5/5 Pure Estrogen High
  by J. Stoner (Taos, New Mexico)
After Alanis Morrisette's "Jagged Little Pill" came out in 1995, radio played the heck out of several different songs on it. I liked what I heard, and I purchased the CD, but put it away and listened to it rarely if at all.

Now at a distance of more than 10 years, I pulled out the CD to give it a fresh hearing and decide how it stands up to the test of time. First observation is that it still stands alone--there is nothing really like it, and that includes the subsequent albums by Alanis herself. There are some suggestions of her pull-your-hair-back-and-belt-it-out performance in others` work--I'm thinking particularly of Katy Perry or, very differently, of Slater-Kinney.. I am still struck that this is a unique artistic work, though, the female equivalent of early albums by The Who, or The Rolling Stones in their most popular phase in the `70's and `80's: a pure expression of hormonal-driven emotion.

This is not to say that she did this all by herself: full props to her partner, musical accompanist, and producer Glen Ballard for his contributions. Some of the songs were just Glen and Alanis, take after take, layer after layer, but there are other strong musical contributions, especially Benmont Tench on keyboards and some guest guitarists (Michael Landau, and Dave Navarro and Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers). Me, I love the layered sound, and Ballard brought it right up to the line of being overproduced. But not over it: the effect is to give a full, detailed frame to enhance the power of her vocal performances.

I would generalize those performances by saying they are fairly dripping with emotion. The range of emotions, and the dynamics suiting them, vary quite a lot, though: fury at the lover who scorned her ("You Oughta Know"), and at a record producer who didn't take her seriously ("Right Through You"), disgust at the weakness of others ("Wake Up", "Not the Doctor"), but also sympathy ("Mary Jane"), a pure expression of love for her companion ("Head Over Feet"), and some real , wise recognition of the ambiguity in life ("Perfect", "Hand In Pocket", "Ironic").

One of my two favorite cuts on the disk is "All I Really Want", which I take as humorous (if not, it would be insufferable!)--a puckish, self-mocking lyric set to a whiny, Oriental soundtrack (think "hippie chick") that includes her "short list" of deliverables: patience, deliverance, companionship, sincerity, purity, spirituality, profundity, intellectuality, peace, harmony, and justice. (I'm reminded of the Stones in "Some Girls" and their stereotypes of women: "American women want...everything in the world you can possibly imagine." OK, she's Canadian, but you get the idea.)

My favorite song on the album, though, and one of my absolute all-time favorites, is "Forgiven", which I notice many of my fellow Amazon reviewers have shied away from trying to interpret. On the face of it, it's a rueful remembrance of her bad old days in Catholic school, from which she has managed to recover her faith. I think there's something more, though.

The framing of the message is a supremely long crescendo, from acoustic guitar and soft crooning, to a massive, wall-banging chorus with Alanis wailing the chorus at the top of her lungs, the notes tinged heavily with emotion. And what a chorus:

"We all had our reasons to be there/We all had a thing or two to learn/We all needed something to cling to/So we did"; and the second chorus:
"We all had delusions in our head/We all had our minds made up for us/We had to believe in something/So we did".

There, in a few short lines, is a summary of the entire lived experience of most of humanity, from the very beginnings of time all the way to the present, and well into the future. So, yes, I think there's something there. Whatever her sins, for those lines alone I would judge her to be "forgiven".

I can see how some might not like this album: for the purist, for example, she shows a beautiful voice, then abuses it terribly. She sounds screechy at times, and the anger can be off-putting: many of my brothers had defensive, cover-your-crotch reactions. (An acoustic version of the songs put out 10 years later might be a good corrective for those who thought it "too angry".) After JLP, though, it can never be said that women can`t rock just as furiously as men, and in their own mode, not merely a pale imitation of male rock. Her performance on this album was a pure expression of human nature (for at least half of humanity), and as such it demands at least our respect.

3/5 Decent Album, great price.
  by Lolita Ann Asberry
As I am a causal fan of the artist's album I purchased, I was hesitant to pay for price for the album. This is why I decided to buy through this vendor, the CD was in good shape and came with the original artwork booklet but lacked the case. Besides that the shipping was fast and the price was right, solid 3 out of 5.

3/5 Fabuleux
  by Pocha Dot (Los Angeles)
I got this album as a christmas gift back in 1995. It's continued to grow on me ever since. It's like each passing year I get into another one of the songs. It's never over for me when it comes to this album. This is a really good album, Alanis really did her thing. I've noticed one of the most talked about tracks on this album has always been the A Capella Bonus track that went untitled until the acoustic version of the album came out in 2005. The song is titled "Your House", It's at the very end of the album and it's not listed on the tracklist. It wasn't a single and has no music behind it yet it is one of Alanis' most memorable recordings to date "Isn't It Ironic?". "Jagged Little Pill" IMO is not an album you just pick up and love right from the start, It's like wine- It gets better with time. Sort of like her singing voice. It's a great set of songs, Something different for a change and I appreciate it. I wish there were more I could say about this album but words just don't describe how much I love it.

5/5 Justin's review
  by Mister Raider (Florida USA)
Jagged Little Pill is one of her excellent albums that you should listen to. If you are interested in Alanis Morissette you should also check out her next album.

5/5 INCREDIBLE WRITING, A LOT OF PAIN FROM THE PAST...
  by John Hargraves
As I reflect on this time in my life when the album was written about what I was going through, it is amazing how well "God" put the writing together. The pain is there, but more importantly it is a reminder of good times that make the pain worthwhile! I was outed at 15 to a religous set of parents and things were shakey. My youth pastor was my best friend that I trusted more than anything and told me it would go no further. It's also amazing how it ties in with the "Evanescence" labeled albums that were left for me by someone who the person who stole it thought was dead and is not! The two of them tie in...one about the harm caused when the media sexually exploited me to re-image Madonna from when I was 5 as an update as a sexually active young person! "Evanescence" is about the harm I am being put through while they try to kill me because of their previous crime. Bring me to life was actually a plea to PUT THEM TO DEATH! Please pray for the country and especially more specifically for me as we are all being victimized but me at a much larger level by these people and the horrible hatred and harm, in incapeable hands that are not intelligent enough to raise a child let alone capeable of making sure the country is in good hands! We all have our reasons to be here, we all have a thing or two to learn, we all need something to cling to...hopefully we will cling to the right things! They have implanted deadly telepathic communication technology in me discussed in the song "This Grudge" on a later album that discusses them exploiting me from the age of 11. I am dying from crime and the government placed by these people are siding with the crime in over 300 contacts! Pray that on October 28th JUSTICE will finally start being served! I am going to local court to start my way to the federal government! GW Bush (genital warts), Condy looks like Rice (Condyloma is the medical term for Genital Warts) and my boyfriends Dick were removed from my butt when they implanted the technology, they raped me at 18 to devalidate the sexual exploitation of me at 11. During that procedure they had me raped again and tried giving me a deadly disease according to the reports, but failed! PRAY HARD THAT GOD WILL SAVE US FROM THE RELIGON AND THE HORRID PEOPLE IN IT AS A COUNTRY! PRAY THAT SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE WILL BE UPHELD AND THAT THESE HORRID PEOPLE KILLING IRAQI'S IN THE NAME OF RELIGON WILL BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE. GW Bush has admitted in the media (you can find it on youtube) that Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9-11 and that they have no weapons of mass destruction...however the group of religous crap trying to kill me do have a weapon of mass destruction etc! PRAY AS A NON-RELIGOUS PERSON THAT THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD WILL WAKE UP AND SAVE US!