The Albums Owned By Me: a brief overview

First I want to say: I praise all of the albums in my overviews (even though I do find some things that could have been improved). But it is never made clear which ones I really like and which ones fall into the category of my least favorites (even though I love them all to death and pump them into my CD player one after the other). So just so you know: my favorite of Ani's albums are (at the moment) LITTLE PLASTIC CASTLE, NOT A PRETTY GIRL, and NOT SO SOFT. And my least favorite is IMPERFECTLY. It's hard to rate them when I love them all so much. And, also just so you know, these reviews are listed in the order in which I got the albums. I could never put them in all in order of my fondness for them: I'd have to murder myself first. DILATE: The first one of Ani's Albums I ever owned. I saw her perform "Shameless" on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN and I instantly fell in love. I requested that one of my pals get me the CD for my upcoming birthday and it was the best present I got (swear to God, the BEST present). I still listen to it all the time, and rock out. I think Shameless will always take me back and it will always be one of my favorite songs. And I love the methods she used on Going Down. "Little Mister Limp Dick" I think will always be one of my favorite lyrics to actually sing myself. I think you can really see a change in her music in this CD from NOT A PRETTY GIRL; it's not as centered around politics, it's not as harsh. But it'll do. And it does. OUT OF RANGE: Found this one while thumbing casually through the CDs at Circuit City. And I decided I had to get it the moment I laid eyes on it. Up until that moment I wasn't even aware Ani had other albums. But I was overjoyed that she did. I learned all the lyics to this album pretty much the first night I had it. I sat down in my easy chair with the music a'blaring and the CD cover in my lap. And whenever I have Ani playing on my stereo and my dad walks in, he automatically starts singing in his twangy, mocking voice: "Buildings and bridges..." And The Diner is great with all the background effects, you just see to a greater extent Ani's many musical talents and the liscense she has given herself that she wouldn't have if she was with some fascist big-name record label. NOT A PRETTY GIRL: This must be my favorite album. It's "overtly political" and I love it for that fact. And that's probably because I love Ani's politics (that's a little conceited considering they're practically the same as mine). But this album is probably my mom's least favorite; she HATES Ani DiFranco, with a passion. If you asked Mrs. Kathleen Lindsay to describe this album (or any of Ani's albums) to you, she would reply, "It is loud, obnoxious, and LOUD. I don't see why she has to be so hateful. And the music is disconnected; it gives me a headache." (Ma's not exactly what you would call hip.) "But just listen to the lyrics," I tell her. "Listen to what she's trying to say. She's talking about the horrors of abortion and capital punishment, and how the government keeps such tight tabs on our lives." But she doesn't listen to me or the lyrics. It's not for her, I guess. LIVING IN CLIP: Ani always performs her songs totally different. Every time she sings a certain song it sounds almost alien. And I love that. If that wasn't so, buying LIVING IN CLIP would be a waste. Hell, MAKING LIVING IN CLIP would be a waste. But no, the live songs veer off from the songs we know on the original albums. It's great hearing the different versions. Shit, I like some of the live versions better than the original songs. EXAMPLE: Fire Door, Both Hands, and Out of Habit. They're all better on LIVING IN CLIP than on ANI DIFRANCO. Still they're perfectly wonderful in their original form. (Fire Door is one of my favorite songs.) And plus it gives you a taste of what you're missing if you don't have all the albums. I'm not sure I would have bought ANI DIFRANCO (at least not as soon as I did) if I hadn't already heard some of the songs as performed on this album. You also get to hear how Ani connects with her audiences, what she says and how she acts during concerts. ANI DIFRANCO: Ah, the first album, made in 1990. It's unbelieveable to me that she was only nineteen when she produced this CD. This is the album with the "prettiest" tracks on it. And this album just goes to show you: teenagers are perfectly capable of anything. Never underestimate the power of a youngin' cuz we know a hell of a lot. Our minds haven't been polluted by all the shit adults throw at us. We have our own true conception of life. And myself, I've already made decisions regarding my beliefs. Want to read some essays on those? Get yourself back to the main menu. I got plenty to say about that. But about Ani, she is truly talented and gifted. She can do something I know I can't do successfully: make music, and music we can all identify with. Well, maybe not all of us. IMPERFECTLY: My first impression of this one was: "Um, wow, Ani really got into the country sound back in ol' 1992." This is the folkiest sounding of the CDs I own. And that turned me off at first, but now I'm totally used to it. Actually, it's to the point where it sounds harsher, even less folk and even more like the Ani we're used to the more one listens to it. And it makes me appreciate LIVING IN CLIP even more, because Every State Line and Coming Up and such are so much different. (The version of Coming Up on IMPERFECTLY is insanely cool.) You get a lot of lesbian feminism on this CD and that makes me love it even more. LIKE I SAID: After months of borrowing this CD from a friend, I convinced him to sell it to me. And let me tell you, it didn't take much persuasion. He hates this CD, thinks it was a waste of time and money. But I love it. The versions of Roll With It, Rockabye, Gratitude, and The Whole Night are worth the price of admission. And the remake of Lost Woman Song not only finally pounded into my skull what the song was about (abortion; how blind must I be), but it also made me actually like the song, a song that I previously hated. After listening to this CD I realized that NOT SO SOFT has got to be spectacular and I kept praying that I'd get it for my birthday (and I did). So even though all the songs are just remakes, I listen to this CD all the time. PUDDLE DIVE: Oh, a wonderful surprise for me when I got this CD was that Rory McLeod accompanies Ani on quite a few of the songs. And he was the opening act at the concert of hers that I had the great fortune to go to. And here I was thinking they had never worked together previously. The harmonica is a great addition. Blood in the Boardroom would have to be one of my favs off this CD, an enchanted tale of a woman and her unexpected period. I never thought of it the way that Ani states it: ain't no hassle because I can make life. (Even though I despise my period and want to have my uterus surgically removed) that is quite a privledge, the ability to make life. A great album (but aren't they all?). NOT SO SOFT: Now this was long awaited and anticipated. I couldn't wait to get this CD. If my mumsy hadn't given it to my for my b-day, I would have had to murder first her and then myself. The songs on here are great. Once again, the lesbian side of her shines through, and you don't hear that that much in today's music world. Itch is probably my fav song off this album, or On Every Corner. And then of course all the songs that are on LIKE I SAID. The only thing is, the four songs I listed under LIKE I SAID are played a whole lot slower in their original form, and that's one more reason to get LIKE I SAID: they sound so much better faster. But this album sure did live up to my expectations. LITTLE PLASTIC CASTLE: This newer album (Ani's eleventh I believe, though I've read it's both her ninth and her tenth in separate reviews) is fabulous. And I have no regrets about rushing out the night of February 17th and buying at full price (instead of waiting till a used copy came in and I could buy it for about $8). It is definitely different from all her other albums, but is most similar to DILATE. Quite a couple songs are poems, she's pretty much just talking them and there's music playing in the background. And those are the best songs (ex: Fuel and Deep Dish). And I love Two Little Girls, more lesbian undertones (or should I say overtones), but I like it more because of the melody. Just more great writing on Ani's part. (She is a genius.) The last few songs dwindle, which is a shame. Though I do like Glass House. Other than it, however, the last songs are not quite up to par. The first eight songs deserve much more to follow them. Because the first eight songs are smashing. But eight outta twelve isn't bad. MORE JOY, LESS SHAME: I asked for MORE JOY, LESS SHAME for Easter (a Christian holiday, I know). I had picked it up a couple of times in the record store. But I never realized that 4 of the 6 tracks are Joyful Girl, a song that I've never been crazy about (though I never disliked it). It gets a little redundant. And yet I've listened to this album quite a few times. It's great for when you're going to be busy for a while and need something to listen to while you work. I've listened to it in the tub, while cleaning my room, and while just sitting around working on art projects and the like. It's not spectacular, but it comes in handy. THE PAST DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE: I was a little reluctant to buy this album. The fact that Ani doesn't sing, and the fact that Ani didn't really write any of the words, they both turned me off. But I still say it's worthwhile. It's not an album for all occasions, but it is interesting. On it Ani's typical and individual style of music serenades Utah Phillip as he makes his radical speechs. Some do drag on indefinitely, and sometimes it's easy to lose interest. And then there are other times when he says the most memorable things. "Folk music is boring...but I am a folk singer, this a folk music organization, and you are the folk." It's a great CD to clean a room or a house to. Utah is definitely an interesting guy and Ani's music is definitely well done as always. UP UP UP UP UP UP: I was so excited to rush out and get Ani's newest CD, but when I started listening to it I was apalled. It so completely disappointed me. My friend I would have whole conversations made up of, "OH GOD, I HATE THE NEW CD SO MUCH!" and "SWEET LORD, IT'S UNBEARABLE!" But the more I've listened to it, the more I like it. It is definitely a departure. True, some of the songs drag on and on and have nothing meaningful to say (Come Away), but others are hauntingly beautiful. Trickle Down, a ballad about poverty and unemployment and the injustice of corporate Americal, frightens me out of my wits. I take it as such a metaphor for the Holocaust. She mentions ashes blocking out the sun, a dirty snow; "what they didn't say was that the plant was slowly shutting down," like the total annihilation of the jews in the camps. And I know Ani doesn't mean for it to be about what I relate it to, but still it almost brings me to tears and shudders every time I hear it. Some songs are very inspiring, while others still disappoint me. It truly will be interesting where Ani takes it from here.

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