Ani Difranco Allergic to Water

Little Plastic Castle posed an unusual challenge for Ani DiFranco. She released this record after spending a year promoting her first live CD (Living in Clip) by repeatedly admitting to reporters that her studio albums lack the vitality of her concert performances. Rock critics agreed en masse, and their praise for the live album helped to propel DiFranco to a new level of mainstream stardom – but it also heightened the scrutiny on her next studio recording. Fortunately, she managed to dodge several of the pitfalls of her previous albums. Her excellent band had plenty of time to jell on the road, and their performances here are as tight, driven and intense as they've ever been. Vocally, DiFranco is somewhat less affected than on previous albums, where the unnatural isolation of the studio sometimes led her to unnatural mannerisms. Her songwriting, however, is not quite up to par.

Every new album from Ani DiFranco gives listeners a reason to get excited about music all over again, and her latest, Reprieve, is certainly no exception. Across 12 tracks, DiFranco ignites more of her signature blend of poetry, politics and musicianship. Ani and touring bassist Todd Sickafoose are the only two players on the new album - something you'd never guess from it's rich and detailed sound. In addition to the usual array of acoustic and electric guitars, Ani can be heard on keyboards, drums, and other instruments, while Todd contributes bass, wurlitzer, pump organ, piano and "fakey-bakey" trumpet and strings. The album was tracked in her New Orleans studio in early 2005 during a break in her usually heavy touring schedule. Forced to leave the master recordings behind before Hurricane Katrina, she drove back into the city to retrieve them just three days after the levees broke. From there she headed back to overdub in her hometown of Buffalo with whatever instruments happened to be on hand.

Stepping out from her full-scale band, and doing it in a big way, Ani Difranco is presented here live from Carnegie Hall in a solo performance from 2002. Detailed song introductions and anecdotal musings elevate this show into a masterful performance - politically relevant and sonically scintillating. Even in Carnegie Hall, Ani's performance is characterized by its intimacy.

Upon opening the CD case of So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter, one is greeted with a picture of an automobile shop with a sign reading, "We Believe in God – America – Trucks." One imagines that Ani DiFranco and her fellow New Yorkers find a number of similar sentiments as their progressive folk show travels across small-town America. Despite such nativist impulses, DiFranco also finds a warm, responsive audience wherever she travels. Her first live album in five years, So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter documents the Righteous Babe in a number of settings, captured between September 2000 and April 2002. Like 1997's Living in Clip, one can't really hope to reproduce a DiFranco concert on a single disc. The performances are seamlessly sequenced, meaning one can put both discs in the CD changer, crank up the volume, and settle into the easy chair for a private show.

Ani DiFranco is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of her seminal first live album 'Living In Clip' with offering a 25th anniversary, remastered edition of the landmark double album on July 29 (vinyl + cd + digital formats). This marks the first time the breakthrough recording will be available on vinyl (3 LPs 180g red smoke), which includes a new album cover and never previously seen photos of Ani, her band and crew from that era. Twenty-five years later the album is recognized as a point of entry that radically expanded DiFranco’s audience, and a historically important testament to the relationship between Ani as a live performer and the devoted community she created with her fans.