Product Description

Alanis has a lot to answer for; in the process of changing the face of '90s pop music, she opened the door to scores ofinferior imitators who crowded the charts with their transparent careerist fury. What they missed was the renegade spirit that lurks beneath Morissette's statements off vengeance and dissatisfaction. It's that spirit that enlivens INFATUATION JUNKIE. From awkward title to the unconventional lyricalconstruction, it's clear that the years between this album and Morisette's previous breakthrough recording have not dulled her iconoclasm or put soft edges on her anger. INFATUATION JUNKIE is at once more immediate and more artfully constructed than its predecessor. Songs like "Baba" are full of thrusting guitars and sledgehammer rhythms, but from "Front Row" to "So Pure", Morissette displays an expanded understanding of pop song mechanics. It's this melodic progression thathelps INFATUATION JUNKIE live up to Morissette's daunting past.

Track Listing

1. Front Row
2. Baba
3. Thank U
4. Are You Still Mad
5. Sympathetic Character
6. That I Would Be Good
7. Couch
8. Can't Not
9. UR
10. I Was Hoping
11. One
12. Would Not Come
13. Unsent
14. So Pure
15. Joining You
16. Heart Of The House
17. Your Congratulations

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4567 in Music
• Released on: 1998-11-02
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
When Alanis Morissette visited Mother India in 1997, she gained new composure and, in a state of numinous bliss, wrote 17 songs for Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, each suffused with the search for enlightenment and self-knowledge. To the likely dismay of many fans, Morissette now rages at herself. But this long-awaited follow-up to 1995's record-smashing Jagged Little Pill is far from a disappointment. Imbued with dark, swirling psychedelic licks borrowed from Jimmy Page's song book, the disc is paradoxically both more enigmatic and revealing than Pill. And while Junkie shows that Morissette is no less stingy about revealing herself to her fans--her staccato stream-of-consciousness style is again employed to surrender her secrets and foibles a little too easily in these tales of abuse, lost love, and self-flagellation--Junkie also makes one wonder what this musical sphinx holds back. In "Baba" she takes on competitive spirituality, sneering at the fashionable grasp for enlightenment. "Would Not Come" returns to a similar theme--taking us on a tour of her diary. "Would Not Come" and "Your House" offer the only hints of sexual innuendo. The only revenge she wreaks on an errant lover is in the percussive "Are You Still Mad", this time dishing up a much subtler payback than on "You Oughta Know". The record's standouts, meanwhile, are "Thank U" and the hip-poppy "So Pure". One complaint (and there is only one): Morissette's rapid-fire wordplay is at times engulfed by ponderous instrumentation. The worldbeat rhythms and elaborate guitar play add fresh twists to the album, but they also sometimes bury her message. --Jaan Uhelszki

Customer Reviews

Fantastic album - shame I didn't buy it years ago!
Years ago I had Jagged Little Pill and listened to it so much I wore it out! At the time when Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie came out I, unfortunately, listened to the critics who said it wasn't as good etc... 10 years later I rediscovered Alanis and thought I'd give SFIJ a go too. I've listened to it many times now and I'm well and truly hooked.

I ask myself why I didn't buy it years ago but then I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed it as much and appreciated it's difference to JLP. It truly is a wonderful album with every song a pleasure to listen too. Yes it's not as rocky as JLP or as angry but as a previous reviewer says it's more melodic with some beautiful lyrics. I'm so pleased I have it in my collection and I'm sure I'll play it until it's worn out too...well worth the money in my opinion.

No Bubble Gum here, but Real Art and Search for God (Christ)
A densely probing record, finely wrought and gloriously inspired. Thru the course of 17 songs, we find Ms. Morissette raging and trying to find herself, but her rage is not without, but within - internally, not externally. The music is mainly mid-tempo, although there are upbeat tracks on this album.

There is no other album produced in the 1990s that have such depths as this one as (that I know of). Its one of the few albums I return to again and again and find new depths in it. Although for quite different purposes, I respect this as much as I respect my personal favorite album (THE WHITE ALBUM). Both are great for different purposes. Both are grand artistic experiments, though THE WHITE ALBUM moreso than SFIJ. SFIJ is a natural progression in Alanis's artistic growth. But the instrumentation is a lot different that JLP. This is a masterpiece in and of its own right, and her new album (to be released in 2001, and I think called WAKE or something similar) has very large shoes to fill.

JAGGED LITTLE PILL, although good in its own way, was, in and of itself, much more pop oriented. There is not the depth there that is in here. No wonder this record took three years to conceive and bring into being. Although it is said (I have no reason to dispute it) she wrote these songs in 1997, I believe it started growing within her as soon as the last JLP recording session ended, and that album published. It could not have been released a year afterward.

The Beatles are unequaled artistically. Because they were so prolific, however, you could chart their artistic growth. It started in HELP!, and then RUBBER SOUL grew more complex, then onto REVOLVER, and then the culmination of their growth, SGT. PEPPER. In Alanis's situation, however, there was no chance to chart the growth. It went from HELP! (JLP) to SGT PEPPER (SFIJ) with no clue there would be such a drastic jump. Not that I am comparing this to SGT PEPPER, but I'm giving an example of her artistic growth to another well-charted group. Do not deem this review bad because I have done so, and do not think I oft compare The Beatles with Alanis. They come from different times, and stand for different artistic things. (Alanis's early records, dance, are like the old rock `n roll of The Beatles, before they came into their own artistic niche).

JLP is that HELP! record. But there is clues of what will happen next. All I Really Want, Perfect (though I don't much care for it), and Forgiven help point toward this, but those songs belong on JLP. It points too, but does not belong with. Not that JLP is a bad record, but (to me) I find this a much more emotionally and artistic satisfying album that its predecessor. Of course, do not expect her entire former allegiance to appreciate it. When The Beatles were growing, some of the fan base did not like the direction they were taking. Of course, that quickly passed. But now, people want more of the same, and there is not the same respect in the music growth. Few bands nowadays are grand on the artistic level. A lot of things are just bubble-gum pop, or "Hey now, you're an all star!" That song, although I like Smash Mouth, embodies everything that is wrong with popular music today. There is no common cause, no meaning - just Bubble Gum lyrics and stupidity. The late 90s were a rather dismal time in the music industry (at least from the fresh new blood). We just have bands like Blink182 and these teen sex symbols. It is here, in this record, you find what rock'n'roll needs - meaning and substance, not cotton candy (a lot of fluff and no substance). This also embodies an ideal truth not often talked about -- the Godlessness of Rock N' Roll. From these lyrics, its pretty clear she is searching for God though. At least she is searching, and I pray to God she finds it. This album is her takes on life, and her search for God (and, though she doesn't know it, Christ). In JLP, it dealt with revenge, rage, teen love, and other such things. In a way, it is a concept record about the life of a young person, dealing with the various things a young person goes thru now-a-days. But on SFIJ, now she has come to deeper understanding, and if it follows, perhaps she will come to the knowledge of Christ. That is the answer to all of her searching.

Originally issued on Amazon.com on June 10, 2000

Give It A Chance
People please stop judging alanis's albums by the reveiws, when i first bought supposed i thought 'crap this is no way near as good as Jagged little pill' but once you acctually clear your mind and acctually listen to the fantastic tunes and lyrics you will realise that this is alanis breaking out of a shell, and trying to show the world she does not have to be angry to create fantastic music!!!!!
best songs on supposed:Baba,Joining you,Cant not,sympathetic caracter.