Flavors Of Entanglement

It's great to notice that Alanis is back doing great rock music. I love Alanis's two first albums, and this "Flavors..." is a return to that great rock music it used to be. Already the opening track "Citizen of the Planet" tells that this album has to be good! It is so rocking and heavy. Also the radio song "Underneath" is very good! "Straitjacket" and "Version of Violence" are great rocking songs! If I didn't know that this album has been released in 2008, I would think it had been released after "Jagged Little Pill". "Not as We" proves that Alanis can also be very sensitive - it's a very touching song. Although there's many strong songs - I wouldn't say that this album is perfect - the song "Tapes" is the only one I don't like. It is a strange song - a little bit boring. However, I hope that Alanis will continue making great music! A great album!
Stars: Citizen of the Planet, Straitjacket, Underneath

Alanis Morissette's new album "Flavor of Entanglement" has the deeply personal songs and undeniable vocal talent that we have come to expect from Alanis, but this is not the same 20 something Alanis full of rage. This CD is very much about her personal break up with Ryan Reynolds. But this CD is so much more that your average "love gone wrong" songs. Alanis is older, more mature, and more introspective. She sees how the battles of the world are really not that different than the battles we have in our personal life. She is not only trying to find her place in relationships, she is trying to find her place in the world. At first listen, her lyrics are so deeply personal, it gives you that moment of "oh I shouldn't be hearing this" but at the same time it resonates to the universal, familiar grief we all feel with the death of a relationship. Gone is the in you face rage and it is replaced with longing and grief.

Not only are Alanis' lyrics reflecting her growith as a song writing, the music itself reflects Alanis growing as an artist. She skillfully mixes folk, world beats with techno dance beats. She so skillfully combines the two that you forget to be shocked that the two are combined. There are few artists that can challenge you to consider your own relationships and make you want to dance at the same time. In "Citizen of the Planet", Alanis sings of seeing herself as more than just an individual. She sings of being unique but yet part of the bigger world. This theme is repeated throughout the CD. "Underneath" considers how our everyday conflicts are just microcosms of conflicts in the world today. "Not As We" is a raw testimony to the grief of losing a relationship and part of your identiy as part of a couple. Alanis sings, "Day one start over again. Step one step one. I'm barely making sense for now. I'm faking it `till I'm making it. From scratch begin again but this time I as I and not as we". "Torch" is probably the most personal song about her break up. It is a sensitive laundry list of all the things that she will miss about Ryan. She holds nothing back as she sings, "I miss your neck and your gait and your sharing what you write". Make no mistake, this albulm is not all morose. "In Praise Of the Vunerable Man" is Alanis' ode to an emotionally available man. "Moratorium" is her oath to focus on herself for awhile and take a break from her quest to find a soul mate. All of the songs, regardless of topic reflect an artist that has experienced much growth and continues to growth through the good times and the bad.

Overall, this is a CD full of the new and of the familiar. Alanis' unmistakable voice and painfully personal song lyrics are as familiar on this cd as on all of her albums. This album reflects a personal and artistic growth. She has more depth and more understanding of herself and the music reflects it. The music itself has many more dimensions . Like different parts of her personality, Alanis is able to skillfully mix and highlight sounds that seem like complete contradictions, but the end result is pure music to my ears.

I've been a fan of Alanis Morissette since the Undeniably Genius work that was Jagged Little Pill. One thing that has changed for me is that I loved to sing along with each of the songs on JLP. Since then, Alanis's work has become so personal that many times I feel like a voyeur when I listen to the lyrics. I'm still trying to get used to the way she has of exposing everything she has to give in her songs. When I'm listening in my car I often feel that I'd like to be at home with the song lyrics, reading and analyzing and trying to figure out just what she was feeling when she wrote them. . This is a very nice album, and I'm finding that I get more from it with each listen. It's a keeper!

I have always loved Alanis, and I was stoked about the release of this cd. Especially considering that much of it coincided with her recent breakup, I was expeting some angry, angst filled songs. (You Outta Know, anyone??) Listening was a big let-down. The only redeeming quality was that it wasn't very long. I still love Alanis, but in the future I will be listening to her cd's before buying, something I have never felt the need to do in the past.

I got this CD the other day and I couldnt wait to listen because I have heard her new single and thought it was amazing!! Then I listen to the whole thing and I am not let down. You can really feel the emotion in every single lyric! I would definately recommend this CD if you are a true Alanis fan!!