Alanis Morissette - Such Pretty Forks In The Road

This is a prestige year for Alanis - the musical is doing well (and has me personally excited), new album AND 25th anniversary of an album that has proved an enduring cultural MOMENT. Her team are sensibly telling her capitalise on the latter. Colleagues at work told me today they’re excited for the tour and love the new song. It’s working.

 

Every Alanis tour is a fucking Jagged Little Pill anniversary tour.

Hopefully she'll pull out some of the demos this time around. 'King Of Intimidation' is right there.

 

Lots of artists are going for the 25th Anniversary thing, it’s actually more common than a 20th anniversary.

 

We as stans feel that, but this will get the lapsed GP fans back on board. It would have been nice for her to acknowledge at least Junkie and Rug with as much love but to the GP it doesn’t matter. They’ll bop to Thank U and Hands Clean and that’ll be that.

I adored the Flavors tour (only time I’ve seen her) for what felt like a great blend of track on the set list. Criminally she only added The Couch the leg after mine!

 

New songs sounds good to me. Vocally, she sounds different?

I'm not loving these 5-6 month waits for albums... Can't we go back to having a single released with an album out a few weeks (or at least just a month) later...?

 

Revisiting Under Rug Swept today.

"I can feel so unsexy for someone so beautiful,
So unloved for someone so fine,
I can feel so boring for someone so interesting,
So ignorant for someone of sound mind"

You have to hand it to her. No other songwriter on the planet would dare.

 

It’s changed for the musical dddd but honestly she always sold it in the original version. It’s a bit of a self-love anthem in the face of being or feeling belittled so while it touches on awkward I come around to the sentiment!

 

I mean...would it be a dumb move of her to make her anniversary editions of Jagged Little Pill come with some of her other hits as a bonus second disc to at least expose fans who switched off after Thank You and Uninvited to some of her other great songs that may even broaden her live appeal and expose some of her treasures?
A cute second disc with

1. Thank You
2. That I Would Be Good
3. So Pure
4. Unsent
5. Joining You
6. Uninvited
7. No Pressure Over Cappuccino
8. 21 Things I Want In A Lover
9. Hands Clean
10. So Unsexy
11. Precious Illusions
12. Eight Easy Steps
13. Excuses
14. So Called Chaos
15. Everything
16. Underneath
17. Torch
18. Giggling Again For No Reason
19. Guardian
20. Receive
21. Havoc

Might make Julie from 1996 see there's more than black flies in her chardonnay.

 

Videos from her Apollo performance:

 

I know I was up there defending the amount of time she gives JLP... but imagine a Junkie/Rug intimate gig. I would die.

Not strictly relevant but I just remembered this existed. I love this Acoustic gig. Some rare songs given new lease of life freed from some of the album production choices - and not a JLP song in sight!

 

She also performed the two new songs from the musical at The Apollo show.

"Smiling"

"Predator"

We'll see how these end up in studio form, but the songs themselves are two of her best in a while to my ears? I prefer both to "Reasons I Drink," and I love the sparseness. I hope they don't overproduce either of them. "Smiling" specifically is really stunning. Melodically, it reminds me of a cross between "Still" and something from the Under Rug Swept era, maybe even the Feast on Scraps songs.

 

Are there any So Called Chaos lovers out there? I was giving it a spin today and always find that I love it much more than I think.

 

I have a soft spot for it. There is something to be said about Alanis' pop writing with pop gloss production from John Shanks. I think the songs would be better without certain elements, but we also have the Vancouver Sessions versions for more nuanced, understated takes. Still, even as a I look at the tracklist, there aren't any major duds. I used to hate "Out Is Through" for its banality, but I actually love listening to it now.

"Eight Easy Steps" and "Spineless" are also two of my favorites. The latter is such an underrated highlight and one of the songs I wish she'd include in her sets.

Also, the recycled outro from "No Pressure Over Cappuccino" used in "Excuses" is also a moment. That kind of callback makes me horny.

 

I see it more as Under Rig Swept part 2. But not as good but still just as fun.

 

I really like So Called Chaos but then again I enjoyed Havoc too. I must admit though I tend to listen to the Vancouver Sessions more than the album itself.

I don’t like the new single though.

 

So Called Chaos is one of my favorite Alanis albums.

 

Thanks for sharing - this song skewered me a couple years ago when I re-discovered it. Still hits just as hard. It's so underrated.

Pretty sure Joining You has come close to saving my life a few times when my mind was in the deepest of funks.

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie in particular really nails down a lot of somewhat vague, hard-to-explain moods & crisis moments. That it operates in shades of gray & still manages to introduce refreshing, life-affirming perspectives is what makes it such a brilliant album to me.

 

So Called Chaos is full of bawpsss. It's easily in my Alanis top3. At #3.

 

My coworker came in today raving about the Jagged Little Pill play. She said it was one of the best she has ever seen (and she is big into shows). I wonder if it will get an overall strong reception.

Same behind Under Rug/Supposed Former.

 

For me behind Flavors/Junkie. The perfect album for the car to be honest.