She’s lived, she’s learned. She’s gone on spirit quests, ingested all the Zen money can buy. And somehow, Alanis Morissette’s road to inner peace led her back to Jagged Little Pill, the vitriolic 1995 song cycle about mistreating lovers (and sleazy music-biz veterans) that remains the best-selling solo debut in rock history. Re-approaching JLP, Morissette and producer Glen Ballard focus on atmospheres—the rhythms are more supple and worldly, and interlocking acoustic guitar tapestries give several songs new dimension. Ironically, the vocals haven’t evolved in corresponding fashion: At times Morissette seems trapped in the torment loop Pill-lovers expect. Despite scattered flashes of uncharacteristic lightness (“Hand in My Pocket”), she rarely tempers the fury that drove the originals with the more accepting perspective that’s guided her subsequent efforts. Maybe it’s just too soon for that. Check back in another decade.

DOWNLOAD: “Hand in My Pocket,” ”Not the Doctor”