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Amazon.com: The first studio album from Alanis Morissette since 2004, Flavors Of Entanglement fuses the organic and the techno—prompted by producer Guy Sigsworth (Madonna, Björk). Incorporating beats, loops and synthesizers, the album was designed, says Morissette, so listeners can "dance your face off." Balancing introspective confession and delirious joy, the global and the personal, Flavors Of Entanglement is a tasty new musical feast from one of pop’s most intriguing artists. Amazon.co.uk : Though the mainstream might have all but abandoned Alanis Morrissette since her mid-90s breakthrough as the MTV grunge generation’s Madonna, she has forged on with a handful of albums of a reasonably steely consistency, although even kindly ears would recognize her output since Jagged Little Pill as reduced strength versions of that celebrated album. Its slightly convoluted follow up, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, remains her most intriguing if long-winded work, and with her most recent record (2004’s So Called Chaos) more or less finding peace with itself--filing down the angsty internal dialogues and sounding almost content even at its loudest points--the future seemed to be heading on a downward spiral. But talk about an about turn. With Flavours Of Entanglement the bronco is very much bucking once more, often causing whiplash-inducing stylistic swerves. "Citizen Of The Planet" opens the album, erupting out of eastern strings and a sequenced underlay with blunt, compressed guitars and thumping beats, sweeping through desolate plains previously inhabited by nu metal fantasists Evanescence. The dark tension is upheld through the robotic techno of "Straightjacket" and dark string-laden drum ‘n’ bass of "Moratorium." Landing amid the lonely Tori Amos balladry of "Not As We," Texas-pop of "In Praise Of The Vulnerable Man," and the more typical Alanis fare of "Underneath," this is an often unsettlingly mixed bag achieving varying levels of success, but it is also probably her most emotionally satisfying work for a decade. -- James Berry Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-07
Anything but a letdown
After all the hype surrounding the new release of Flavors, I was ecstatic to get my copy of the cd. A true Alanis fan, I was not let down. She still has it, and then some. Like many others, I was expecting the rage and angst/sadness from her recent breakup, but was surprised (in a pleasant way) that that was not the case. That being said, it's a superb album with tracks that will have you close to tear with the lyrics and bouncing in your seat, head nodding along, thumb tapping on the steering wheel. I think my fav. track was Torch, followed closely by Citizen of the Planet and Straightjacket. Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-05
These Flavors Have Changed My Outlook On Life
I've always liked Alanis, and her rocking, rigid edge, but when I heard she would be working with Guy for this record, I got really excited. Not only does this album produce lyrics that actually make you think about life, love, and death, it has the super-synthetic pulsating vibes that interconnect and intertwine into layers and layers as they collide and compound blissfully. But it does this ever so lightly, and of course with a rock edge. Pure Genius. This album has really helped me cope with the ever changing world outside my walls. So much as happend to all of us, as humans, and Alanis shows she's just like us.
Incredible standouts would have to be the lead single, "Underneath," the eternally dark "Versions Of Violence," the beautifully blooming effort of "Not As We," the power of "Tapes" and "Torch" show another side of Alanis lingering around the thoguhts of seperation and death ... whether of life or relationship. And we can't forget how every Alanis Album starts with a BANG! "Citizen Of The Planet" does indeed deliver. But the Highlight of the album has to be "Giggling Again For No Reason." Even though we all may go through some pretty terrible times in our lives, this song is like the sunlight as it fills in every crack of the Earth. It's the light we reach at the end of the tunnel, knowing that we will be okay. (I just have a personal connection with the whole album, especially that song, and I'm sure many others do as well.) And to that, the final song, "Incomplete" leaves us with a pleasing outlook on what we all really want from this life.
This album is a Gem; it as dark and as deep as the ocean at times and other times it shines brightly into the horizon. I've never been happier with another album in my life. And for that reason, Alanis' lastest effort one of the greatest albums I've ever heard, and is the one to bet in 2008 ... if not the decade. It's so different than everything that is being played nowadays. It's worth giving it a try. I did. And I couldn't be more contented.
Thank you Alanis. For Saving My Life. Rating:
Date: 2008-07-02
Rocking Again for a Reason!
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 Rating:
Date: 2008-07-01
Alanis only better
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.
Rating:
Date: 2008-06-29
Undeniably Alanis
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! |
