Ani Di Franco, So Much Shouting So Much
Laughter (Righteous Babe Music 2002)
Purely for anyone on my side of the wishing well, who has not
heard Ani Di Franco, let me make the introduction. It is hard to put Ani Di
Franco and her 6 piece band in any one genre of music. She is not what I would
call folk music, nor is she Country, Roots, progressive folk, or Blues --
at least not that I have heard before! She is just different and very much
so! She has a very innovative modern style that some people call fusion/hip
hop, but in reality nobody's gt the right name for it yet, mainly because
of the rhythms Ani uses. If I was forced to give a name for her music, my
vote goes for Eclectic!
A modern day Bob Dylan? With her lyrics? Maybe. The angry young
man of the 60's / 70's has now become an angry young woman -- perhaps
it's a sign of the times! Either way Ani's style of the music and
rhythms can be very aggressive at times, and set out to shock you
into listening. So Much Shouting and So Much Laughter is a
double album recorded live in various venues in Europe and America.
Each disc has been sub-titled, disc one Stray Cats and disc
two Girls Singing Night. In total there are 23 tracks. All the
songs are written by Ani, and her subject matter ranges from love,
her own feminism, to taking a pop at the system, politicians and
presidents.
On the whole the music and songs are quite good, but I have to say that any
one outside of North America may have to really concentrate to catch and understand
the lyrics. This is mainly due to a poor mix of instruments and vocal levels.
This is always a problem with live recording, and catching the excitement of
the moment is difficult. Of the two discs I enjoyed disc two the best, only
because it has a brilliant poem with musical backing called 'Self Evident' a
lot of people will identify with. This track alone will ensure Ani never gets
a gig at the White House! Girls Singing Night also has the song called
'Not a Pretty Girl', which for my money is probably the best song on the album.
With the exception of 3 tracks, the songs on this album have been
recorded before on previous albums. This double album is very good in
that it brings insight to what a band on the road can sound like.
For that reason I liked it, as I am sure her fans do. As I intimated
before Ani Di Franco is not a normal 'run of the mill' performer.
[Peter
Massey]
You can learn more about Ani Di
Franco and listen to some sample tracks before buying the album
here,
which I recommend you do.
