Customer Reviews

Collection (W/Dvd)

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The career of Alanis Morissette has been long and winding, despite the fact that the average music fan cannot see past her 1995 breakthrough "Jagged Little Pill," the best-selling album ever by a female artist. Now, it is finally catalogued on "The Collection," a disc that spans the last decade of the Canadian singer/songwriter's music.

Those of the opinion that a hit package from Morissette would essentially be a repackaging of Jagged Little Pill have a point; she has released only a handful of hit singles since that juggernaut. Nevertheless, in paving the road that subsequently ensued she released records that were true to herself and did not cash in on her initial success as an "angry" young singer/songwriter. The result has yielded her a rabid fanbase and music that has affected many listeners in a positive way, which is hardly something to look down at.

Nevertheless, "The Collection" is a rather iffy collection that comes off sounding disjointed when it comes to summarizing the Morissette's last decade. Right off the bat, anyone who has even a minimal knowledge of her career will see that some notable singles are missing such as "All I Really Want," the swashbuckling "So Pure" from 1998's "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" and "Precious Illusions," a sharp radio-ready single that reached the Adult Top 40 in summer 2002 but ultimately went over everyone's heads. Also, two "personal favorites" she chose for the collection, 1999's unplugged performance of "Princes Familiar" and 2002's excruciatingly sad "Simple Together," sound completely out of their element on a retrospective. Perhaps a better idea would have been a "Hits" and "Misses" pair of releases a la fellow Canadian songstress Joni Mitchell. Still, her unforgettable staples such as "Thank U" and "Ironic" are dutifully included and have not lost their power with the passage of time.

Especially of interest are tracks making their debut on a proper Morissette record. One such is "Mercy," a selection from Jonathan Elias' 1999 project "The Prayer Cycle," an album of swirling, devotional vocals in multiple languages that featured recording artists such as James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Morissette sings in Hungarian (her mother's native tongue) on the track alongside the vocals of famed Qawwli artist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who passed away immediately before she was asked to join the project. The result is something as spine tingling as it as sophisticated. Included also is her zesty take on Cole Porter's "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" from the "De-Lovely" soundtrack. Morissette played a bit part in the 2004 film that told the life story of the late tunesmith.

There's also "Uninvited," a fan favorite that Morissette wrote for the soundtrack to 1998's "City of Angels" where she sings not only from the perspective of the main character but also her own in the face of overwhelming fame in "Jagged Little Pill"'s wake. An even stronger inclusion, however, is "Still," which Morissette wrote for 1999's "Dogma" soundtrack. In the film she played the small but crucial role of God, and thus chose to write the song from His perspective.

"I see you altering history/I see you abusing the land/I see you and your selective amnesia/And I love you still."

The biggest slice of ear candy on the disc, however, comes in the form of her take on "Crazy," Seal's classic 1991 hit. A song with a catchy groove and powerful lyrics, it is easy to see why it is one of Morissette's favorite songs.

"Crazy yellow people walking through my head/One of them's got a gun, shoots the other one/And yet together they were friends at school/But we're never gonna survive/Unless we get a little crazy."

The scarce but desirable limited edition of "The Collection" contains improved artwork and a loaded DVD with an hour-long documentary, photographs, overviews of past tour itineraries and three bonus performances including an unreleased track from the mid-90's entitled "King of Intimidation." A CD maxi single featuring 4 club mixes of "Crazy" is also available.

A perfect balance of song selection - glad to see some of her personal favorites and some of her biggest hits.

Her most underrated track has to be "Still" featuread on the soundtrack to the movie Dogma.

I wish we got a videography on the bonus disc and I'm anxious for new music. She's got a great voice, skill as a songwriter - she writes her truth and she hasn't sold out by trying to duplicate her staggering success.

I love Alanis Morissette and I think all of her songs are great and this collection proves it. Although some of my favourites are not included such as Purgatorying and The couch, any fan or newcomer can enjoy this album. And limited edition has very rich extras.Documentary Tracing The Time Period From Jagged Little Pill through To The Present.
King Of Intimidation (Live Performance From 1996 Jagged Little Pill Tour)
Can't Not (Live Performance From 1996 Jagged Little Pill Tour)
Your House (Live Performance From 2005 Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Tour) Alanis Tour Book,
Alanis Tour Photo,
Alanis All Access Passes...Ironic (Video) enjoy :)))

THE COLLECTION (not "the greatest hits")...

i would just like to say that the the DVD (yes this is the SPECIAL EDITION CD & DVD you are looking at) is well worth the money because it includes a good/user friendly documentary of alanis, charting her success from JLP to her recent album S-CC. she really comes out on top with this one. she comes across as a genuinely nice person.... very rare amongst celebrities these days.

i will always regard alanis morissette as one of the rare singer/songwriters who can create/produce/throw together a range of songs that cut to the chase.

during this present climate where people like the the black eyed peas are revered, Alanis is a welcome breath of fresh air (sadly not a breath of insecticide which would exterminate various no talent personalities like the forementioned... ugggh hugggh cough cough!!! did i just splutter the words "paris hilton" in that chest based removal of phlegm?).

sorry back to Alanis.... (got a little side tracked back there). People need to realise that this is an album which she has chose to entitle "THE COLLECTION" at no point did she choose to name this album "ALANIS MORISSETTE - THE GREATEST HITS"

ifhe had she HAD chosen to compose a GREATIST HITS album (which she didn't, I would have kind of hoped that she would have opted for the following tracks......)

1) ALL I REALLY WANT
2) YOU OUGHTA KNOW
3) HAND IN MY POCKET
4) YOU LEARN
5) HEAD OVER FEET
6) IRONIC
7) NO PRESSURE OF CAPPUCCINO
8) UNINVITED
9) BABA
10) THANK U
11) UNSENT
12) SO PURE
13) THESE R THE THOUGHTS
14) STILL
15) 21 THINGS I WANT IN A LOVER
16) HAND CLEAN
17) PRECIOUS ILLUSIONS
18) 8 EASY STEPS
19) EVERYTHING
20) CRAZY

This is the only place you can get the song "Crazy" (except for the CD single of the same name), the Seal cover that Alanis has openly named her "favorite song ever". If you buy it on iTunes, you can also get the ORIGINAL version of the song, the Tony Kanal mix (the version on the CD is the James Michaels mix that was released to radio).

Im a huge Alanis fan and I'm one of the few that are happy to see a Collection album as opposed to the Hits album (due to the fact that Alanis rarely releases songs that would sound too commercial and opt for unique but alienating singles). However, Alanis being the unique character that she is chose songs she PERSONALLY likes as opposed to songs the general public would like. While I commend her for chosing this route she is, again, perpetuating the decline of her popularity by being to 'closed-in' and alienating the public, JLP fans, and even potential fans. For example, from her Unplugged album she should have chosen No Pressure Over Cappuccino which is more accessible (and equally beuatiful) than the shifty Princess Familiar. Also, while JLP is her most celebrated album, she could have taken out Head Over Feet for 21 Things from URS or Joining You from SFIJ. As well, an unreleased track like Superstar Wonderful Wierdos (originally for JLP) or B-Side tracks Awakening Americans or Symptoms would have been a welcome addition. In the end, this is what I would have wanted the collection to be:

1 You Oughta Know
2 Hands Clean
3 Out is Through
4 Superstar Wonderful Wierdos
5 Joining You
6 Hand in my Pocket
7 Everything
8 Uninvited
9 Sister Blister
10 All I Really Want
11 Crazy
12 Simple Together
13 No Pressure Over Cappuccino
14 Eight Easy Steps
15 Still
16 Twenty One Things
17 Ironic
18 Thank You

Oh well, you can't have it all. I wonder what her Hits album would be like...

This compilation of songs is great but this was a great opportunity to offer a collection of all of her videos and it was not the case... Big disappointment in that respect! On the bright side, all lyrics of all songs are included plus the artwork is awesome except for the collage thing on the back of the booklet, it looks cheap, cheese and old school tacky (exactly the same thing with "Flavors of Entanglement": Was that artwork a bad joke or a nightmare?? Sorry Morissette, I love you but that is the truth. ;o)

Alanis Morissette exploded onto the music scene in 1995 with Jagged Little Pill. The raw emotion and deep lyrics made it a major best seller and a classic. It remains Ms. Morissette's best moment and the songs from that album far outshine other the other tracks included in The Collection. The emotional drama that made Jagged Little Pill so great found Ms. Morissette confused by fame and psychobabble lyrics dominate her future releases. While there are some good songs like the haunting "Uninvited" from the City Of Angels soundtrack, the balance of the songs don't live up to Ms. Morissette's early promise.

I have her other albums and was a little disappointed that there were only a couple new songs. The rest were just copies from previous works.

Being an Alanis fan, or a former one, I recommend you not to buy this album if you have already purchased her previous ones. Basically the album contains the exact same songs in the previous albums; i thought she would revisit some songs and make new versions of them, which didn't happen. So, do yourself a favor: don't waste your money.

As for the DVD, it is the only good thing about purchasing this. But still, it is not worth the money.

Bad career choice, Alanis.