Alanis Morissette Delivers the Equivalent of a Spiritual Awakening on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie: Introspective Themes and Compassionate Emotions on Eastern-Tinged Album Have Grown More Relevant
1998 Smash Plays with Enhanced Detail, Rich Textures, and Sharp Focus on Mobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition Hybrid SACD: Collector’s Edition Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies
Alanis Morissette refuses to follow convention on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. While most artists follow-up their breakthrough with an album that closely parallels the approaches that helped make them famous, the maverick singer-songwriter stayed true to herself and drew inspiration from travel to India before she began the recording sessions. As much as the preceding Jagged Little Pill put her on the global radar, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie confirmed her role as a vital generational voice — and proved her blockbuster success was no fluke. Having set a mark for most sales of an LP in its debut week by a female artist, the 1998 smash remains a pop-rock staple.
Sourced from the original master tapes, strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, and housed in mini-LP-style packaging, Mobile Fidelity’s hybrid SACD of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie presents the triple-platinum LP in audiophile sound. Benefitting from an enhanced coherence and clarity that befit the album’s nearly 72-minute length, this disc plays with richer detail, sharper focus, and broader dynamics than prior versions. Those traits are key given Morissette’s use of more textured and atmospheric soundscapes, not to mention her evolution into a more nuanced and controlled singer. Similarly, the scale and reach of David Campbell’s string arrangements come across as orchestrations should. Ditto the synth-based architecture shaped by producer Glen Ballard.
Notable for its balance, sophistication, and richness, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie at heart finds Morissette pausing, taking a breath, and learning how to navigate life in a healthy manner after enduring one of the most exhausting and rocket-to-fame stretches any musician ever experienced. It’s the sonic equivalent of a spiritual awakening, a call to betterment, a brave assessment of the self and humanity as a whole. As such, the tunes on her second international (and fourth Canadian) release teem with gratitude, compassion, love, empathy — emotions that lend themselves to the largely mellow, contoured scope and Eastern-tinged melodies of the songs themselves.
Tracks
Front Row
Baba
Thank U
Are You Still Mad
Sympathetic Character
That I Would Be Good
The Couch
Can’t Not
UR
I Was Hoping
One
Would Not Come
Unsent
So Pure
Joining You
Heart Of The House
Your Congratulations
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