Alanis "Now Is The Time" (MCA Canada MCAD-10731) 1992
Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill -- the 1995 album that has reportedly sold 30 million copies worldwide and won multiple Grammys -- is thought by most people to be her debut album. And it is -- in every country except her native Canada. But her fellow Canadians knew Alanis long before she achieved international stardom at the age of 21. When she was 10, she was a cast member on
You Can't Do That On Television!
, a rather crude children's program that has been shown on the U.S. cable channel Nickelodeon. And when she was 16, she recorded the first of two dance pop albums (billed under her first name Alanis) that were only released in Canada. They are now out of print even in Canada, and it's easy to see why they have not been available in recent years, because these two recordings are very different from her later alt-rock work. Unfortunately, they are also often embarrassingly bad. Even on a dance pop level, they don't generate much excitement.
Ironically, the woman who progressed from teen pop princess to alternative-rock icon has had a marked influence on a later generation of teen pop princesses due to her alt-rock megaseller. If the music of such Jagged Little Pill-inspired youngsters as Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson had existed ten years earlier, it may have been labeled "alternative". Now, it is "teen pop". What a difference a decade makes.
On the two pre-Pill albums, producer Leslie David Howe served the same basic purpose as Glen Ballard did on the next two. All of the songs here were co-written by Alanis, Howe, and others. Her voice sounded smoother here than on her recent albums. That may be because she was younger, but a great deal of studio work was still probably needed to achieve that!
The self-titled Alanis was recorded when she was 16. Alanis was once called "the Tiffany of Canada", in comparison to a briefly popular U.S. teen pop singer from the late '80's, and she strikes cutesy Tiffany-like poses on the front, back, and inside cover photos. The music, however, owes more to the Paula Abdul/Janet Jackson school of sugary overproduced dance pop, as Alanis sings bubblegum songs about boys, parties and herself. The lyrics generally suffer from ineptitude; the self-referential "Oh Yeah!" is utterly laughable. Fans looking for embryonic elements of her future angst persona will be disappointed; only scant clues of it can be found in the lyrics of a few songs ("Walk Away", "On My Own", "Jealous").
Now Is The Time is only slightly better. It tries to present Alanis as being more mature than on her previous album, but the lyrics are still awkward, and Howe's production is still excessive. It sounds a bit different than Alanis, but the comparison to Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson still holds. However, Now Is The Time does bring us one step closer to the Alanis that you know and love (or hate). The first song begins with the lyrics: "We play the game with determination/We don't give a damn 'bout our reputation baby" (shades of Joan Jett?). She sings about sex (I think) on "Give What You Got" and "The Time of Your Life". The former has a slight alt-rock edge; the latter contains the lyric: "Here we are and I wonder how we've come this far/In a world that does not recognize women are victimized/What does that symbolize". (What does that
mean?
). Her writing in the liner notes resembles the lyrics to her later hit "You Learn". Incidentally, it's easy to see why Alanis was later signed to Madonna's Maverick label; she sounds like the Material Girl on a few songs ("Rain", "An Emotion Away"). Now Is The Time is listenable but insubstantial. If you like Britney Spears...
Track Listings:
ALANIS
1. Feel Your Love 2. Too Hot 3. Plastic 4. Walk Away 5. On My Own 6. Superman 7. Jealous 8. Human Touch 9. Oh Yeah! 10. Party Boy
NOW IS THE TIME
1. Real World 2. An Emotion Away 3. Rain 4. The Time Of Your Life 5. No Apologies 6. Can't Deny 7. When We Meet Again 8. Give What You Got 9. (Change Is) Never a Waste of Time 10. Big Bad Love
