Ani Difranco - So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.89 You Save: $11.09 (56%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.68 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter
Free Music Review: its an okay CD
Hit: 3 Stars
I have all of Ani's music, but I really don't like this disc as much as others of hers. I think if you want a great Ani disc, grab Livin in a clip, thats her best one.Free Music Review: very disappointing
Hit: 2 Stars
Ani has unfortunately put out a beautifully packaged set of tunes recycled so many times they have lost their true essence. ani is my idol but as a musician i can sense when she needs to take a big old vacation, which is what she's supposedly doing right now. she's been with her incredibly tight band on the road for so long now, she has practically lost all of her folk sensibilities in that she has been writing music especially meant to rock out (Welcome to:, which has a gorgeous verse but an absolutely horrible chorus, this is not ani; neither is the beautifully versed Shrug which has a weirdly nauseating cop-out of a chorus); she has taken hits that have BY FAR reached their recycling limit (Letter to a john, cradle and all, jukebox) and sped them up so that they're little bubbling ditties in fast-forward...(why if she perfected LTOJ on LIC does she have to release it again?); she has taken hits like swan dive, rock paper scissors and grey, and COMPLETELY cheesified/pop-sified them (what's with the soft-rock piano on the chorus of rps?) in an effort to fully orchestrate her songs with her horn section in places that they don't belong; or she has taken beautiful gems such as Dilate/Reckoning/To the Teeth and practically did nothing to make them different or more interesting the originals. What she DOES Succeed in is the Fabulously Gorgeous version of Gratitude, with the horns adding the perfect texture. What have been more interesting for this Live album would have been to take MORE of the obscure early songs and transfered them to the band setting. Other wonderful transformations are Not a Pretty Girl and 32 Flavors. Another annoying factor in this disc is the volume issue::: the choruses are too loud and i have to turn them down and them turn her back up for the verse...If you have Revelling/Reckoning, that's all you need in terms of being up-to-date with ani right now. Every time i see her live i am blown away, but these are for the most part weak and cheesy and tired versions of great songs. it almost seems as if she was trying hard to convey that she still has the anger/the punch that hasn't been so present on her latest studio records. ani honey, we love you anyway. i have heard her new solo songs and it seems ani has made the right decision to take a step back and get back to her roots.Free Music Review: Not As Quintessential As You Might Think
Hit: 2 Stars
Though in retrospect a useful documentation of her since disbanded funk combo, So Much Shouting is a superfluous release that doesn't do much justice to Ani, her awesome band, or her deep catalog of songs.
Ani justifies this (and every) live release with the reasoning that she has never been at home in the studio, despite releasing four consecutively praised albums in the prior five years. Also, this double album's tracklist is largely repetetive of her last (double) studio album, Revelling / Reckoning. And, it arrives only five years after her last (double) live album, Living In Clip (though it repeats only a handful of tracks).
"Shrug" and the fantastic "Welcome To" seem to be the sole proof that the band is more comfortable on stage than in the studio, as the point is hardly driven home by a manic (but, perhaps fun) "What How When Where" and carbon copies of the album versions of "Revelling" and "Grey." As to older selections, Ani and the gang have erased most of the charming melody from now-shouty avorites like "Letter To A John" and "32 Flavors," and the feisty "Cradle and All" comes across like a acoustic-punk cover of a Chicago tune with its omnipresent horn section.
Where horns are hardly ever employed with restraint in the mix (as on the piercing rendition of "Dilate), a highlight is the many appearances of keyboardist and singer Julie Wolf, who is the driving force behind Ani's funkier new sound. Some of the best songs are the ones where Julie and bassist Jason Mercer facilitate a more subtle transformation, as on the pair of gentle classics "Gratitude" and "You Had Time." Also notable is a much needed live version of "Swan Dive."
Yes, it will grow on you over time, just like all of DiFranco's discs do. But, despite enough bright points to perhaps piece together a charmingly flawed single disc, this double release can (and should) be passed over - even by the the most righteous of babes - in favor of better representations of the band (Evolve), the songs (a 3rd from R/R), or Ani in her live element (Living In Clip, or the subsequent Official Bootlegs straight from Righteous Babe Records).
Free Music Review: more preaching to the converted...
Hit: 2 Stars
ani difranco's first few albums presented the singer as a tender heart/angry punk with a distinctive voice & interesting new twists on the "singer songwriter singing about relationships" angle. after peaking on puddle dive & out of range, she slowly began to repeat herself. although the music has changed (acoustic folk into jazzy/bohemian boredom), the message has not: freedoms of expression, choice, sexuality, individuality-good; republicans, pop stars, conformists, media-bad. its gotten REALLY old. whats sad is that even though ani has long surpassed morrisey as the worlds most self-absorbed pop star, she is beginning to rival bono & sting as the worlds most self-righteous pop star (and for an indie artist to rise to bono-level is quite the feat). this cd definitely documents this. in person, ani is in tune with her audience (who by the way will cheer ANYTHING she does or says), but this live cd presents ani as a bloated preacher for her church of aniexpression, from throwing a few curse words in for the girls to squeal with delight to ranting about the nra (how novel!) while the sheep in the audience bleat their approval. whats missing most from this is the FUN! ani is a fun entertainer, but "so much shouting..." is so much drudgery. ani now reminds me of jello biafra: a former incisive charasmatic performer with a singular (though annoying) voice who ran out of interesting things to say years ago, but nevertheless, can't (or won't) shut up. to paraphrase ani herself, "i'll take the next ani cd home that says something unique." this cd aint it kid.Free Music Review: Too much shouting, too little emotion.
Hit: 2 Stars
This disc could be summed up in one clich'ed phrase: beating a dead horse.As much as Ani has distanced herself both musically and lyrically in the past few years from her earlier work, it strikes me as odd that she would drudge it back up in live form to create a mediocre attempt at a crowd-pleasing compilation disc.
The newer stuff - songs from Reckoning/Revelling & To The Teeth live up to the quality I expect from her work and translate powerfully in a live forum. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing a live performance of the poem Self-Evident. Hence the two stars.
The older stuff is shouting and nothing more. It lacks emotion, and suffers from the wild cacophony of instrumentation, rendering once-powerful songs disturbingly reminiscent of the dying twitches of a wounded animal.
People grow and change over time, and Ani's no exception to this rule. Her music has always been a reflection of this growth. That her latest discs have lacked the raw anger and emotion of her earlier discs is no coincidence in my mind, only a reflection of changing views - seeing things as less black and white and more grey. In fact, it would be less beleivable if her music and lyrics were unchanging. It's one of the things I appreciate most about her. This compilation is a betrayal of who she is at this moment, and as much as I love her older work, it's clear to me that her heart is not in these songs.
As for buying the disc - I don't regret it, but it's an awfully pricy piece for only a few truly enjoyable tracks...