The Collection

Alanis celebrates a remarkably successful career with the release of The Collection

Alanis Morissette has become one of the music world’s biggest stars since bursting onto the music scene in 1995 with Jagged Little Pill, which changed the musical landscape and gave birth to a new era of hate-fuelled records. Not only did Jagged Little Pill sell 30-million copies (the biggest selling debut from a female artist and the 14th biggest selling album ever), but further success followed with the albums Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998), Under Rug Swept (2002) and So-Called Chaos (2004). Alanis celebrates a remarkably successful career to date that has seen 45-million sales and a plethora of prestigious awards with the release of The Collection, which spans 1995-2005 with hits and more. Her best material is all here on The Collection, and, while some of it can be skipped to this day, the majority of it showcases a woman that nearly redefined the female singer-songwriter and how she did it. As for why, it may have been accidental, but the talent and emotion she puts forth is still evident to this day. Finally, Alanis Morissette's best songs are available all together in one convenient place.

The album features big hits, personal favorites and rarer material

Handpicked by Alanis herself, the track listing of The Collection features such big hits as Ironic from 1996 Grammy-winning Album Of The Year Jagged Little Pill, the somber Thank U (titled Thank You here), Hand In My Pocket, Hands Clean, and the down to Earth track Everything as well as Morissette’s personal favorites and rarer material including Mercy (from The Prayer Cycle album) and her interpretation of Cole Porter's Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love (from the film De-Lovely). The collection also focuses on her time with movies like the highly acclaimed Uninvited from the Nicholas Cage 1998 flick City Of Angels, and Still from Dogma. And those are not all – you get Princes Familiar from her MTV Unplugged album. There's also Sister Blister from her overlooked 2002 rarities disc Feast on Scraps. Her latest album, So-Called Chaos (2004), found Alanis at her calmest and most composed, no longer rebelling or existing in angst, but displaying a great deal of maturity and a new-found confidence in her music. Needless to say, it gives rise to the track Eight Easy Steps.

A must buy for anybody who doesn't own an Alanis Morissette record or for any fan

This generous 18-track collection is supplemented with a new song in the form of a remarkable interpretation of Seal’s worldwide smash Crazy. The song is arguably with a little more of a dance bit, but for Alanis, she does pull it off quite nicely. It is a completely different read, partly to give it some pep (with a nice electronic backing) and to fit her vocal range (mostly a little lower than the original, but she can belt out the important parts of the song when it’s called for). Apparently, this is one of her favorite songs of all-time, and the care she gives it while nearly making it her own is a testament to that. Alanis is one of the very few acts to still show her music very well as a performer these past few years. As for The Collection it is a must buy for anybody who doesn't own an Alanis Morissette record, or for any fan of the often controversial, extremely talented, and sometimes foul-mouthed Canadian-American singer/songwriter/actress.