Flavors Of Entanglement
- Alanis Morissette
- Band Name: Alanis Morissette
- Record Label: Warner Brothers
- Release Date: Jun 10, 2008
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Somehow, a devastating personal experience has galvanized her songwriting in a way that domestic bliss, as showcased on 2004's disappointing "So-Called Chaos," could not.
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80Morissette's superb lyrics leave you cheering for her--and assured that she's going to be just fine.
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It's a lot like "Jagged Little Pill," but musically this is far closer to the muddled mystic worldbeat of "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie," thanks in large part to her collaboration with Guy Sigsworth, best known for his productions with Björk and Madonna.
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Scarjo may have her man, but Morissette has something Johansson doesn't: a heartfelt record.
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70It's a cluttered affair with bleeping, buzzing lows (harshly ambient tracks like "Straightjacket" and "Versions of Violence") and a handful of humble high points in a pair of lovely piano ballads.
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60The Ottawan's new record abounds with moments most arresting for the crazy chutzpah with which she'll shoehorn a line of verse into a line of music whose rhythm puts the stresses on all the wrong words. [July 2008, p.104]
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60Producer Guy Sigsworth (Seal, Björk, Madonna) adds a touch of Eurodisco to her infatuation-junkie rambles.
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60Morissette is rarely dull, but she can occasionally be wearying. [July 2008, p.107]
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60As ever, she provokes both compassion and impatience.
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60If Alanis lacks breadth in terms of her subject matter, and she does, she makes up for it in the rich variety of styles that have influenced each track.
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60While Morissette's weaknesses are the same--her lyrics are still overwrought, as though torn from some broken-hearted schoolgirl's diary-–this disc is an easier pill to swallow than her last couple.
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60Canadian firebrand loses her spark.
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60Flavors of Entanglement is better than expected, but not as strong as we hoped it would be.
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50Psychology textbooks are less linguistically challenged and just as littered with cases of emotional breakdowns. [June 2008, p.114]
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On some tracks, Morissette's voice channels Björk (with whom Sigsworth has also worked), but the mood ultimately switches to watered-down Evanescence.
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"Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" was emotionally complex but never without a nerve; the new Alanis, it seems, has many things to say, but they're all half-formed and stuck inside her head.
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She has fresh relationship issues to work through on Flavors of Entanglement, her first set of new tunes since 2004, but she has difficulty striking a balance between soul-searching and dance grooves on a set that doesn't distinguish itself with either.
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40It's the no-frills productions like 'Not As We' which stand out, although these are marred by the lyrics--a mess of self-help-manual platitudes and environmentally minded bollocks. [July 2008, p.104]
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Positive: 21 out of 23
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Negative: 2 out of 23
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