Alanis Morissette: MTV Unplugged : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The most remarkable thing about Alanis Morissette's unplugged album is its unremarkability. The singer-songwriter sounds exactly as she does on her previous two electric studio albums, her chatty recitatives so far up in the mix that they render her instrumental accompaniment nearly moot. For this MTV taping, Morissette is backed by a twelve-piece band that includes a six-piece string section, and she manages to overpower the lot. Sometimes she kills them with neglect - "Ironic" and "That I Would Be Good,'' for instance, have been whittled down to bare acoustic essentials. And songs with lusher orchestral backdrops - "You Oughta Know," "Uninvited" and the Police's "King of Pain" - still carry lengthy, vocalcentric intros. It's all about Alanis, plugged in or not. Still, those who appreciate this insouciant alto and her penchant for vibrato and silly homilies will have their worlds rocked anyway.