The Queen of Angst is back with another heart-wrenching album called Flavors of Entanglement. Alanis Morissette has successfully made an album that reflects all her different flavors. Flavors of Entanglement definitely gives fans and plain old listeners a surprise with its bold, eclectic and haunting songs.


Richard's picks for this album include Citizen of the Planet, which defines the bold flavor of this album. As the first track, this song definitely packs a wallop of musical intensity. This song is her way of saying that she is back and she is back to proclaim that she is a citizen of the planet. With this song, look out for the line that says "I fly back with my nuclear." For some odd reason, the daring mix of words, coupled with the scalding connotations of nuclear hit a heart-string of mine and it is now etched in my memory.

Aside from the boldness, you'll also hear the same kind of Alanis beats minus the electric guitar. The eclectic mix of sound in her songs now include a sitar and some Indian inspired musical instruments, or so I think. The song writing also offers a vast array of emotions within this album. The first song is triumphant in saying that she is back. Not as We has the introspective flavor that That I Would be Good had. I think that she has already grown up and bloomed into a full woman because she also mixed love in a not-so-gruesome way with In Praise of the Vulnerable Man.

Furthermore, it makes my hair stand on edge because some of the songs are haunting. Who would want to declare a moratorium on their love life? Make sure that you listen to that. Torch and Giggling Again for No Reason also made me feel flashbacks - old emotional time bombs in my heart came back to bite me.

I can't help myself! Call me brash and bold but I would dare and say that this album is the reinvention of Alanis. For me, who goes for everything, this album is a menagerie of eclectic and eccentrically flavored songs that will found ways into my hall of fame. For those who are picky, I am sure that some song in this CD will still give the resistant listener with an LSS or two.

Still can't get enough of Alanis? Check out her website at Alanis.com.

Tracks
Citizen of the Planet
Underneath
Straitjacket
Versions of Violence
Not as We
In Praise of the Vulnerable Man
Moratorium
Torch
Giggling Again for No Reason
Tapes
Incomplete