Ani DiFranco
So Much Shouting/So Much Laughter (Righteous Babe)
by Jamie Kiffel
The not-a-pretty girl has grown up. This time, Ani DiFranco is armed with a brazen horn section, thick and tough syncopation, keyboards, and a face-forward delivery. She’s no longer howling her tunes like a wronged and ratty cat. She’s commanding them like a crackerjack army. The Ani who learned to sneer and growl across the backs of coffee shops and women’s colleges has finally joined fists with the much calmer, experimental jazz and funk self she’s presented over the past few albums. The result: Polished power. Packing emotion, this live double-disc does everything I’ve wanted DiFranco to do for years. It melds her grrl-power attitude with experienced musicianship and assured stage delivery, no longer shrinking under emotionally unstable songs like “Not a Pretty Girl” and “Letter to a John.” Instead, DiFranco fires out the lines like the blacksmith who forged them, not like an injured punk girl growling dejectedly under their weight.
(www.righteousbabe.com)