Cutting the electricity only really began to sound like a good idea when Kurt Cobain picked up his acoustic on Nirvana's Unplugged In New York sessions, and on the whole it tends to bring out the worst in an artist and their audience--muso tendencies, obscure cover versions, and a reverential hush punctuated only by obsequious applause. Alanis Morissette's Unplugged, accordingly, is a mixed bag--there's plenty of dispensable moments, like the warbly dirge of "Joining You", or a singularly pointless "Head Over Feet", almost a carbon copy of the original. The gems, though, include a stripped-down, Tori Amos-esque take on "You Oughta Know", which reverberates with repressed bitterness over the minimal tones of piano and keening violin. Quite wonderful, but if only the sycophantic industry crowd weren't quite so enthusiastic in their praise. --Louis Pattison