Ani Difranco - Carnegie Hall

Ani DiFranco, let me be frank. I like most any of your albums. I discovered you when Dilate was released simply because of the kick-ass cover art and soon learned, after the first listen, that you had verve, spunk, sass, and moxie to burn. And burn you do and burn you have in a plethora of outstanding albums and you’ve done it your way, creating your own label and battling the behemoth corporate rock labels. Well done. And, my oh my, are you ever prolific. Not So Soft, Out of Range, the aforementioned Dilate (an independent release that cracked Billboard’s Top 100, which is no small feat), To the Teeth, Evolve, and on and on. You make a record quicker than most bands tune their instruments for a jam. All that said, I’m a fan--your honest, empowering lyrics, your independence from corporate greed, your feminist sensibilities, your musicianship--and yet your new live album, recorded in 2002 is a bit of a let-down. I’m not saying it’s not good, it is. But for someone getting introduced to DiFranco, you could do much better (check out Little Plastic Castle to see what she can truly do). The problem? The album rambles and shambles along and there is no cohesion, no solid musical foundation. That could simply because she’s doing it solo--just her voice and her guitar--but even so the whole album could be cleaner, a delineation between her intimacy with the audience, i.e. lots of chit chat between songs, and the songs themselves. It’s hard to tell when she’s simply strumming her guitar and talking and when she’s strumming her guitar and singing a song that DiFranco is known for. Singing, that’s what she’s good at. She should do that rather than a discussion of a poem she wrote after a visit to New York’s financial district. It’s a fine poem, sure, but, come on, where’s the shaved head feminist goddess saying, “Fuck you and your untouchable face/Fuck you for existing in the first place…”? I, for one, am glad you exist, Ani DiFranco, but don’t become invisible in guitar strums and meandering chit chat. Sing those powerful songs you’re known for and rock on. [www.righteousbabe.com]