Ani Difranco, So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter

Ani Difranco is the John Updike of acoustic feminism - her output is as prolific as her lyrics can be relentless. To wit: this is her second two-disc live album. To sit through both CDs all at once was exhausting.

That said, there's a good reason for her to release so much of her concert material: she's good live. The few songs I knew from back when I listened to lots of feminist music (I was a sympathizer in high school) were substantially different than the studio-recorded versions. She brings a raw vitality to her performance, and the instrumentation - flute, clarinet, and horns! - is great.

There are two problems. First, Ani performs a couple of poems. I like Ani Difranco primarily for her musicianship and less and less for her words, especially because her favored topics make her sound preachy almost automatically. 

Bereft of music, it's kind of tough to take. There's little thrill for me in hearing with what she's going to rhyme words like 'cunt' (elephant, stunt, grunt), and there's even less in finding out just how I've managed to oppress her.

The other problem is the audience. I went to see the Indigo Girls perform at Mt. Holyoke once, and I have still never heard a noise as shrill and sustained as the one the crowd made when they came onstage. There was a girl in a soccer jersey in front of me who jumped up and down, limbs akimbo, non-stop for probably ten minutes - that's how excited she was. That's the kind of audience, I'm convinced, that shows up at every Ani Difranco show - people who don't merely enjoy her music, but people who are emboldened and empowered by her lyrics. If you're only just learning about what a catastrophe the Bush administration has been by listening to an Ani Difranco song, you're certain to irritate me. The screams of ecstacy throughout the album just get wearying. I kind of wish Ani would let, like, a minimalist composer write her some barebones lyrics, and then get in a studio and record an album like she performs live.