Customer Reviews

Alanis Unplugged

5 star:		(133)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Alanis has out together a nice Unplugged CD. It's a great recording - has the real open ambience of a live performance.

Some thoughts on the tracks:
1. You Learn -A nice version, but not significantly different from the studio version.
2. Joining You - Beautiful vocal performance.
3. No Pressure Over Cappuccino - An interesting new song.
4. That I Would Be Good - GREAT song, very heartfelt. This song pulls you in and doesn't let go.
5. Head Over Feet - A nice version, but again, not significantly different from the studio version. I still think this song has one of the funniest harmonica parts ever.
6. Princes Familiar A song left off of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. I LOVE this song. Possibly my favorite song on this album.
7. I Was Hoping -Great performance.
8. Ironic A nice version, but again, not significantly different from the studio version
9. These R The Thoughts A song left off of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie . Alanis thoughts while alone. Haunting.
10. King Of Pain - A nice version, but Alanis doesn't really make the song her own,. I was hoping for more out of this one.
11. You Oughta Know A nice version, but again, not significantly different from the studio version
12. Uninvited - Heartbreaking. Beatuful.

I love No Pressure Over Cappucino after her rousing performance on Alanis Unplugged. You Learn, Head Over Feet, Uninvited and Ironic are excellent live. The only thing that irks me is that sometimes her voice doesn't hit the notes we hear on the album versions. Besides that, it's a great CD.

I started my Brazilian Valentine's day, 6/12/2000, by walking on my 50,000 inhabitants city streets all by myself. So I went to a CD store about 3 kilometers from my house and saw that red album with strange words, with a white-skin colour wrote on the singer's face. So I remembered her form all his success in 1995-1996 here in Brazil. All her videos on MTV were exaustively played here, in Brazil. Her studio version to That I Would Be Good was played more than 3 times in a morning on our main radio station. I recognized her face, her single and then other musics as the so-commented You Oughta Know. I bought that CD intuitively, without knowing how good it could be. So I brought it home, and I didn't have a cd player. My sister made me lend it to her and then lended it to another one, a friend of her. Twenty months later I could get it finally. So I started to listen to it as it was the world's only cd. Everytime. I got alanis.com and so all its lyrics, translated them into Portuguese, sent it to relatives and friends. Alanis' poetry, voice and mainly the marvelous unplugged songs (as Joining You, No Pressure Over Cappuccino and Uninvited) made me stay wondered by that magnificent kind of art. Alanis' unplugged was my first real contact with her opus. I think unplluged version of Joining You is the world's best song. I think this album is accessible to everyone, because heavy rock songs are translated into acoustic ballads, as the ones we would like to listen to when we are with our girl or boyfriend. Alanis' unplugged has been one of the most ones: perfect songs, perfect lyrics, philosophy, music, formal perfection in arrengements, feminism, percussion, violoncello and violins (...) and relationships turned into art. A perfect piece of art. Joining You (the second track) let its grunge form to become a perfect ballad song. The problems Ms. Alanis Morissette writes in that song are perfectly showed in unplugged version. She sings with extreme pain. When we listen to the studio version of the music, we think she is talking about someting she read on the newspaper. When we listen to her singing the unplugged version, we can experience the problem by ourselves. I can say it for every one of that tracks, but I stayed much time listening to the strange and exquisite Uninvited, one of the best ones, strong, fierce. Listen everyone to Princes Familiar, strange and full of good surprises, like Chinese food. You have to listen to to experience it. Listen accurately to Alanis' voice, try to realize her tessiture and her lyric singer's performance in No Pressure Over Capuccino, or the reshaping form of her big sucess, Ironic. You have to pay attention to her voice, it sounds like pain, happiness or funny things. She says that she spilled water over her clothes, she thanks her fans, and mainly she interacts with all her fans. More than a singer, Alanis is a kind of philosopher, not by trying to make new laws or explain things, but she analyses everything and shows us a own and important world. Thanks for reading.
Enjoy it so much!!!!!!!!!

"Alanis Unplugged" is one of the best of these stripped down live albums that have become more common in the last couple of decades. I would probably have to go back to the one by 10,000 Maniacs for the last time I thought an artist came off better live and unplugged than they did in the studio. In large measure that has to do with Morissette reigning in her vocal affectations while singing most of these songs, which benefit from being stripped down so that the personal lyrics are emphasized more. With Morissette it is always about cryptic lyrics and moody melodies, but rally being able to hear the words and the way she vocalizes these songs in a more intimate situation makes them more approachable (e.g., "That I Would Be Good"). These songs are song without her voice being piercing or jarring, and there may well be those who find it too much of a change from what they first came to like about her music, but I would not be one of those people.

You also have to take the song choices into consideration of this album as well since Morissette only does four songs from her hit album "Jagged Little Pill," devoting more time to performing songs from to her less successful "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" album. There is only one cover song in the mix, but it is Sting's "King of Pain," which fits nicely into the overall tapestry of Morissette's songwriting, and several previously unreleased tracks such as "No Pressure Over Cappucinio" (a rare occasion for Morisette to let her voice soar into the higher octaves) and "Princess Familiar." I like the range of these songs. Both "Head Over Feet" and "Ironic" strike me as more playful and "I Was Hoping" more moody and mystical. "You Oughta Know" is the one song that really does not fit for me because the production values seem at odds with the rest of the album, but it does set up a strong finish with a stark version of "Uninvited," so that is a minor caveat. "Alanis Unplugged" has simply become the Alanis Morisette album that I listen to the most because I think it is her best one, even if that opinion has me swimming against the tide.

Unplugged is Alanis at her best. The more I listened to it the more I liked it. I was used to some of the songs sounding different from the studio recordings of them, but I quickly grew to love how she arranged and sung them on this album much more.
One exception is "You oughta know", the original version is filled with more energy and raw emotion.

I find Alanis' lyrics to be humorous, thought inspiring, and the perfect combination to her individual songs. This cd was not one to disapoint. "No Pressure Over Cappucino" is brilliant and a new favorite of mine. I already own Junkie and Jagged Little Pill, so most songs were very familiar, but the slower and more soothing versions were well received. "King of Pain" is well done for a remake. It is a hard song to put a new spin on, but Alanis does it well. The cd was absolutely beautiful.

As Alanis was contemplating an Unplugged session she was thinking that 'You Learn' so much in life that in 'Joining You' I feel 'No Pressure Over Cappuccino' in this setting and 'That I Would Be Good' enough that you might end up 'Head Over Feet' by the end of this lovely display and maybe 'Princes Familiar' might show up, at least 'I Was Hoping' she would but it would be 'Ironic' if she didn't but 'These R The Thoughts' of the 'King of Pain' as 'You Oughta Know' but then again I don't wish her to feel 'Uninvited' to this special event!

I was there when MTV began and when it shortly thereafter lost its way and turned into an overly commercialized and under utilized medium for "Music" television, I gave up on it. Since that departure, the only thing that has rarely drawn my attention back to MTV is when one of my favorite groups or singers does an "Unplugged" show, such as this exceptional recording.

Alanis Morissette MTV Unplugged is a beautiful rendition of some of her best songs minus the "electric" connection and it serves delightfully in bringing out even more, that which makes her music so phenomenal, her exquisite voice and her astonishing lyrics. Lyrically, much of Alanis' music is biting and there are those that may find those lyrics somewhat difficult to stomach; I entreat you to listen again because if you give it a chance, you may find that you've been missing something special. She brings such a depth of emotions to her lyrics, followed up by an equally well thought out melody, that one cannot help but listen to and feel the emotions she's trying to convey.

Simply put, this is another brilliant CD by Alanis Morissette and well worth the price! I highly recommend this and any other CD by Alanis Morissette! {ssintrepid}

I just downloaded this off Itunes (hey, it's cheaper and no shipping). The tracks I've listened to are just phenomenal -- the quality of the acoustics is really high and audience noise is at a minimum (which is why some live discs just bother me -- if I can't even hear the song because of 1000s of screaming fans, why bother?). The cover of 'king of pain' is worth the price of admission alone. And 'uninvited' sounds better than ever - it remains, for me, her best song. Needless to say, Alanis's voice is as emotion-drenched as ever and she acquits herself well in a live setting.

No THANK YOU PERU (err, hon, it's Brazil) debacles.

If you like her, you won't be disappointed. If she's not your favorite, this might suprise you. Try it.

First of all, I might say that this album is surely the best made of Alanis Morissette. She performs many songs fron the success "Jagged Little Pill" and many new songs. She proves how many times better she is comparing to another singers, because if you're a singer, you gotta sing well. Have you read that? This goes for Ricky Martin, Britney, Justin, Enrique Iglesias, and all that rubish that fills our radios everyday.
So, this CD is 100% recommendable, "Uninvited" is maybe the best of her performs, also Ironic, You Learn, You Oughta Know and a very nice cover from Sting: "King of Pain".
I would've included "Hand in my pocket" but nothing is perfect.

alanis can REALLY REALLY sing. u can't argue with that after u listen to this album. my mom thought alanis as a "hanus b*tch" (cuz of jagged little pill) lol. but when i bought this cd, (expecting it would be hard rock and screaming) my mom even liked it! haha. it's wonderful! sure she doesnt scream and sound angry and angsty. but MAN can she sing! let alone play guitar, harmonica, and the flute! she's very talented. and i read someone saying "No Pressure..." is meaningless....uh hullo? where in this world are u?? this song is my FAVORITE song. and it's QUITE sad...it talks about her brother, who i'm expecting is mentally ill, and this song just talks about how she loves him and how she is with him, and it makes me cry cuz its so good....it reminds me of my sister. but anyways. this cd is AWESOME. even for u non alanis fans (whats wrong with u!) this cd is a completely different experience.