HiRez Poll Morissette, Alanis - JAGGED LITTLE PILL [Blu-Ray Audio (Dolby Atmos)]

[jimfisheye]

Heard this all over the radio at the time. The drum loop fueled cut/paste production was awkward sounding. At least on the "radio tracks". Listened to this on a lark just to see how it might sound on a full system and hear if anything interesting was done with the mix...

Was not expecting a genuine and interesting 12 channel mix! Expected lazy and boring. Was floored by an active interesting mix! There are a few tracks here with real performance in the backing music (along with the looped stuff). It's still singer focused with music as secondary support. The looped "demo" sounding stuff still sounds awkward. The mix is really good though with a surprising amount of attention to detail and activity.

 

[ar surround]

The looped "demo" sounding stuff still sounds awkward.

Nice review, Jim. Although I often feel blessed that I don’t have as keen of an ear as you, (and simply rely on you as a ‘consultant, when needed. lol) I never noticed the drum looping, probably because Alanis’ singing is usually over-the-top.

 

[jimfisheye]

All I can say is looped drum chunks and click track perfect timing really grabs my attention. Mechanical sounding stuff like that can have a powerful "man wrestles machine to the ground" vibe when it works. Treating music as secondary background for a vocalist has a certain vibe to begin with that's off putting to me. Obviously looped stuff starts to feel like a placeholder.
The vocals and song craft is way out ahead of the demo-ish background and it stands out. The mix work here is more in line with Alanis' talents.

 

[Thonolan]

I must start by saying that this is a 10/10 album for me, I find every single song totally iconic. Kinda funny, considering I was never into the 90's mainstream rock scene. To be honest, I only like Alice in Chains and Alanis from that era. But I really like them. It wasn't an album that I discovered when it was released either - I was perhaps way too young to fully appreciate music in 1995! I need to mentally go to 2000 or 2001 to find my first memories related to this album.

This is an Atmos mix that ticks all the right boxes for me. After only a few seconds of listening, I knew I was in for a treat. Rhythm section in the front speakers, dry lead vocals in the center + some reverb-y lead vocals in the fronts, and the rest of sound elements spread around the different channels to great effect. It's incredibly fun to listen to, and there are numerous demo-worthy moments in several songs. This mix features some of the coolest interactions between lead & background vocals I've ever heard in a multichannel mix. Sounds simply great on my system (7.2.4).

If I had to mention a minor quibble, it's that two of the songs, "You Oughta Know" and "Wake Up", contain really cool bass lines (Flea!), that don't sound as distinct and powerful as in the original 1995 stereo mastering by Chris Bellman. This applies to both the new stereo mastering on the Blu-ray and the Atmos mix. But the whole thing is awesome enough that, despite my usual reluctance to giving perfect ratings, I have to go for a 10.