Review: The stairway to Alanis

Geoff Carter

Sunday, April 4, 1999 | 11:49 a.m.

Our little baby is all grown up. Alanis Morissette - that Supposed Former Nickelodeon Contract Player - has finally arrived. No longer is Alanis the shy, shrinking violet of Canada's coffeehouses. As the quirky Canadian displayed at the Hard Rock Joint April 2, no two-bit barista could hold her back. She's big, she's bad, she's nationwide. And when you say all that, what you really mean is "She's discovered Led Zeppelin, with all that entails."

Actually, it suits her. The "Kasmir"-esque highs and valleys of the hit "Unforgiven" might have derailed many an Alternative Rock babe (it would have blown Lisa Loeb's head clean off), but Alanis leaned into its convoluted sway like an old pro. Most of her recent music has been in the same vein - dark, moody passages breaking into enlightened choruses, announced by a bleat of power chords (and at the Hard Rock show, a flash of brilliant white light upon the crowd). She seems to relish it, dancing and flailing with the abandon Robert Plant accorded even the most mournful of Jimmy Page's melodies.

So complete is her Zeppelin-izing, in fact, that until she pulled out the harmonica for the hit "One Hand in My Pocket," I wasn't entirely sure who she was. That's the unfortunate side of flying with the Hindenburg - your presence is about as subtle and personal as a planetary collision. There were other breaks in the bombast - the shimmering "Are You Still Mad" stands out - but by and large everything was big, big, big. Everything, that is, but Alanis herself.

Much as I enjoy Alanis' hit-squad tactics and heavy moral hand - the stage backdrop read "Moral Code Upon The Premiess (sic): Please Refrain From Killing, Stealing, Lying, Sexual Misconduct" - I can't help but wonder what she'll say about this phase of her career, once she's had time to reflect on it. Will she continue to forge the same course, hoping for a turn in the road? Or will she take things to another level still, one that didn't immediately manifest in her whirlwind rush to celebrity? Whatever the case, it will be interesting to watch this talent develop, and watch we shall, with a mother's pride in her offspring. Our baby grows up and she grows up and she grows up.