One of the great, universal inspirations throughout the history of rock and roll has been the death of a relationship.\xA0 In 1972, Carly Simon scored a hit with "You're So Vain," a thinly-veiled sendoff to former beau Warren Beatty.\xA0 John Lennon, while separated from Yoko Ono, wrote some of his most harrowing songs, such as "Jealous Guy."\xA0 And at the core of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was the searing open wound of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks' messy breakup.
Throughout her career, Alanis Morissette has railed in a similar manner at an unnamed lover from her past, a mysterious figure described only as an older man from her days at Nickelodeon.\xA0 But now, on the promotional tour for Under Rug Swept, Morissette has bravely revealed the identity of her bitter muse: Dave Coulier! That's right, when Morissette had one hand in her pocket, the other hand was giving the finger to Uncle Joey on the 80s television hit "Full House."\xA0 It was like ray-eee-ain on your wedding day when her and Dave Coulier broke up. And yes, the person she went down on in a theater was... Dave Coulier. The man don't mess around.
Coulier's ghost continues to float over and around Morissette's music, perhaps while doing his famous Popeye impression and mugging wildly.\xA0 The Canadian confronts this secret relationship in her most direct manner yet on the first single from Under Rug Swept, "Hands Clean."\xA0 By assuming Coulier's voice and singing lecherous lines like, "Just make sure you don't tell on me, especially to the members of your family," and, "I might want to marry you one day if you'd watch that weight and keep your firm body," Morissette must be making Coulier very uncomfortable wherever he is today.
This fierce independence finds its way into every aspect of Under Rug Swept, her first album without the assistance of professionally licensed hitmaker Glen Ballard.\xA0 Morissette was obviously taking notes during their previous two collaborations, however, as these eleven songs retain the Jagged Little Pill formula of safely looped drums, angry guitar, and Alanis' trademark clenched-teeth yodel.\xA0 The immediacy is further amped by the fact that Morissette plays nearly all the instruments on the album, finally putting to rest the rumors that she's nothing more than a producer's puppet.
The most marked effect of breaking away from Ballard's input is the unmitigated and highly concentrated ferocity of her lyrical confessions.\xA0 It's no mistake that Under Rug Swept comes off like a 45-minute glimpse into her daily therapy session.\xA0 Morissette wants to put a little bit of her head inside of yours, riding on a catchy hook-- to give all of us a taste of what it feels like to be dumped by Dave Coulier. Because even though "it's been over a decade/ It smarts like four minutes ago."\xA0 Observe:
"That Particular Time": "I kept on ignoring the ambivalence you felt/ And in the meantime I lost myself."
Obviously, the emotional pain persists, many, many long years after "You Can't Do That on Television."\xA0 All Alanis wants is for the world to dance and sing along with her catharsis.\xA0 Can you really hold it against her? Of course not! So don't think you can write Morissette off as doing nothing more than cataloging her relationship grievances.\xA0 On "21 Things I Want in a Lover," Alanis files an audio personal ad of what she's looking for in a man (note to fellas: be against capital punishment, and inventive in bed!), a move that could come off as self-indulgent, but in a personality as luminescent as Ms. Morissette, is nothing short of entrancing.\xA0 And on the somber "A Man," Morissette boldly composes lyrics from the perspective of... a man! Perhaps the target of one of her many incendiary diatribes: "Born of your bellies I yearn for the cord/ Years I have groveled repentance ignored." Dude, that begs for a Mustaine solo.
If Under Rug Swept has a weak point, it's in the lack of musical variety, with few tracks deviating from electric or acoustic versions of the above-stated formula.\xA0 These exceptions show a knack for appropriating the sonic vocabulary of other artists to fit Morissette's vision, such as the Elton John-inspired piano rocker "That Particular Time" ("This Train Don't Stop There Anymore," anyone?). Her skills at adaptation are most striking on "Narcissus," in which Alanis mines the familiar Liz Phair trademark of minor chords, swear words and attitude, and shows once and for all that, while Phair may have invented the modern angry-female act, Morissette perfected it.
Frankly, it's a small matter, since with lyrical messages this strong and profound, a little bit of stylistic homogeneity can be forgiven.\xA0 Even without the disturbing, sad, confusing, and (okay, I admit) mildly hilarious knowledge that her songs are directed at Uncle Joey, the emotional potency of Under Rug Swept's songs cannot be denied.\xA0 On "So Unsexy," Alanis admits that sometimes she "feels so boring for someone so interesting."\xA0 But with an album this compelling, she really needn't worry.
