Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

I think I am going insane. I am listening to this damned cd again, and it is torturing me. Oh the pain, the horror. And to think, I was actually looking forward to this album. Lucky for me I only borrowed it, had I bought it I would have either burned it or given it away. What's that? You would have taken it off my hands for me? Oh, I couldn't inflict that kind of torture upon you, my dear reader. I love you so, and to bestow the gift of Alanis upon you would be one of the vilest punishments I can fathom.

Alanis is back, as I am sure you have figured out by now. After Jagged Little Pill broke records for the most copies of a debut album ever sold, she has mighty big expectations to live up to. Sadly, she totally misses the mark.

The best track on the new disc is the first single, "Thank U." This is a definite. I like the trippy feel to it, and her voice didn't get on my nerves too much. No, it is not one of my favorite songs, but on this album I will have to settle. "Baba" is a close second, with some great guitar crunch - a good rock tune. Alanis still sounds pissed off, and it fits this track well. The music on most of the other tracks is more impressive than that of the first album, but this is a small part.

Other than this I don't have anything else uplifting to say. Alanis complains about the same old things. Oh no, my man is causing me problems. Let me bitch about it. Come on, this is getting very old. We had a whole album about this already. She tries the Madonna approach on "So Pure" by adding a techno beat and making a (vain) attempt at a dance track. She stretches out her syllables waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy too long, especially in the closing track "Your Congratulations." (If it were not for Alanis, this track would be pretty good, I like the quiet violin / piano duet for music). As I sit here listening to "Your Congratualations" I cringe at the sound of her voice. The lyrics are much more obscure in meaning, half the time I have no clue what she is talking about, while the other half I am thinking how much I really don't care about what she is saying.

This album is almost 72 minutes long. If it were 4:20 it would be great. That is the length of Thank U. I know it would not make much of an album, but at least you wouldn't have to press the skip button until you get to track seven. Nov-1998