So far this year I have heard two standout albums. The first one is by Alanis Morrissette, entitled Flavors of Entanglement. Like most of her albums, you have to search through to find the gems. Currently, I have a six song rotation from this one, segments of which are played in the above video (Citizen of the Planet, Versions of Violence, Not As We, In Praise of the Vulnerable Man, Moratorium, and Tapes). For most albums, six is very good. But in this case it’s much better than that, since some of her songs resonate with me so much that I swear she read my mind and feelings before writing them. I know that a lot of people don’t care for her lyrical style and themes, but I suspect that it’s more a personality thing. I’d bet people like me that can be overly introspective (and often unproductively so) just ‘get’ her. She’s one of the few celebrities that I would actually want to sit down and talk with for hours over dinner. For those Alanis fans out there, here are my top ten Alanis songs (not counting the new album’s songs - I need more time to evaluate their place)...

1. You Owe Me Nothing in Return (Under Rug Swept)
2. Everything (So-Called Chaos)
3. Hand In My Pocket (Jagged Little Pill)
4. One (Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie)
5. So Unsexy (Under Rug Swept)
6. Not The Doctor (Jagged Little Pill Acoustic)
7. I Was Hoping (Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie)
8. Mary Jane (Jagged Little Pill Acoustic)
9. That I Would Be Good (Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie)
10. That Particular Time (Under Rug Swept)