon as she stopped working with him, her hits dried up?

This isn't a dig at Alanis, but credit where credit is due to Ballard.

thesexofit said:

No, pedantic would be pointing out the fact that you confused "your" with "you're." I was merely stating that Ballard co-wrote all of her hits except those two. BTW, I never said "Hands Clean" was huge or a big hit, just her biggest hit of this decade. It just missed the top 20 in the US, but it was more successful worldwide.

Uninvited




But they didn't. Jagged Little Pill managed to catch lightning in a bottle. It was so huge that it would be unrealistic to expect her to duplicate its success. She has had one big hit since then (and one could certainly argue that "Uninvited" is her finest artistic moment), but even the songs Ballard co-wrote since then (from SFIJ) haven't been huge commercially.

She actually looks pretty right there. I have never understood why she went from looking pretty, to looking like stringy haired trailer park trash. Damn, the 90s were horrible.

So-Called Chaos is a good album, IMO.

Militant said:

That happens all the time! Sometimes the bonus stuff is excellent and artists just put the wrong stuff on the album!

I think Alanis days of topping the charts with singles are over unless she gets a another really catchy one out there but with the singles charts still being youth focused, it's very unlikely. She might do better with albums but then again, who is doing well with albums?

VinnyM27 said:

She isnt relevant to todays audience that listens to the radio nor the radio djs or video stations for the most part. She is considered, sorry to say, OLD, just like Jewel is considered OLD and both still draw crowds, do music, and both have no deals, i mean dont we preach about how its better NOT to be on a label, whats it going to be?? Why would anyone want to be at a label where the executive says "gee i dont know what to do with the new Qtip, what angle should we go with", i mean right there i would quit.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...T1TVSTkAXg

thesexofit said:

You're barking up the wrong tree there, dude. Alanis's career started nosediving with her second adult album (Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie) which was produced by Glen Ballard. It sold just a fraction of what JLP sold and in truth Glen did a shit job on many of the key tracks. Great songs like "I Was Hoping", "That I Would Be Good" and "Joining You" were sabotaged on the album by his misguided arrangements. "Joining You" had to be completely remixed for the single version and the other two tracks were massively improved on the Unplugged album which he played no role in.

I'd say Alanis's writing did get a little sloppy in the 00s but the signs of that were already there on half of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. That had nothing to do with Greg since he played NO ROLE in writing Alanis's lyrics or melodies. His role was to create an environment in which she could feel free to let out whatever she was feeling without fear. The reason they stopped working was because Alanis's writing started to slip and he made the mistake of telling her. Her response was to start producing herself (big mistake).

However, her latest album featured some of her best ever material and probably the best production job she's ever had, courtesy of Guy Sigsworth. But once the moment has passed it's very difficult to make people notice even the best work because they're just not looking at you anymore.

alphastreet said:

Rubbish. Alanis hadn't found herself. She was just a kid who knew nothing about life and wanted to be famous. Once she experienced real pain it forced her to grow up, re-evaluate, and her true self was revealed. Intelligent, honest, and with HER OWN value system, not SOCIETY'S value system.

midnightmover said:

She wanted to be another janet jackson and had no identity, but I thought the song and video for real world was like the crossroads between the old alanis and current alanis.

Well, if you've seen her in concert lately, you know why.

Most depressing songs EVER.

I went to the "Jagged Little Pill" unplugged show a few years back - wow. I knew those were bitter songs but in a rock style, they worked. But JEEZ, I hadn't paid attention to the words.

And the stuff since then?

Let me just say that poor girl has been fucked over by her mother and just about every man she has ever met.

FWIW, my favorite song from Jagged Little Pill is actually the happy one:

subsequent to JLP, I only remember some video where she was prancing around naked and I didn't thing much of the song. So, yep, she done.

elmer said:

That song was called "Thank U" and it was great.

maplesyrupnjam said:

Yes, the irony of "ironic" err not being "ironic" LOL.

AlexdeParis said:[quote]

thesexofit said:

OK fair enough. But having a go at my grammar was abit uncalled for surely LOL?

midnightmover said:

Kind of funny he told her her writing was slipping LOL. I sort of assume he does the bulk of the melody on any song he works on as I have sorta figured out on other tracks I have with him on that someone else often does the lyrics. So I assumed this is the case with Alanis? Anyway....

thesexofit said:

Not with Alanis, no. He came up with the grooves, chords, etc. She did melodies and lyrics. They were both lucky to find each other, but to paraphrase a lesser songwriter... "He was the luckiest by far".