So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter

Ani Difranco - So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter

So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter
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CD Details

Artist: Ani Difranco
Edition: Music CD
Format: Live
CD Release Date: 2002-09-10
Music Label: Righteous Babe
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Swan Dive
  2. Letter To A John/ Tamburiza Lingua
  3. Grey
  4. Cradle And All
  5. What All Is Nice
  6. What How When Where
  7. To The Teeth
  8. Revelling
  9. Napoleon
  10. Shrug
  11. Welcome To:
Music CD 2
  1. Comes a Time
  2. Ain't That The Way
  3. Dilate
  4. Gratitude
  5. Rock Paper Scissors
  6. 32 Flavors
  7. Loom/ Pulse
  8. Not A Pretty Girl
  9. Self Evident
  10. Reckoning
  11. My IQ
  12. Jukebox
  13. You Had Time

Music reviews of So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter

Music Review: A mixed review for a mixed album.
Rating: 3 Stars

When I first listened to this disc, I thought, "They're all gonna come back." The songs that launch the first cd addictively, energetically bridged the Ani Gap--you know, that windswept land of obvious jazz and funk influence where so many fans began to peter off, after, say, Up Up Up Up Up Up, and had completely disappeared by Revelling/ Reckoning. "Swandive", a great song from probably her most accomplished album so far (Little Plastic Castle) was right out of the middle. It had what they dig: Ani, overtly teed off, mostly guitar, and as lyrically and instrumentally plucky as the pursits prefer. Then "Letter to a John"--an "oldie." It's such a staple of the "old" Ani, but she and the band revamp it and it makes sense with the keyboards and horn that turned of so many fans. And then, right when she's got them to appreciate her new angle, she goes into the "new" Ani--"Tamburitza Lingua"--and it's so fun! It makes sense! They're gonna get it! They're gonna come back! Up Up Up Up Up Up and To The Teeth sales will soar!!

Unfortunately, that doesn't keep up. Granted, it shows again with the version of "Gratitude," and to a much lesser extent with "My IQ." And some of the people put off by anything after Dilate might come back to her last three albums with more openness. Those albums deserve it. I'm a big fan of the last three albums. But not all the versions here make such a case for a second listen. Ani Difranco fans nowadays generally seem to be one of two sorts: either they insist on the superiority of her stripped down guitar/direct and overtly political days, or seem to worship her without considering what she is actually doing. Let's face it, something is often askew with the new approach, and it really shows on this disc. I am not sure what it is. The musicians' ability? Their comfort with each other? Their passion? It feels a little forced. And it gets so old: the same old couple of piano keys, the same trumpet notes and same flippin' trumpet intros. Or, a bunch of half-funky noise. On her most recent albums the trumpet and keyboards mostly work--but not here, and not nearly as often. Way too often her new songs and delivery on known songs are just not engaging. Sometimes, god forgive me, fan that I am, I feel like I'm listening as a favour. Her version of "Loom/Pulse" is a case in point. Nothing is much fun there. The vocal delivery, the drums, accordian, trumpet, electric guitar...you are not interesting, intelligent, creative, or a fun just because you play with Ani or play Ani Difranco songs. And that includes Ani. Think of the Living in Clip and Little Plastic Castle versions of these songs--they are fantastic. Go back and listen to "Jukebox" on Up Up Up Up Up Up. It's obvious that the passion and ability is on that record, as promising as this version begins. "You Had Time" is so promising, but then we get a couple of musicians who come off like they are thinking of being somewhere else. On "Shrug," it sounds like no one wants to be there.

Having said such possibly scathing things, let me state the obvious that this set is worth owning for the phenomenal "Self Evident." On music alone! If only all her performances with the band could have been so sharp! *That* is what they are capable of, that is what they should be doing. (It makes their other work here twice as embarrassing, frankly.) It really is amazing, folks. Ani nails the grief, significance, and the double-pronged peversity of 9/11 . Truly not to be missed. You'll understand and feel more each time you listen to it. So...five stars for Self-Evident. Four stars for a handful of performances, and a reluctant three stars at the rest of the tunes. It's not whether or not I like the cd that I can't figure. I do. It's how much. When you buy it, I hope you find it frustrating less often than I do.

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Description of So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter

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Who besides Ani DiFranco would begin an album with a piercing buzz and a muttered "I don't know why the f**k I play acoustic guitars"? But then who else would release a double-disc concert set only five years after the last one? Like 1997's Living in Clip, her latest live document is sublimely packaged and messily recorded, and features the backing of a howling audience and a hot jazz-rock band. Highlights include a funky, almost gangsta take of her best New York song, "Cradle and All"; Julie Wolf's grinding organ on "Napoleon"; and the previously unreleased post-9/11, antiwar poem "Self Evident." The performances (culled from venues across the U.S., as well as France and Canada) feature lots of witty soap-boxing (apparently no one told Ani that Clear Channel's infamous banned song list doesn't exist... does it?) in addition to some gorgeous guitar picking and inventive horn lines. In the end, all the flaws, giggles, stumbling starts, and risky arrangements are a testament to how much she trusts her audience and how much they trust her. Do her fans really need another double live album? When the performances brim with this much charisma, adventure, and conviction, yes, they do. --Roy Kasten

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