Ani DiFranco : Releases >>
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Red Letter Year >>
Canon: a Collection >>
Not a Pretty Girl >>
Ani DiFranco's fondness for cheeky self-effacement marks her fourth album, Not a Pretty Girl. Having redefined our whole concept of cult following, the funky, punky singer/songwriter has parlayed her prowess for six-string blues guitar into an alternative acoustic sound all its own. This album marks real growth for the musician. Songs like the title track or "Worthy" are more fully realized than many of her earlier pieces, which lean toward artful scat or spare guitar and vocal arrangements. It also precedes DiFranco's more experimental work, which recurs with increasing frequency on subsequent recordings. --Nick Heil
Living In Clip >>
The mannered vocal style that has always been the most off-putting element of Ani DiFranco's music is still present on this two-disc live set, but for some reason it doesn't matter anymore. Maybe it's the way you can hear DiFranco using her breaths to accent a rhythm section that's downright merciless with its circling, pulsing, scary grooves. Or maybe it's the way, with an audience screaming, she pours heart and soul into "Unforgettable Face" and the story song "Gravel." Whatever, Living in Clip is the album where DiFranco begins to deserve her hype. And "Amazing Grace," backed by the Buffalo Philharmonic, is where she surpasses it. --David Cantwell
Revelling/Reckoning >>
Reckoning/Revelling is the 13th album from the resolutely independent Ani Di Franco. Released as always on her label, Righteous Babe, Di Franco has fashioned a so-so album that covers both the edgy break-up songs of her early career as well as her political and more funk-tinged material. Lavishly packed in an origami sleeved box (as if by the Next catalogue), this double CD of 29 songs is split between two CDs and distinct musical moods. That's the idea anyway. Di Franco fires on all cylinders, lyrically, (best lines--"TV is after all the modern day roman coliseum... and now millions sit jeering collectively cheering the bloodthirsty hierarchy of the patriarchal arrangement.--"Garden of Simple"). Musically, it's wallpaper, plain guitar plucking, bolstered occasionally by the odd stab of brass. Much of it sounds the same. However the songs are all pleasant in a low-key Me'shell N'dege Ocello kind of way. Of the two CDs, Reckoning has the strongest material-"Your Next Brave Move" and "So What" are the standouts. As a whole, it's chunky-post-pop-cum folk is a little too tired to sustain the course. Although the wild eclecticism of Little Plastic Castle was rightly praised, Reckoning/Revelling doesn't represent a revolution for this righteous babe. --Helena Dvorak
Red Letter Year >>
Little Plastic Castle >>
Reprieve >>
Out of Range >>
Out of Range marks the end of the first phase of Ani DiFranco's career, not so much in terms of the way she goes about her business (as always, on her own terms) but in terms of her songwriting, arranging, performing and, to a greater extent than ever before, growing popularity. On Out of Range, for the first time, DiFranco's songs sound like they wouldn't be out of place on the radio (in this case, that's a good thing); on the very first track, "Buildings and Bridges", she expresses herself with greater grace and subtlety than ever before. But the message is still loud and clear: she can take what the world will throw at her, and she will persevere. The rest of the album unfolds along similar lines and often reveals similar treasures. --Randy Silver
Not a Pretty Girl >>
