Annie DiFranco - where do I start?

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Sep 00 - 02:38 AM

Hey, folks, thanks again for all the great assistance on Ani. I now have a very good idea of where to begin listening, thanks to my fellow Mudcatters.

Best wishes,

LH

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 26 Sep 00 - 11:10 PM

Hey Sam! good to hear from you. You've been kind of scarce in these parts. Hope all is well with you these days.

My favorite Ani is still "Untouchable Face" even though I know it is especially hard for some people to listen to. My least favorite is "Amazing Grace."

ww

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Mbo
Date: 26 Sep 00 - 08:46 PM

Kit, thanks SO much for mentioning Brian May! My hero!

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Peg
Date: 25 Sep 00 - 11:32 AM

I second what Earl said. I respect what she is doing and I understand she is very talented and she seems like a very cool person based on interviews I have heards and seen. But I do not enjoy listening to her sing, it gets on my nerves.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 25 Sep 00 - 09:51 AM

I saw Ani open for Dylan a few years ago. I had never heard of her, but I must admit I enjoyed her show. Very energetic, a good tight three piece band. I have not heard her CD's yet, but I plan on checking her out some more. I think I would like her.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: GUEST,andy mööer
Date: 25 Sep 00 - 08:40 AM

I think Ani's songs are goosebump inducing. I have the albums,to the teeth,up up up up up and living in clip ,they're all great,esp up up up up up. andy.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 06:53 PM

GUEST - being famous ain't everything. If I was, though, I would be more highly noted for protest songs than some of those people you mentioned on your list. As for Bob Dylan, if you think he only recorded protest songs when he was YOUNG, you haven't looked too deeply into his catalog. Bob has never stopped writing protest songs, he just doesn't necessarily make it so bloody obvious as some of his peers. There is a profound level of protest in at least half to three quarters of what Bob has ever written...protest against every stupid thing that is taken for granted in this decadent society we live in. When Bob moved away from literal and obvious protest songs, after his 3rd album, he moved into far deeper forms of comment, with even more telling effect. Bob's whole career has been a protest against the status quo.

Money doesn't talk, it swears, obscenity, who really cares, propaganda, all is phony.

Peace will come, with tranquility and splendour on the wheels of fire, but will offer no rewards than her false idol's fall, and cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating between the King and the Queen of Swords.

Man thinks, cos he rules the Earth, that he can do with it as he please...and if things don't change soon, he will. Man has invented his doom. First step was touching the moon. But there's a woman, on my block, she just sits there while the night grows still. She says "Who's gonna take away his LICENSE TO KILL?

Now he worships at the altar of a stagnant pool, and when he sees his reflection, he's fulfilled. Man is opposed to fair play. He wants it ALL, and he wants it his way. But there's a woman, on my block, she just sits there while the night grows still. She says "Who's gonna take away his LICENSE TO KILL?<\I>

(The above lines are all from Dylan, long after his supposed departure from protest songs.)

The fight against oppression goes on, and our sisters lead the way. They know about oppression. I am proud to walk beside them. If you think that's pretentious, well, I can live with that, because you don't know me.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall)
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 04:24 PM

I'm not overly fond of what little I'v heard, but when we brought in U.Utah Phillips last fall, there were a lot of kids there and they had a great time, and I guarantee none of them would have been there if they hadn't been introduced to him by here recordings with him.
Rich

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 02:50 PM

My suggestion is that you get yourself set up on Napster and download a bunch of her stuff... then if you like it you can go out and buy the CD.. if you don't like it, just delete the MP3's and no harms been done...

{~`

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: GUEST,Sam Pirt
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 02:39 PM

Hi

I suggest the double live album 'Living in clip' with her a bass player and drumer with her on guitar.]

I saw her at Cambridge, she ROCKED

Cheers, Sam

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: GUEST,Kit
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 02:22 PM

I listen to lots of Ani DiFranco. What you can't disagree with is that she is without parallel as far as female guitarists go - she up there with Bert Jansch and Brian May. Here lyrics also often verge on the tear-inducingly poetic. One commom complaint, though, is that her style is pretty "intense" and she tends to be quite angry, which some find wearing. Some of the albums I don't like because of that. However, "Not so Soft", Track 1 of "Dilate", "Out of Range" and "To the Teeth" are really worth a listen. Kit

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: hesperis
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 02:19 PM

Righteous Babe!

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: RWilhelm
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 02:08 PM

I find her style very grating so even when I agree with the lyrics the songs, for me, are unpleasant. I am very impressed, however, that she said "screw you" to the record industry and set up her own record company. Anyone who can be that successful as an outsider deserves a lot of credit.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: hesperis
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:42 PM

Well, Little Hawk may not be a "major writer" of protest songs by your definition, but he sure writes a lot of them!

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:20 PM

Little Hawk describes himself as "a major writer of protest songs."

Isn't that a little pretentious. It's usually history and the public that determines who the "major writers" are.

As for major writers of protest songs, I'll suggest a few that I consider "major": Woody Guthrie, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, early Bob Dylan, Malvina Reynolds, Aunt Molly Jackson, Si Kahn, Pete Seeger, Dick Gaughan, Eric Bogle.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:19 PM

Oh I gotta' tell you she's a big hit in the chatroom during Mudcat Radio when Max plays her stuff. I mean like, she gets LOTS of comments from Jeri, Jon, Bill D, me......Oh yeah, a very big topic of conversation for sure.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:02 PM

I think Ani DiFranco is a great songwriter and performer. "To the Teeth" is a great song and a good album but I would recommend going back to her completely acoustic first album (out of something like 18-20) "Ani DiFranco" recorded I think when she was 18 on her own label. I think it's a masterwork.

Highly individualistic and independent, a fine songwriter and a great singer and guitarist IMHO.

Peace

mcmoo

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 11:56 AM

This sounds good to me. As a major writer of protest songs myself, I am very eager to hear "To The Teeth". I like intense emotion in song, as long as there is intelligence and good lyrics along with it. Listen to some early Buffy Sainte-Marie...so intense that it just about strips the paint off the walls. Thanks, all.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: MichaelAnthony
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 03:31 AM

Change that to making a difference.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: MichaelAnthony
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 03:30 AM

I'm most impressed by her trying to make a difference.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:56 AM

I really like her work, when I'm in a certain frame of mind. I think every U.S. citizen ought to listen to "To the Teeth," and read its lyrics. The protest song definitely lives.

My daughter sent me a tape of DiFranco's music when I was going through a man-induced trauma. It was strong stuff, but definitely filled a need at that particular time in my life. It's pretty raw emotion and that puts a lot of people off. And, I think some of her "poetry" deserves to have the quotation marks removed. It's poetry and it's good. But, again, not for everyone.

ww

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: rangeroger
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:43 AM

Little Hawk,my suggestion would be to get "The Past didn't go Anywhere" and "Fellow Workers".

Ani took Utah Phillips stories and songs and blended them with her music.

They are an outstanding pair of CDs.

rr

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: tradsteve
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:37 AM

I don't think too highly of her, I can only describe her music as tuneless noise with some sort of "poetry" put to it... these kids today, let me tell ya, back in my day... But lots of people I know seem to like it, and she's well intentioned.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: hesperis
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:34 AM

You wanted a description of her music... Well, I haven't heard her in three years, but I do remember it sounding very individualistic. She's got a nice groove, too, although sometimes the timing doesn't stay solid between chord changes. That was probably an earlier album, though.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:18 AM

Ah. It's Ani, is it? Okay, sounds good.

Subject: RE: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: hesperis
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:46 AM

Ani DiFranco!
My friend has a couple of albums, I could probably ask her to lend 'em to you.

Subject: Annie DiFranco - where do I start?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:38 AM

I'm curious about Annie DiFranco. Can anyone describe her music and suggest what album would be best to listen to first?