Artist: Alanis Morissette
Album Title: Jagged Little Pill: Acoustic
Label: Warner
Bones:
Summary: Irocic? No just silly.
Reviewed By: 'Disco' Stu McPhee

Back in the winter of 1996 I was in love with a girl. Well I was only 15 at the time so it was more like a strong crush. When her friends told me I was invited to her birthday party (which by that stage of our teenage years was a sit down dinner affair and not fairy bread and pass the parcel) I stressed for days thinking what sort of a present I could get her.

After completing a rigorous 'cloak and dagger' investigation, I learned that she was a big fan of Alanis Morissette. "Jagged Little Pill" had already been out for a year by now but she didn't own a copy. I also had to find a record store that still sold cassettes, as she didn't have a CD player.

Bless Her.

A trip to Target later and I had what I thought was the most thoughtful gift ever. It is only in hindsight that I realise that I tried to charm my way into a girl's heart by giving her one of the most 'man hating' records of the 90s. Well I was only 15 at the time...

As much as this embarrassing, yet endearing tale shows I was a hopeless romantic in my teens (many of my friends will attest to the fact that nothing has changed) it is also an important reminder of how big an album like "Jagged Little Pill" was in the mid 90s.

It is therefore with heavy heart that I report on this travesty. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of this landmark album, instead of re-issuing it with unreleased songs or a documentary DVD, Alanis has instead decided to re-do the entire album acoustically.

Why you may ask? I wouldn't have the foggiest to tell you the truth but the answer may lie in the fact that it was released exclusively through Starbucks before anywhere else. The sound reeks of a 31 year old woman who has been there, done that and is now happy to relate her tales of young womanhood to an audience while on a pokey stage in a coffeehouse somewhere in a town near you.

In reality though it is the dumbest of dumb ideas for an album that rightly deserves better than this. I would've even settled for a dodgy tribute album accompanied by a testimonial from Avril Lavigne in the liner notes and that is really saying something.

I wonder if they have released this version on cassette as well?