When Was The Last Time Music Brought You To Tears?

I just reviewed Alanis' 1998 release, "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" but I was so impressed with that CD that I had to follow up and get this CD. I guess until now I never knew how much I really liked Alanis Morissette.

I actually saw a videotape of this before buying the CD. She was on "Unplugged" the MTV show and someone taped it for me and I just recently watched it. The show was actually released in 1999. I have to tell you that the first time I saw it (and at the risk of sounding like a sap) I thought it was so beautiful and so inspirational that I bawled like a baby! That has never happened to me before, I have never been moved to tears by an artist but Alanis has done this to me twice. She is my true hero.

So I bought the CD and it was faithful to the Unplugged show. I know with other artists, they either add bonus tracks or take away some of the tracks from the CD but not Alanis. It was all the same as it was on the show, including the crowd applause. Also she added a stringed orchestra to the songs which gives a more dramatic and touching performance to each track. I love it when strings mix with pop stars. My favorite such occurance was when Metallica played with the San Francisco Philharmonic (I think that was the name of the orchestra) on their CD "S&M". It just adds so much drama to the music. Alanis was no exception to this.

My favorite tracks performed were:
"That I Would Be Good" - her power vocals in this song proves to me that she is not all smoke and mirrors. This chick can really hit those notes just as she does on the studio tracks. What a set of lungs on her. I actually think this was the song where I lost it too and started crying (haha).

"Ironic" - From her "Jagged Little Pill" CD, this was a huge hit for her but I actually liked the unplugged version rather than the studio cut. I'm not really sure why but I think it has something to do with the rawness of the acoustic guitars. And her emotion put forth on this song on the Unplugged version was better than her emotion on the studio cut. Probably because she was in front of an audience.

"King of Pain" - The Police's classic song from their album, Synchronicity. Alanis keeps the title but changes the lyrics:
"I will always be, Queen of Pain"
Normally I hate that (for instance when Tiffany released "I Saw Him Standing There" Beatles remake) but this song just works for Alanis because she is indeed the Queen of Pain. This chick has more issues than a magazine rack!

"You Oughta Know" - What female DOESN'T like this song? I actually loved this song about getting back at her cheating lover the first time I heard it for the obvious reasons but I really liked it on Unplugged because you could still see the pain and hurt in her eyes that this person caused her whom the song is about. Rumor has it that the song is about one of Canada's Maple Leaf Hockey Players. I'm unsure which one, but he's a famous professional hockey player in Canada.

All of the songs are good on the CD, I don't generally skip over any of them except "Head Over Feet". I don't dislike it, but there are so many better tracks on the CD that I don't waste my time with it. But I think I love this CD because of the raw emotion put forth onto it. When Alanis is in front of a crowd she shines like Polaris. I would recommend this CD to anyone who can appreciate taking the time to stop and smell the roses, this is definitely a relaxing emotional trip and is not background music. You listen to every word and hang on to every note. Although I wished I could hear some other of her songs performed Unplugged (such as "Thank U"), I was satisfied with the setlist. Alanis has done it again.