Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 29, 2024

It may not actually be ironic (ahem), but it's at least kind of humorously amusing that if one is to believe the Wikipedia article about her (always a highly dubious proposition), Alanis Morissette reportedly was compared to Debbie Gibson and (heaven forfend) Tiffany early in her career. Jagged Little Pill probably helped to put those comparisons squarely out to pasture, and the album has continued in a way to define Morissette for many listeners, despite her really amazing continued success over the course of many years. The album is still viscerally effective, offering a kind of female version of what the Brits used to call "angry young man" outings in the late fifties. Jagged Little Pill is at times a sonic whirlwind that seems to act as some kind of primal scream therapy for Morissette.

The track list for this album can be seen in the accompanying screenshots of this Blu-ray disc's menu.

Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As with many of Rhino's hi-res audio outings, while there is an AVC encoded 1080 menu, it's actually not necessary to have your monitor or display on, since the color buttons on your remote will allow you to toggle between codes (see below). This is a welcome change from one of the annoying authoring choices I mentioned in my recent Joni Mitchell: The Asylum Albums Blu-ray review of another Rhino release, and speaking of at least sometimes arch female singer songwriters.

Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill features fantastic sounding Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. As with many of these Atmos reimaginings, the sound can be somewhat dispersed, meaning that the sheer force of the stereo track blasting out of the front speakers can make things sound louder, but the Atmos track features really fun and widely imaged surround activity. The opening of the first hit off the album, "You Oughta Know", is a good example, with the snare clearly emanating from the rear channels and Alanis' plaintive but maybe just slightly snarky voice anchored in the front channels before the entire instrumental assortment kicks in, filling in the rest of the surround channels. Even quieter songs like "Perfect" offer some really appealing immersion, with all channels nicely engaged throughout. Quite often some of the nicely layered backups are placed "back" as well (i.e., the rear channels), with leads up front. Fidelity is top notch on both tracks.

Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As tends to be the case with these releases, there are no supplements. There is a nicely appointed insert booklet with lyrics and production credits, and the keepcase features an inner print photograph of Alanis engaged in some yardwork (?).

Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

We're suddenly kind of awash in exciting new audio Blu-rays, and I for one could not be happier. While Rhino is probably leading the way, I'm about to review newer releases from Pink Floyd Records and several other specialty labels. Jagged Little Pill is an occasionally vicious trip through Morissette's roiling psyche and emotions, but that's what makes it so viscerally effective. Audio is excellent, and Jagged Little Pill comes Highly recommended.