In 1999 when Alanis Morissette decided to perform unplugged, many critics dubbed her as inexperienced but she went on to prove them wrong, and how. At that time Alanis had released only two albums, and they had done reasonably well although her last album wasn’t as successful as her first. Unlike many others like Rod Stewart, she did not have the luxury of song selection. So this album contains the best songs from her first two albums, a cover, and a couple of new songs.
Morissette’s voice and lyrical acumen is backed up with a twelve-piece band that includes a six-piece string section. She opens with the inspirational ’’You Learn’’ and from then on it just gets better. My personal favourite on the album is ’’Joining You’’ and ’’Princess Familiar’’. The album contains the immensely popular ’’Ironic’’ and ’’You Ougtha Know’’ as well as a cover of Sting’s ’’King of Pain’’. The new songs like ’’No Pressure Over Cappucino’’ are smooth as well. She plays most of her numbers from the ’’Jagged Little Pill’’ album, and a couple of popular ones from ’’Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie’’.
The only drawback is that the unplugged rendition of the songs is basically acoustic version of the studio recording. I feel the best part of a good unplugged performance is when the artiste gives a unplugged twist to their singles, like Eric Clapton or Lenny Kravitz (you’ll never recognise ’’Are you gonna go my way’’, unless you pay attention to the lyrics). I am sure in time Ms. Morissette will dish out a better unplugged performance, as this was more of an acoustic sitting although a very good one at that.
All said and done, Alanis Morissette is enormously talented and she is one of the best female vocalists on the music scene right now. This album is a must for all Alanis Morissette fans, as the new songs are not available on any other album.