Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill Acoustic (2LP) [MUSIC ON VINYL]

Why you'll love it

Music On Vinyl spreads it over two 180g discs with a double-sided printed insert. Morissette and co-writer Glen Ballard went back to every song on the Ottawa singer's diamond-selling breakthrough and rebuilt it unplugged, track for track.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Printed insert

About the album

Ten years is a long time to live with songs as big as these, and Alanis Morissette marked the anniversary of Jagged Little Pill by stripping them back to see what was underneath. The Ottawa-born singer reunited with Glen Ballard, her original co-writer and producer, at Westlake in Los Angeles and Aerowave in Encino, and recorded the whole album again on acoustic instruments.

The surprise is how well the songs take it. "You Oughta Know" trades its snarl for something cooler and more knowing, "Hand in My Pocket" (the single this time round) breezes along on strummed guitar, "Ironic" and "Head Over Feet" sound warmer than ever, and "Perfect" and "Mary Jane," acoustic to begin with, settle in comfortably. Bill Malina recorded and mixed it, adding just enough studio colour to keep it from feeling like a campfire singalong, and "Your House" still hides after "Wake Up."

It came out on June 13, 2005, ten years to the day after the original, and spent its first six weeks on sale in Starbucks coffee shops across North America. A fair few people took it home with a muffin; we can't offer the muffin, but the vinyl is considerably better.

Also at Kops: more Alanis Morissette on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Maverick / Music On Vinyl (cat# MOVLP1229), a reissue of the 2005 album.