| | Ani Difranco CD Ani Difranco Discography of CDs
 (2 Customer Reviews)
The self-titled 1990 debut by Ani DiFranco created a buzz in folk music circles unlike anything seen since Suzanne Vega's debut of five years earlier. That the album was self-produced and self-released on DiFranco's own Righteous Babe label, and that DiFranco was not yet 20 at the time, only added to the clamor.
With her shaved head and tattoos, DiFranco looked tough and self-assured. But the beauty and emotional depth of this album come from the way assertive, almost angry songs like "Out of Habit" are counterbalanced with tender, less guarded songs like the apprehensively romantic "Both Hands." DiFranco's searing social commentary is particularly corrosive in the emotional "Lost Woman Song." Recorded with one acoustic guitar and occasional percussion, the album sounds intimate but never skeletal. This second CD pressing contains one extra track, the stark "Letting the Telephone Ring."
Recorded at Audio Magic, Buffalo, New York in September 1990.
Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, guitar).
Recording information: Audio Magic Buffalo, NY (1989).
Photographer: Scot Fisher. Ani Difranco Music Review Average Rating: (4.5 out of 5 stars)   Check it Out
Ani DiFranco was a star from the get-go. It just took the world a little while to catch on to that fact. In 1989, folksingers didn't shave their heads, wear nose rings, or sing about the feelings in their jeans, but DiFranco did. Her bracing, punky stance hit just as hard on her debut as it does now--perhaps even more so, due to its freshness and DiFranco's uncompromising solo acoustic attack. These songs, all delivered with an absorbing passion and a palpable conviction, are the bedrock of her soaring career. Some, like the fantastic and challenging "Both Hands," still pop up in concert.
Submitted by bolindilly (Nyack, NY USA)
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 FOLK AT IT'S BEST
I loved "Little Plastic Castle", "Dilate" and "Up Up Up..." but I still hesitated to get this cd because I wasn't sure how good Ani would be on her 1st album. When i got it, I was amazed at how much I loved it! The whole cd is just Ani and her acoustic guitar. Her songs are beautiful, and have great lyrics. I've never heard such good folk music.
Submitted by a reviewer (Tallahassee, FL)
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Purchase Ani Difranco CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Ani Difranco Not So Soft CD (1991)
Ani Difranco album
 $9.09 
Having announced herself with a quietly intense folk-style debut (ANI DIFRANCO) in 1990, this Buffalo, New York-based singer/songwriter-still barely into her 20s-almost entirely reinvented herself with the aptly titled follow-up NOT SO SOFT. Whereas much of her debut album recalled both Joni Mitchell and Suzanne Vega, DiFranco here jettisons stark acoustic beauty and instead fields a much more unique and personal vocal style.
On NOT SO SOFT, DiFranco uses a rougher, talk-singing style, her lower-register delivery owing much to both Patti Smith and Lou Reed yet more nakedly emotional. DiFranco also adds brasher acoustic guitar, a heavily rhythmic playing style that gives the album a fuller, more rock & roll-oriented sound than the often- delicate debut. Her songwriting is equally improved. She examines personal and political issues while sidestepping preachiness and stridency, even on the spoken-word title track. NOT SO SOFT is an exciting, passionate folk album with punk intensity.
Recorded at Audio Magic, Buffalo, New York in September 1991.
Solo performer: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic guitar, congas).
Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic guitar, congas, sound effects).
Editors: Don Wilkinson; Tony Romano.
Photographers: Scot Fisher; Karen Richardson.
Unknown Contributor Role: Ani DiFranco.
Arranger: Ani DiFranco.
| | Ani Difranco Imperfectly CD (1992)
Ani Difranco CD music
$9.49 
On her first two albums, ANI DIFRANCO and NOT SO SOFT, young Buffalo, New York native Ani DiFranco was a woman alone with her acoustic guitar. She cut through the "sensitive folkie" cliche with punk-inspired intensity and a rhythmic ferocity that had at least as much in common with early Elvis Costello as it owed to early Joni Mitchell.
On 1992's IMPERFECTLY, her exceptional third album, DiFranco wisely expands her musical palette. She adds drummer Andy Stochansky (her only constant collaborator from this album onward), an electric bassist, and subtle washes of electric guitar, mandolin, and trumpet to her smartly rendered folk-punk songs. The most inspired musical contribution is the viola solo by Mary Ramsey (10,000 Maniacs, John and Mary) on the Lisa Germano-like "Served Faithfully." The album opens with the stunning "What If No One's Watching?" and "Fixing Her Hair," DiFranco's two finest songs up to that point.
Recorded at Audio Magic, Buffalo, New York in April 1992.
Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, guitar).
Recording information: Audio Magic, Buffalo, NY (04/1992).
Photographer: Scot Fisher.
Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic & slide guitars, percussion); George Puleo (electric guitar); Mary Ramsey (viola); Tim Allan (mandolin); Greg Horn (trumpet); Geoff Perry (bass); Andy Stochansky (drums, percussion).
| | Ani Difranco Out Of Range CD (1994)
Ani Difranco music CDs
$7.99
1994's OUT OF RANGE, quite possibly the finest of Ani DiFranco's many albums, finds the outspoken Buffalo, New York-based singer-songwriter moving away from the explicit political statements of her earlier records. Here she further explores the more autobiographical terrain of this album's immediate predecessor, PUDDLE DIVE, while also expanding on that album's tentative steps into a full-band sound.
Although OUT OF RANGE still contains several voice-and-guitar pieces, Andy Stochansky's drumming and percussion are better integrated. Keyboards and horns also make guest appearances. Overall, the intimate, not-quite-lo-fi album sounds not unlike Liz Phair's EXILE IN GUYVILLE, a fact that probably helped trend-sniffing music journalists finally notice DiFranco-four years and six albums into her career. The astonishingly good songwriting, particularly on the stirring "Face Up and Sing" and the winsome "The Diner," undoubtedly helped as well. This is one of the '90s finest singer-songwriter albums.
Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar, piano, percussion); Andy Stochansky (vocals, ...
| | Ani Difranco Not A Pretty Girl CD (1995)
Ani Difranco songs
$8.59 
1995's NOT A PRETTY GIRL synthesizes elements of Ani DiFranco's six prior albums and is widely considered one of this wildly prolific Buffalo, New York-based singer/songwriter's finest efforts. Here, the folky acoustic starkness of ANI DIFRANCO and NOT SO SOFT meshes with songs that recall the detailed full-band arrangements of LIKE I SAID and OUT OF RANGE. DiFranco even remakes an earlier song, IMPERFECTLY's "Coming Up."
Lyrically, the album also refines topics previously covered. There's the abortion drama "Tiptoe," the sneering record-business diatribe "The Million You Never Made," and a passel of songs that touch on DiFranco's outspoken bisexuality (notably "Light of Some Kind"). The difference is that the pieces fit together more smoothly than before. The relative lack of jagged edges makes the powerful emotions ...
| | Ani Difranco Dilate CD (1996)
Ani Difranco album
$13.09
Expanding musically beyond the folk-rock-ish guitar pop of its two immediate predecessors, NOT A PRETTY GIRL and OUT OF RANGE, Ani DiFranco's seventh album in six years adds Hammond organ, synthesizer, bass, and even trumpet to what was once a stark musical vision. Though DiFranco supplies much of the instrumentation, longtime drummer Andy Stochansky and a few other collaborators assist.
DiFranco successfully expands her musical frontiers without compromising her fierce self-determination. As always, this is a major lyrical theme on DILATE, particularly on the title track and "Napoleon," a scathing and self-aware treatise on DiFranco's tenuous position as a best-selling "voice for women." Critics were puzzled by the keyboard-led, beat-heavy rearrangement of the spiritual "Amazing Grace," but DiFranco's next releases, the Utah Phillips collaboration THE PAST DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE and the MORE JOY, LESS SHAME remix EP, explored this new musical direction in greater detail.
Asian edition of her 1996 album with two hidden bonus tracks, 'Shameless' (Bathtub Mix) & 'Joyful Girl' (Peace & Love Mix). 13 tracks total. 'Dilate' scored good reviews in Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, NME, the Village Voice, Option & Alternative Press. 1998 release.
Recorded at Congress House Studio, Austin, Texas; Grant Avenue Studio, Hamilton, Canada; Chemical Sound, Toronto, Canada in December 1995 and January 1996.
Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric ...
| | Ani Difranco Little Plastic Castle CD (1998)
Ani Difranco CD music
$11.85
One-woman cottage industry DiFranco remains true to her cause on her eleventh album (she's a seasoned vet at 28!). Still steadfastly independent, LITTLE PLASTIC CASTLES, like all her previous releases, is available only through her own Righteous Babe label, as DiFranco wards off the majors who offer to make her what she already is; The Next Big Thing. Fans of the female acoustic songwriter gestalt who are too smart for Alanis and too cool for Patty Larkin will find reason to rejoice in this album.
While DiFranco's lyrics still focus on personal politics and modern societal ills, there are expansive touches added to the arrangements of many songs here. "Deep Dish" and several others benefit from some well-placed horn stabs, and pump organ, concertina and talking drum all make appearances. Despite upping the instrumental ante, though, DiFranco's (naturally) self-production remains uncluttered, getting to the heart of her very personal observations.
"Glass House" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
9th Studio Album
Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, concertina, keyboards, drums, percussion); Jason Mercer (vocals, upright bass, electric bass); Andy Stochansky (vocals, drums, talking drum); John M. (saxophone); John Mills (baritone saxophone); Jon Hassell , Gary Slechta (trumpet); Jon Blondell (trombone); Andrew G., Andrew Gilchrist (pump organ); Jerry ...
| | Bjork Telegram CD (1997)
Ani Difranco music CDs
$6.25
TELEGRAM is a remix album, with altered versions of nine songs from POST and one new song.
TELEGRAM finds Bjork and her comrades polishing the rusty surfaces of pop music, creating new musical formations that glimmer and shine. These songs have been redecorated with the gracious elan that we have come to expect from this charismatic chanteuse. New installations of drum-and-bass textures, orchestral arrangements, trip-hop beats and hip-hop samples are overlaid on the songs from POST, building upon their subtle post-modern beauty.
The Brodksy Quartet offers a modern-classical intepretation of "Hyperballad." "You're Flirting Again" gains a lush orchestration. "Headphones," by contrast, now features a sparse, tundra-like soundscape. The one new song, "My Spine," features Bjork crooning over a primitive backdrop of mystical chimes and bells, creating an organic incantation that sounds miles away from any territory that pop music has traversed thus far.
Personnel includes: Bjork (vocals, organ); Eumir Deodato (conductor); Rodney P (rap vocals); Nestor Garcia (acoustic guitar); Rob Montoro, Graham Massey (guitar); Luciano Iorio, ...
| | Crowded House Together Alone CD (1993) England
Ani Difranco songs
$7.05
More experimental and musically varied than any of their previous releases, Together Alone finds Crowded House branching out into traditional Maori music and heavy guitars, as well as the shining pop songcraft that is Neil Finn's trademark. Picking up a new guitarist and adding the production skills of ex-Killing Joke member Youth, Crowded House energize their sound without losing sight of Finn's classic pop songwriting, as "Locked Out" and "Distant Sun" prove. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Arguably their best record, Crowded House had come to full maturation with this set of thirteen ear catching tracks. The occupant of the producer's chair on this album switched from longtime sound shaper Mitchell Froom to Killing Joke's Youth. The musical arrangements here reflected and encompassed more of their native Kiwi homeland (New Zealand) than any of their other albums. Each track on this desert island essential is played with passion and heart. Neil Finn was at the height of his golden songwriting skills and produced a modern classic. The music is simply breathtaking and the lyrics poetic and intelligent.
Additional personnel includes: Dror Erez (accordion); Clyde Dixon, Stephen ...
| | Songcatcher 2 Tradition That Inspired Movie Songcatcher II: The Tradition That Inspired The Movie CD (2002)
Ani Difranco album
$14.05 
The 2001 film Songcatcher told a semi-fictional story of a field musicologist who "discovers" authentic English and Scottish folk ballads being sung by people in the Appalachian region of the United States. The film (along with another popular film of the time) kindled interest in the old-timey music spotlighted in the movies, and due to popular demand Vanguard released a compilation of the original versions of the songs that ended up being re-recorded for the soundtrack. Legendary artists like Dock Boggs, Almeda Riddle, Doc Watson, and Roscoe Holcomb all contribute some of the best-known folk ballads of the era, including "Black Jack Davey," "Pretty Saro," "House Carpenter," and a gripping version of "Matty Groves." Although Songcatcher was set near the turn of the century, these gems from Vanguard's vaults are mostly from the '60s folk revival festival circuit, and although they offer crisp sound quality and strong presence, these artist's true golden recordings were done in the '20s and '30s. The 1927 recordings of the young and hungry Dock Boggs singing "Sugar Baby" blow away the versions of the same song 40 years later, as is the case with Clarence Ashley, Mother Maybelle Carter, and every other performer on this disc (with the exception of Watson, who will be equally astounding until the day he ...
| | Jack Bruce Things We Like CD (1970) Bonus Tracks; Remastered
Ani Difranco CD music
$9.79
Enthusiasts expecting to hear a continuation of the type of material that Jack Bruce (bass) had been responsible for during his tenure(s) with Cream or the Graham Bond Organisation might be in for quite a shock when spinning Things We Like (1970) for the first time. Instead of an album's worth of blues-based rockers, the seven instrumentals feature Bruce with other former Graham Bond stablemates John McLaughlin (guitar), Jon Hiseman (drums), and Dick Heckstall-Smith (sax) performing post-bop and free jazz. A majority of the compositions were penned by Bruce in his preteen days of formal scholarship at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, where he also mastered the cello and composed a string quartet at the age of 11. After having gained significant clout from Cream, Bruce assembled what was initially a trio. However, after a chance meeting with McLaughlin -- who was so broke he had to refuse an offer to fly stateside to join the newly formed Tony Williams Lifetime -- Bruce incorporated the guitarist into the fold in order to help him finance his journey, which was ultimately successful. The entire effort was recorded and mixed in less than a week during August of 1968 -- less than three months prior to the infamous Farewell Concert of Cream at the Royal Albert Hall on November 26, 1968.
As a testament to Bruce's expansive musical tastes, capabilities, and horizons, this disc sounds more like a collection of Rahsaan Roland Kirk sides than anything even remotely connected with Cream. This is especially true of the frenetic pacing of the brief opener, "Over the Cliff." Heckstall-Smith's ability to perform alto and soprano saxophone simultaneously likewise lends itself to Kirk's distinct reed polyphony. "Statues" is an interesting exercise, again with Heckstall-Smith providing some excellent extemporaneous blows during the darkly toned introduction working well against the nimble melody. While Hiseman's style is decidedly less aggressive than that of Ginger Baker, his drumming helps to amalgamate the song's various sections. McLaughlin's unmistakably sinuous leads are commanding throughout the "Sam Enchanted Dick" medley, with a cover of Milt Jackson's "Sam's Sack" and a Heckstall-Smith original titled "Rills Thrills." The tempo is slowed on the smoky cover of Mel Tormé's "Born to Be Blue." This interpretation is part West Coast cool and part Chicago-style blues. McLaughlin's contributions to "HCKHH Blues" is similar to that of Robert Fripp's jazzy fretwork throughout the Islands (1971) era King Crimson. While it was the first of Bruce's solo records to be recorded, he chose to issue the more rock-oriented Songs for a Tailor (1969) prior to Things We Like, which was perhaps considered an indulgent side project rather than a permanent musical diversion. [The 2003 CD reissue contains the previously unissued track "Ageing, Jack Bruce, Three, from Scotland, England," which is another brilliant Heckstall-Smith piece with all four musicians in top form -- especially McLaughlin, who provokes a variety of sonic imagery, ranging from intense fingerpicking to chiming notes and chord augmentations.] ~ Lindsay Planer
"Things We Like" is Jack's second solo album and features performances by a stellar cast including John McLaughlin, Dick Heckstall-Smith ...
| | Thrashing Ashley The Killing Of A Genre CD (2008)
Ani Difranco music CDs
$13.15
Formerly known as \"Formerly Known As,\" before that \"Internal Rage\" and before that \"Crimson Angel\". After sifting through various friends, musicians, and douche-bags, we have finally solidified the talent that will keep us from walking off the long end of a short pier. We are now ready to unleash our genre bending assault on whoever will listen (we hope this is you!). Think of us as a collision of musical tastes, where the sounds of punk rock, ska, metal, and even a little of the old school Funk become mangled, disgraced, and mainstreamed. So if you are able to enjoy more than 1 genre of music on a given evening; if you are searching for a small sanctuary from the scream of emo and growl of death metal; if you want music that grasps at the base of your human emotions ...
| | Julian Trio Mango! CD (2009)
Ani Difranco songs
$16.45
Welcome to our third CD: Mango. When I was nine I recorded my first CD Father and Son which consisted of six traditional tracks and eight originals. When I was ten we recorded Lighthouse On A Cliff, which consisted of two traditional tracks and twelve originals. When I was eleven my father got a sabbatical to teach English in Zihuatanejo Mexico. We didn't make a CD that year, but I played a lot of music with him, with the Juanito Zihua's salsa band, and I took virhuela and violin lessons from members of Mariachi Apatzingan. Going to school, making friends, perfecting my Spanish, listening to a wider variety of music, playing soccer, traveling, surfing, eating tropical foods, and having more time to write music in Mexico, along with not being around my traditional music friends in California, allowed me to find what I think is more of my own voice as a musician. I may only be twelve now, but Mango feels like I've found my own original sound. Out of the dozens of songs we wrote during our year in Mexico, we've selected these fourteen tracks. Mango is all acoustic, but it consists of many influences. ...
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