Ani Difranco: Live In Babeville DVD

Ani Difranco's third concert DVD, Live In Babeville, will be released on April 1st. The performances were recorded live on September 11th and 12th, 2007 for the grand opening of Ani's own Babeville in Buffalo, New York - to coincide with the release of last year's career retrospective Canon. The venue was originally a 19th century Methodist church that Ani and her manager saved from demolition and transformed into an impressive concert hall.



Live In Babeville begins with a loose surveillance of the concert venue, spanning fans waiting in line outside to Righteous Babe employees (and I believe Hamell on Trial) milling around the hallways, and a brief pan of the main concert hall before Ani takes the stage. The audience greets her with loud applause and cheers and Ani briefly acknowledges the cameras before launching into "Napoleon".

If you've only heard Ani in audio, I cannot recommend experiencing her in person enough. I saw her at Mountain Stage a few years back and - as clearly shown on this DVD - she is charmingly down to earth in audience banter and exhilarating in performance. Before "Present/Infant", Ani gives praise to opening act Hamell on Trial, whose apparently amazing set is sadly absent from the film. Hamell played the same Mt. Stage concert that Ani did and he was indeed a stage scorcher.

The prettily funky "Swim" leads into "Not A Pretty Girl", which is here presented in a much calmer manner than the olden days yet is still a striking song. "Fuel" is played a little too jam bandish for my taste, but Ani's vocal poetry is as captivating as ever. Her heart-ripping yet somewhat reserved take on "Independence Day" reminds me that Ani is not only the true heir to the socio-political folk throne, but also a genius in capturing the most raw and personal of human emotions in song.

"Paradigm" is a tad bland in the shadow of the preceding track, but Ani follows it up with a humorous anecdote about natural childbirth. A soulful rendition of "Marrow" is paired with "Sunday Morning", then Ani goes solo for "Unrequited" and my personal favorite "Shy" (one of the most awesome songs ever written, in my not so humble opinion). The band returns for "You Had Time", "Alla This", and "In The Way". Ani chats about plans for the venue before bursting into the crowd (and me) pleasers "Gravel" and "Little Plastic Castle". The encores "Overlap" and the lovely "Hypnotized" finish off the concert.

The bonus features include a short interview with Ani - in which she describes the overwhelming expense and process of renovating the church and converting into a music venue - and subdued performances with the band of "78% H2O", "Shy", and "32 Flavors".

Ani Difranco - Live at Babeville Trailer (video)

Ani Difranco Official Site
Babeville Official Site

Pre-order the DVD

Cyndi Lauper: The Body Acoustic

Cyndi Lauper's The Body Acoustic features new acoustic arrangements of 12 of her songs, with several being transformed into duets with Ani DiFranco, Sarah McLachlan, Shaggy, Jeff Beck, and Vivian Green among others.



The album opens with a new clap beat and string arrangement on "Money Changes Everything", with Lauper's raspy voice being joined by Taking Back Sunday's Adam Lazzara. Shaggy's reggae vocal style seems an odd match for the quasi bluegrass arrangement on "All Through The Night", but it strangely works.

Sarah McLachlan lends her voice to an only slightly altered "Time After Time" and "Water's Edge". Jeff Beck pops up on "Above The Clouds", while Vivian Green slides in on "I'll Be Your River". Green sticks around for a trio with Cyndi and Ani Difranco on "Sisters Of Avalon".

Lauper goes it alone on four of the album's tracks, including the moody dulcimer and piano take of "She Bop" and "True Colours". And the album closes with a brassy ska duet of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" with Puffy Ami Yumi.

Cyndi Lauper Official Site
Buy the CD

Ani Difranco: Canon

Ani Difranco will release a career retrospective titled Canon on September 11th. The two-disc set contains 36 tracks from the many albums Difranco released between 1990 and 2006, with newly recorded versions of five songs. Ani was the original "indie" artist for my generation, and is always the first artist I mentioned during any discussion about file sharing or the validity of the internet as a venue for music. I was first introduced to her music through mp3s, and I suspect I still would know nothing of her immense talent if not for the internet.



If I were to compile my own Ani collection, it would surely begin with "Cradle And All" and "Shy" from Not A Pretty Girl, followed by "As Is" and the title track from "Little Plastic Castle". Thankfully all of the above are present here, as well as fan favourite (though not mine) "32 Flavors".

But I was surprised by the lack of content from Dilate. The heartbreaking title track is the only original cut from the album. The other songs from that era are either taken from the 1997 live set Living In Clip - "Untouchable Face" and "Joyful Girl" - or presented as completely new and somewhat lackluster recordings - "Napoleon" and "Shameless". And sadly there is no version of "Superhero" or "Done Wrong".

Now I realize that such an extensive catalogue as Ani's can't possibly be condensed to please every or even most fans, and the songs are there even if in different forms. But the inclusion of the "distracted" clip as well as the claim that this set was assembled to reflect Ani's own view of her career seem to indicate that this glaring omission may have been intentional. I don't think I'm alone in viewing Dilate as a very important album both for Ani's fans and as a step in the evolution of her sound.

Anyway, my Ani collection would also have included Up Up Up Up Up Up's "Jukebox", Not A Pretty Girl "Hour Follows Hour", Puddle Dive's "Used To You", and Revelling/Reckoning's "School Night", but alas none of them made the cut. "Subdivision" is in there, at least. As well as a good selection of songs from her more recent albums.

So this is not the definitive Ani Difranco collection for me, and I suspect not for a lot of her longtime fans. But it should appeal to newer fans and those that prefer her recent releases to the older ones. And I suppose the important thing is that this is Ani's vision of her own work, and she is still in control of her art.

Ani Difranco - Both Hands (new version) (mp3)

Ani Difranco Official Site
Buy the CD set