Alanis Morissette- Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie- 20 years later

Later this year (November, to be exact) will mark the 20th anniversary of the release of Alanis Morissette's Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie which was the 1998 followup to her 1995 worldwide debut smash Jagged Little Pill.

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie - Wikipedia

Thank U is probably the single from the album that you've heard if anything:



I think the album is just as good as Jagged Little Pill.

It's the less angry, more spiritual "cousin" to Jagged. If you bought and liked Jagged and never heard or bought Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, you owe it to yourself to check it out. The album is available very cheaply secondhand on Amazon Marketplace and eBay. Whenever we do threads on good, but underrated albums, this is one that always comes to mind.

I think the standout songs are:

Baba.
Thank U.
That I Would Be Good.
Unsent (one of the best examples of her songwriting, IMO).
So Pure (there was a really great remix of this released as a promo single).
Joining You.

If it has a fault, you could argue that the album feels a bit bloated at roughly 72 minutes, and that a few songs could have been cut to make it tighter. It might've worked better as a 45-50 minute album.

There are some demos and B-Sides and non-album tracks from the era that could be added to a Deluxe Edition and I hope we see one at some point (but I kind of doubt we'll see one to mark the 20th anniversary).

 

Absolute masterpiece by every measure. I wouldn't cut a second. The fact that this album was released as the direct follow-up to the massively successful Jagged Little Pill is mindblowing in several ways.

What a mind. What an artist.

I would love to see any kind of deluxe edition as well.

 

It's a good album, as are all of her albums (at least through the 2000s). And bravo to her for always trying something different and not just trying to redo Jagged. I saw her in concert in 2004 and it was really one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

 

Yeah, I think what's interesting is that she didn't try to make an album that had commercial appeal to ride the wave of Jagged, but instead decided to just release the album she wanted to release. I'm kind of glad she took a thee year break in between the two albums to regroup a bit instead of rushing out a new album in 1996.

 

Here's the music video for So Pure which I hadn't seen until today (!).

 

Here's the remix of So Pure I was talking about- The Pure Ecstasy Mix. It was included on the single and promo single:

 

Hell, I think it’s better! I love this album and far prefer it to JLP which I think was a little over-rated and overplayed at its peak. I find the songwriting far more mature and the song structures a lot more interesting on SFIJ. I continue to listen to this album frequently but agree that it could have lost a few of the “tacked on” tracks at the end. I also don’t think the demo version, or any version of ‘Uninvited’ belonged on this album and feel she was encouraged to place it there to try and increase sales. My favourite song is the opener ‘Front Row’- what a song. I always felt that this album is like psychoanalysis on record...I hope it gets a reissue although to my ears it still sounds great. One of my favourite albums of the 1990s and probably in my top fifty of all time favourite albums.

 

I looked it up, and the Uninvited demo was a bonus track exclusive to Australia and Japan which tells me was probably the record label's idea to add it as a bonus track and she probably didn't have anything to do with the decision. It isn't on the album in any other country. I'm actually kind of surprised that the final version of Uninvited didn't make the standard album track list.

 

That’s interesting. Makes sense as I have the Australian release.

 

I assumed so, judging by your location.

 

Weird Al made a parody of Thank U called Fast Food.

 

This just made me laugh so hard.

 

I always thought Thank U was not only her best ever song. but her best ever vocal.
Great album.

 

Agreed. I love this album, other than it being far too long. I'd go back and forth between what I'd cut, but I think 17 songs and 72 minutes was just too much at once for a lot of listeners, and they never really gave the album a fair shot when it didn't have more immediate smash singles like Pill. She challenged her audience, but I think also overwhelmed them at the same time.

(I also think "Uninvited" should've been added to the album at the expense of "Baba" or one of the other weaker cuts...I'm sure it would've helped sales at the time, and it certainly fits in with the rest of the record's vibe. Sales aren't an indication of how good an album is, but you always want more people to hear great albums, right?)

 

I love the Steven Wilson version of Thank U, so I'm posting it here in case people haven't come across it...

 

Hey, I like that. It has kind of an Art Garfunkel vibe to it.

 

He changes the line "How about them transparent dangling carrots" to "How about changing a line, 'cos it don't make sense".

 

I love this album. It is one of the first CDs I ever bought with my own money, a little after it came out. While I really like Jagged Little Pill, I have always felt that Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie is Alanis' masterpiece. It is a daring, adventurous, personal, emotional record and it really dug deep into Alanis' talents as a lyricist and storyteller. I've listened to it probably hundreds of times and never gotten bored with it. I don't think it's too long. Like many great double albums, the length and diversity of songs is part of what makes it so special.

My top five favorites:
I Was Hoping
The Couch
Joining You
Unsent
That I Would Be Good

I like every song on the record. Here is the music video for "Unsent." I agree @PaulKTF this is one of her greatest ever compositions:



Fun fact: "Matthew" in this song is an alias for Dave Matthews.

 

Was expecting a blockbuster after Jagged Little Pill. Thank You was huge on VH1. Pretty solid and underrated album.

 

Yeah, I remember Thank U getting a ton of rotation on VH1 and MTV. That, and "Hands" by Jewel which was released around the same month.

 

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and Spirit would make a good listening session together.

 

Loved Suppsed Former Infatuation Junkie bought it the day it came out and wore it out for years.

Id love a deluxe but id bet it would be compressed to holy hell.

I do love many of the B sides from the import singles

I wonder does anyone have the recent Vinyl and if so is the audio quality good?

 

That's a good idea! I'll have to remember to try that.

Thank U for the suggestion.

 

The HDTracks download is one of the few that's an entirely unique mastering from other versions: Album details - Dynamic Range Database

I have an original 1998 vinyl pressing that I should probably sell, since I honestly just listen to the HDTracks at this point.