Urban Folk music reviews

This is the real thing performed with joy and depth by a
woman who was born do do nothing else.
A superb showcase for Ani's singing,guitar playing,and
overall stage mastery that is not to be missed.On this effort
she is using a crackling,popping backup band that is enjoying the performance along with her.
One of the best live albums you have heard in a long time--
both in musicianship and sound quality.
If you are an established fan of Ms Difranco,this will have you clapping with glee.If you are not---you will be after you
give this one a listen.I fall into the latter catagory.This was my first experience with Ani's music.rest assured it will
not be my last.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Ani Difranco is, to say the least, an extremely prolific artist. I can say I've been a fan for a good chunk of years now and I *still* don't have all her albums. (i'm working on it) She just has so many! She's a rare breed in that she's an artist that seems to release an album at least once a year (if not more frequently) and I love that about her. With Ani it is truly all about her craft, she could care less about the big wigs and the commercialism of the music business. Since what, 1989-1990(?) she's been on her *own* label, (Righteous Babes Records) & done everything herself with a select group of trusted folks. In other words, A)she's far from a sell out B)She knows what shes doing, and she LOVES what she's doing

Living In Clip is **ESSENTIAL** for anyone who appreciates Ani's music. Whether you're a long time fan or someone who's only just recently stumbled upon her greatness. It has so many amazing, classic Ani songs...and even better, it's LIVE so you can literally hear her in action- with an audience, catch a bit of goofy banter & Ani-ness all at once.

The music is great here. Some of the songs are jazzed up, an old time favorite from the early 90's "Both Hands" is wonderfully remastered with a backing orchestra and it sounds amazing.

Ani Difranco is not your typical artist/musician. Some artists are "music-musicians", and some are more concerned with the words and the messages conveyed. Ani is both and she does it all so effortlessly. Her songs aren't sweet little 4 minute pieces with a chorus and an A major melody. She actually has something to say, and one way or another she gets you to listen.

Long time fans love Ani for her frankness, her fierce and sometimes snarly voice that she uses in so many different ways. She can do a melancholic jazz song--from playing the instruments to singing the notes. She can whip out an accordian and string words together like nobody's business and turn it all into an upbeat funky song, (like a lot of those on Little Plastic Castle). Bottem line, she's all about variation, being a dynamic performer...holding people's attention.

This double disc live set is her at the top of her game, putting critics in their place and giving us all a damn good set of songs in the process.

"Gravel", "Willing To Fight", "Untouchable Face", "Shameless", "Both Hands", "Firedoor", "Shy", "Napolean", "Out of Habit".... All of these are CLASSIC Ani, but of course don't skip over the rest of the songs cuz they're great too.

I have I think ALL or almost all of Ani's albums, and I am a huge fan, but this is one of the best albums she has put out. Well, truthfully, I like them all, but anyway, in this one you really get her great LIVE sound which is slightly different than her studio sound. Ani in concert is AMAZING and this gives you a glimpse into that world. You'll love her silliness and her fierce gut-wrenching renditions of her most famous songs. Listen from start to finish for a real thrill or put your favorites on your ipod. The energy on the album is wonderful. I think this is a great introduction to her music if you've never heard it. If you are already a fan, you will LOVE this one!!! Oh, and in case you've never heard her, she is kind of folk/rock/punk/funk even jazzy at times. Listen to the clips provided or check out www.righteousbabe.com. Every album has a different flavor.

I never heard any Ani DiFranco music before I met my ex-boyfriend, so I didn't really know much about her. He was really into folk music, so he gave me this disc to listen to. Well I fell in love with her music right away. It was bouncy and fun, and lyrically it was like nothing else I had ever heard before. I love her style and how she paints a perfect picture with her words, so I was hooked. Well the ironic part is I swear either all guys are the same, or she was singing about my ex 99% of the time. I have never related more to a song before I heard the title track 'Dilate'. It became an anthem for a while, and when I hear it now 3 years later I start laughing to myself because it still feels so amazingly spot on.... "you are so lame, you always disappoint me, it's kind of like our running joke, except it's really not funny, and I just want you to live up to the image of you I've created, I see you and I'm so unsatisfied, I see you and I dilate"... "When I say you sucked my brain out, the English translation is I am in love with you and it is no fun".... I don't know, it's like she was in my head, and just had a better way of expressing exactly how I felt. Most of the songs had something about them that rang true to me, not just on this album though, the live disc 'Living in Clip' had many of the same songs and then some others that also seemed to be narrating my life at the time.

Anyway her music is great, even if you aren't in a crazy relationship. However if you are, this is music that might just help you get your strength back, I know at times I would listen to it religiously because there was something so comforting about it, maybe it was just because she does a better job of expressing her anger and frustration. It felt like I could just put a song on for him and make him understand how I felt, but of course it never worked out that way.

Anyway the irony of who turned me on to her music will forever make me smile, and when I listen to it now it is just a great reminder of how good I have it with my husband to be. For those who just appreciate honest music created by a talented poet and musician this album should not disappoint.

Ani is so AWESOME!!!!! She puts out her opinions in strong catchy music. Yeah theres profanity but that just makes it STRONGER!!!
Watch out world here comes Ani Difranco!!!

This is my favorite album of all time. It helped me through a really difficult time in 1996 and I still listen to it over and over again now. I love the way she tells her stories in her music and almost every song on this album still gives me chills almost 10 years later!

This is the only early Ani album where I feel like the review I am writing now will be quite different than it would have been had I written it years ago during my initial exposures to it. This is the early Ani album that has held up the least over the years, in my opinion. As is the case with many of Ani's albums, this one has some of her best tunes ever. Performance-wise though, there is something about this album that doesn't hold me as much as her other early ones still do.

That's not to say that it is a bad album at all. Buildings & Bridges, Hell Yeah, and You Had Time are great performances of some of my favorite of her tunes. It's just that in the years since... take Overlap for instance. In terms of commercially available versions, the Overlap on the Living in Clip live 2-disc set renders this Overlap utterly null and void. Not owning Living In Clip would seem (to me) to be the only possible explanation as to why someone would still listen to the version on Out of Range.

Having said that, obviously anyone who is more than just a casual Ani fan should buy this album. Like I said, the 3 songs/performances I listed earlier are great and are not to be missed. Also with more electricity than her previous (at the time) releases, this one is a bit of a glimpse into her future electric bands and evolving aesthetic.

Letter To a John, Overlap, Out of Range, etc...song-wise, the goods are here, it's just that by now there are performances of these great tunes that seem to make these versions sound like nothing more than the jotting down of some ideas that would go on to bloom into perfection at later dates.

Out of Range is an exercise in musical, lyrical, and vocal subtlety by Ani DiFranco. By the time she announces in track 5 that her reference to "two tree limbs" is "a metaphor, if you know what I mean", you've already been drawn into a subliminal lyrical journey quite nicely; the songs are about real life without gloss. The music is pure delight, with sparse acoustic guitar accompaniment dominating many of the songs -- she sometimes resorts to gently plucking the notes of the same chord repeatedly, but deftly avoids becoming monotonous and dull-sounding when she does this. Her simple acoustic moments work perfectly in setting up the explosive moments of electric-guitar playing (and horn playing on one track) that pepper the CD. The lady sings slow ballads and fast rockers with a youthful-McCartney-like adeptness. She is superb.

I like every track on this CD but I wish to comment on two specific songs. With wonderful percussion and a 3-piece horn section accompaniment, "How Have You Been" explodes from the speakers. The raucous music superbly supports the raucous attitude of a lyric about a disenchanted lover. "You Had Time" is an unusual track because it has a gorgeous, two-minute-long, piano introduction that quietly alerts the listener that something important and significant is up. The extended intro seems to represent either a period of meditation and contemplation or the period of loss felt in a dying relationship. The lyric touches on the conflict one feels when one person in a relationship senses that something is missing while the other person believes that they've found bliss. By the way, in my opinion, Ani's lyrics on Out of Range are gender neutral and can be related to by heterosexual people. Don't believe anyone who tells you differently.

You may consider Ani DiFranco's voice on Out of Range to be either exquisite or quirky (depending on your personal taste in vocals) but it is, undeniably, a fascinating mixture of mature sound and childlike sound; she absolutely avoids the annoying childlike-sound of some recent female pop singers. Early in her career, Ani was categorized as a folk singer (note: the local Coconuts Music Store near my home has Ani DiFranco's CDs in its tiny "Folk" section). The "Folk" tag has stuck with her despite the fact that the lady really hits her stride with a very funky rock and jazz-rock style.

Although Ani DiFranco has oft been compared to specific female folkies and rockers, her sound on Out of Range is a synthesis of many who came before her: Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Edie Brickell, Suzane Vega, Natalie Merchant (who, like Ani, hails from western New York) and even Debbi Harry (on the fast songs), to name but a few. It seems to me that Ms. DiFranco has had an influence on the likes of Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Lisa Loeb, Tori Amos, Rachael Sage, and many others, although her relative obscurity may make that contention an implausible and impossible one in most cases.

Out of Range is an excellent album. If you like vivid melodies, subtle narrative lyrics, and Ani's voice, you should add Out of Range to your music collection.

OK, so you loved NOT A PRETTY GIRL, IMPERFECTLY and PUDDLE DIVE and you want another album by Ani that's "kind of like those". You're in luck -- there's one left! It's called OUT OF RANGE and it's great.

(Not that the earlier, more simple albums and the later, more synthesized albums aren't great too, but this one sort of rounds out the 'in-your-face folk style quadrilogy".)

Songs like OVERLAP capture deeply personal moments with anger, longing and guts.

YOU HAD TIME is about wishing you loved someone that you know is a good match for you, and who -- even worse -- ouch -- happens to love you deeply.

And of course, there's her trademark political FACE UP AND SING, which is probably the reason for the cliche, "You go, girl." :)

It's another must-have in your Classic Ani collection.

The raw emotion, great lyrics, and intuitive gutiar play makes the feeling of being a new adult in a crap NYC apartment just as close as your speakers. This may sound bad, but it doesnt hurt for music making, and you dont have to put up with the shooting sounds at night. :) Ani kindly leads us through a young woman's life on her own: relationships, jobs, politics. At the end, leaving a great album. Personally, this will never leave my collection.

I'm 11 years old and I love Ani Difranco music. I have all of her albums. Yes, some to of the songs are inapropriate. I don't care! I love everything about Ani Difranco music. I love her voice; I love the melodies; most of all, I love the lyrics. Ani Difranco is so honest that you CAN ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND THE LYRICS. She is amazing!

Song Ratings

Both Hands: 10/10- This is the best song on the album. This song is beautiful. Her best version is on this album. Ani Difranco has a lot of versions of Both Hands.

Talk to Me Now: 8/10-This song is really pretty good. It has a catchy tune, and a nice rythm. Her voice is kind of weird in some parts though. This version is pretty much exactly the same as the version on the album Like I Said.

The Slant:7/10-This is all spoken word with no backround music at all. It is pretty, but kind of obscure.

Work Your Way Out:9/10-I like this song a lot. It sounds kind of mysterious somehow. It gets repetitive at the end when Ani Difranco keeps on saying," Oh yes, I am caught like bottled water. The light daughter."

Dog Coffee: 9/10- This song is more interesting than some of the other songs. I like it. (Wow, what a suprise.) I like how this song does not involve any romance for a change.

Lost Woman Song: 10/10-This is my second favorite song on this album. I think it is beautiful, and the topic of abortions is interesting. I especially like her voice in this song.

Pale Purple:9/10- This song has a catch tune. The guitar playing is kind of simple. Overall this is just a nice, normal Ani song.

Rush Hour: 10/10- This might have been the first ani difranco song I ever listened to, and I still love everything about it. There is another similar version on Like I Said. I love Ani's voice in this song. The guitar playing is also great.This is a tie with The Story for my third favorite song on this album.

Fire Door:8/10-This song is, like Pale Purple, just your average nice Ani Difranco song. The guitar playing in this song is really good.

The Story:10/10-This song is good if you're looking for something quiet and sad-sounding. This song also has really great guitar playing. Tied with Rush Hour for my third favorite song on this album.

Every Angle:5/10-Skip it. It's all right, but not worth listening to. The tune is not very interesting. It doesn't go with the lyrics really. And the lyrics are kind of repetitive.

Out of Habit:9/10-This song has a REALLY catchy tune. Some parts of this song are sort of inapropriate. But who the heck cares?

Letting the Telephone Ring:8/10-I like this song. It seems like a normal really good Ani Difranco song. There's nothing really unusal about it.

Thus ends my looooooooooooooong review.

I used to hear girls in high school gabbing "Ani Difranco this" and "Ani Difranco that" and I, wanting to be different and all, wanted to scream SHUT UP!!! without having grooved to a single song.

The thing I didn't realize is, Ani's music IS different.

It's empowering.

Not to sound overly mushy or anything, but it connects us to that devine sisterheard (which, contrary to appearances, does still exist).

And guys, yes it's OK, and even cool, for you to listen to Ani's music, too.

Ani's first CD is my personal favorite of all the albums I own at the moment (which is quite a few, I might add). I love her songs. I love her voice. And I especially love her lyrics. So, if you haven't heard Ani, give her a chance, and check out Ani Difranco.

Michelle Shocked (nee Johnson) takes nostaligia, adds irrepressible energy, anger and cynicism to create music with such clarity and longing it does indeed sound divinely inspired.

Most of the songs, particularly "Anchorage" and "Memories of East Texas" (wow!), are auto-open-heart-surgery. They get to the dilemma of wanting to burn the banal small-town restrictiveness of all the things that we are told as we grow up, and the desolation of loosing the dreams that we need to believe in.

The medium may be "Country Music," but the message could not be more City. Nor is it a punky protest CD, save for cover and the strange last track. There is protest, in lyrics (you have got to hear her sing them, please) such as

"And they could not make a place for a girl who'd seen the ocean"

and

"Hey Chel, We was wild then,"

but beyond the hot angry protest, there is a cold cynical distance. This lady went further afield than Anchorage (read her bio by the way).

In a similar-ish vien I can also recommend, Voice of the Beehive, Analis Morissette, Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega and Kate Bush. Avril Lavigne isn't bad either, but Michelle Shocked beats the pants off Avril Lavigne.

You will not regret buying this CD.

...for letting this CD out of print. Get your act together record company and make it available in a hurry

I had first heard of Michelle Shocked when I read a review of her album "Deep Natural" in the Minneapolis paper. I bought the album and loved it, but I was not able to find any more of her albums in a store (and have not purchased any online). Recently I borrowed two Michelle Shocked albums from the public library. I have since had "Short Sharp Shocked" constantly playing in my cd player.

This album has a bluesy, down home folk funk sound to it. It is fairly hard to describe, but I think that is a good thing. Michelle Shocked has a wonderful sound and I appreciate the fact that it can't really be pigeonholed. There is a power in Shocked's voice. "Anchorage" is one of my favorite tracks from the album, but there is no song that I really don't like on this gem. Great album and definitely worth buying.

what further can be said?? this is a time-capsule on tape,..a modern folk recollection of an age fading into a sonic fog and rapidly disappearing behind slick suits, fancy ties, cyber-cafes and over-production. here lies a collection of stripped-down acoustic poems, audio folklore and haunting "front-porch" stories depicting the hardships and weight borne by "common folk" and the burden of the "thankless trenchmen" who labor anonymously to serve the common good AND make ends meet. it was certaily an AMBITIOUS undertaking for UT but we (the listening masses) were THANKFULLY rewarded with a absolute classic. never have Farrar and Tweedy sounded more earnest and TRULY inspired by the tracks they laid down (than on this album). from the weary wails of Grindstone and Coalminers to the deep introspection of Black Eye and Moonshiner to the mournful regret of I Wish My Baby Was Born...this is a MUST HAVE for ANYONE who even REMOTELY likes acoustic folk music. this album is an absolute treasure and it has been a mainstay in my cd collection for years. a real beauty. a diamond.

A phenomenon like Uncle Tupelo is at times hard to comprehend. This album solidifies them as one of the best bands of the last twenty years. Moving away from their earlier brilliant albums that meshed rock and country they bring it all home by devoting themselves to daunting and beautiful renditions of traditionals and new material. This is an obvious tribute and demonstration of where they derived their unique sound.
Haunting renditions of songs like Coalminers, Criminals and Lilli Schull do what Tupelo does best: reminds us that music is both a potent tool for protest and catharsis. Farrar's bold lyrics ironically contrast with the fatalistic topics that the songs treat.
This album is very different than their first two but the themes and motivation stay the same. They are a constant lament of loneliness, exploitation and isolation. They are songs about the system manifest in the individual. They reject the morbid romanticism that a lot of the alternative scene seems to attach to the woes of the modern man, which is in a way endorsement of the system that rejects them but gives them identity. This music is not about Tupelo. It is about man, and it is beautiful, haunting and an absolute work of genius...

...This cd is wonderful. It's all that music should be. The acoustic simplicity, the picking, the grating voices, the poignant themes, all of them blend together to make one [heck] of a satisfying cd. As previously said, if you listen to Uncle Tupelo, you'll form a band.

But it doesn't matter, because no one (not even Wilco or Volt) will EVER be Uncle Tupelo.

Honestly, this is as good or beyond the quality of the Lilith Fair CDs I have of those concerts. Getting such exceptional folk performers in one package is unusual. And New England seems like it's almost the official headquarters for most of the really fine singer-songwriters: Melissa Ferrick, Patty Larkin, Merrie Amsterburg, Jennifer Kimball, you name 'em.

If you are saddened and dismayed by things like Eminem, this is the album to buy to save some lives that could be ruined or destroyed by misogyny. The Patty Larkin song alone is worth it but all the rest are brave and beautiful.

This is a must buy! Every artist featured on this CD is uniquely different, yet share a common ground of making a difference to battered women and children. This is what today's music should be about! If you are reading this, and you haven't purchased this CD...now is the time!

My favorite thing about this album was that they sent out a "Capitalism is Killing Music" promotional coffee mug to the music director at my college radio station...I would kill for that mug today.

I would never have thought politics and love could go so well together. On this album, every song is political, yet every song is a love song, and the politics and love seem completely inseperable. The words are always great--Billy Bragg's best--and the music always serves to make the words even more powerful. You can hate Billy Bragg's politics, but if you've ever been in love or wanted to be, you still find something for yourself here. "Worker's Playtime" was recorded in the 1980s, yet it still sounds fresh and timeless. It's better than anything Billy Bragg's done in the last ten years (though that's not saying that much) and possibly better than any of his other albums.
"She's Got A New Spell" rocks out jangling, with citar, even. "Must I Paint You A Picture?" uses a female vocalist to tell about a decaying relationship, and then declares, "This would never happen, if we lived by the sea." "The Price I Pay" is one of the best piano love songs ever, full of regret and sad hope. And "Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards" is about as good as songs get, building into an anthem, a collectivist anthem embraceable by anyone who's ever hoped for change. "Here comes the future / And you can't run from it / If you've got a blacklist / I want to be on it!"
This is a great album. It will always remind me of my older brother who first introduced me to (good) popular music, and it will always remind me of what Billy Bragg is capable of. (Now if someone would just remind Billy....)

What to say about Workers Playtime? Listening to it is like going back to college and reliving your youth. I'm sure Mr. Bragg feels the same way about it. It's only 11 songs long but it's impossible to think that the music could be much better.

On this album, the master of urban folk created melodies concerning politics and love that are as outstanding as anything found in his oeuvre. "Waiting For The Great Leap Forward" needs little explanation but the tune includes lyrical nuggets like "the revolution is just a t-shirt away." Honestly, there's not a bad song on the CD even though I didn't like the a cappella, "Tender Comrade," at first. Now it goes down like Chimay Ale.

Even though I bought my copy about 15 years ago, I still sing along to the tracks when they play. Workers Playtime is an inspired mix of rock, folk, and late eighties pop. What a combination. It begins with the earnest joy of "She's got a New Spell," which is the perfect tune with which to introduce friends to Billy Bragg. Its lyrics are original and you cannot sit still while listening to it. "Must I Paint You a Picture" and "The Price I Pay" are both intense and passionate. They also showcase his complexity as a lyricist. Personally, I spent years laughing about the line, "I hate the a--hole I become when I'm with you," in "Life with the Lions." The sentiment is quite accurate about many a relationship.

As for the album's zenieth, I would have to say that "The Only One" is right up there with "St. Swithins Day," as Billy's most beautiful love song ever. It'll haunt you for life; just like the rest of this release.

We are all pretty familiar with the concept of over-acting. You know, like Al Pacino in Scarface. But is it possible to "over-sing." I think it is, and I'd argue Ani does it in every single song she's ever written. "eaaarggAh! OhheeeeOO!, UyayayayayEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Probably it does the trick if you're PMSing real bad, but as a dude I have a little trouble relating. For a while I thought she had bad lyrics. But then I tried just reading them straight up and realized hey they are totally decent, it's just the vocals that make them tough to stomach. Shakespeare would probably be bad if you said, "the-e-e-ea-a-a- quAAliteee-e-e-e-eEEEEEE of mer cy is not STRAYEEEYYAAAYYEEEAYYEEEAAAAAAnedahugooooh!...." That said, even though they aren't bad perse, they are sort of annoying. I don't like coffee houses, or people who frequent them. Which seems to be sort of the Ani universe. On the other hand, if you like to get an expresso before catching the subway downtown to catch the Innercity Radical Anarchocommunist Existential Collective's screening of their latest short film about transgender intellectual insurgents in the world of independent media publishing in Seattle, where you'll meet a group of girls wearing different colored socks and quirky glasses, and at least one radical photographer named Jeremy, with whom you plan to go backpacking this weekend on a scenic trail where you'll write obsessively about yourself in a journal, all the while missing the amazing plants and animals because you don't know anything about nature except that you hate corporations who want to destroy it, and you're too busy journalling about the flaky dudes you sleep with, plus your parents were hippies and you're exactly like them and not original at all, you'll probably totally dig the vibe here.
On to the positives, Ani is a great guitarist. I dig her style, and wish she was a little more guitar-based and less vocal based, because this is really where she stands out in the singer-songwriter genre. She doesn't just lay down some simple chords, she works the strings, and she has skills. Actually, if she stopped singing, and got someone else to sing while she wrote the music, I think she'd probably be great.

Also, she should get someone else to produce these albums. You have to turn all her albums way up to hear anything but her voice.

If you like her voice though, this would probably be a 5 star album.

I don't know, maybe it's me but I get a little "activism-for-the-sake-of-activism" from this album... Or maybe "shock-value-for-the-sake-of-shock-value"... But that doesn't stop it from being good most of the time.

Unique and fantastic things she does with a guitar.

That is not what i do....

Ani's songs get you thinking about things differently. She's not afraid to tell the other half of it and give you a new perspective.

I love the guitar the lyrics the voice. Ani Rocks.

I came late to Burlap to Cashmere, but I think their album was brilliant. The Eastern European style was hypnotic. Unfortunately, they only produced one album.

From the liner notes, Steven Delopoulos seemed to be the brains behind that band, so I was excited to find this solo album of his. This is not Burlap to Cashmere, though.

Don't misunderstand -- this is a very good album. It's a much more folksy, American album. Sort of Paul Simon's "Graceland" meets Appalachia. Steven's voice and guitar work have mellowed, but his songwriting is still top-notch. Great album -- it deserves to stand on its own, and I wish I had found it before I found Burlap to Cashmere.

If Burlap to Cashmere was the Christian version of Rusted Root, then Steven Delopoulos as a solo artist is the Christian version of Paul Simon.

This CD, like Burlap's "Anybody Out There?", is so full of quoteable lyrics and hummable melodies that you will find yourself singing the songs to yourself even after the first listen. But instead of the heavy Mediterranian-influenced music, this album has a sort of light, finger-picking and strumming sound to the songs -- not unlike the ubiquitous "kid you know" who brings his guitar everywhere with him, then sits down and plays beautifully with what seems like no effort. Very organic and honest.

I loved "Anybody Out There?" because it was folksy and raw, almost dark in some places ("Divorce", "Anybody out there?"). This album takes the same themes and emotions from that record and brings them into the light. The result is a warm and sincere record that you will want to play over and over.

I did not know who Steven Delopoulos was when I bought this album, but I have been very pleased with it. He sometimes sounds a little like Bob Dylan. If you like sort-of mellow, folk-y, type music with good, bouncy rythm, neat melodies, great instrumentation, and upbeat, original lyrics that manage not to be preachy or banal then I believe that you also will find it quite nice. Holy Sunlight is one of my favorites songs on this CD. I also think that it is nice to hear music of the Christian persuasion that doesn't sound like all the rest of the songs you hear on the radio (if you have ever listened to Christian stations you know what I mean.)