Alanis Morissette always makes decent albums. "Flavors Of Entanglement", her 7th studio album (excluding the acoustic "Jagged Little Pill") continues to demonstrate her growth and maturity.She selected Guy Sigsworth (Seal, Bjork, Imogean Heap, Madonna, Frou Frou) to produce which was a decent choice. He makes "Flavors" more of an electronica album with guitar washes and drum loops. The bottom line is that Alanis can sing around anything. Her writing is still as strong as it was when she did "Jagged Little Pill".As far as anger and angst, I don't expect that from her, and that's better left for teenagers anyway. Alanis is 34 now, close to my age, and if and when you make it to this age, the anger usually has subsided. However, the fact that she continues to write about failed relationships is rather concerning at this point. How many more failures will she write about before figuring out what the problem is.Thankfully, most of the songs have a more despairing, rather than angry, approach. Truly, what can you do when things fall apart? Mourn the loss and move on. That's what Morissette does here very well.As with all Morissette albums, "Flavors" has some songs that are not as good as the others. The songs I liked (everyone has their opinion) are the first single "Underneath", "Not As We", "In Praise Of The Vulnerable Man", "Torch", "Giggling Again For No Reason" and "Incomplete". The other five tracks are okay, with "Versions Of Violence" maybe rising above the other four.I would not say this is her best work, nor would I say it is her worst. It just scrapes by being average to get four stars from me. It would be really interesting to see what she would create if she had a very happy relationship. It could be her come back. I say that because, with each successive release, she has not come close to the success of "Jagged Little Pill" in terms of sales and popularity. In fact, it's almost like Morissette has been ignored or sidelined by the music business. It's a shame because she's an obvious vocal and artistic talent that's now underutilized.
|