Revelling: Reckoning (CD - 2001)

Personnel includes: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, bass, drums, percussion); Lloyd Maines (pedal steel guitar); Hans Teuber (flute, clarinet, saxophone, background vocals); Maceo Parker (saxophone, background vocals); Shane Endsley (trumpet, background vocals); Jon Hassell (trumpet); Julie Wolf (accordion, piano, organ, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, background vocals); Jason Mercer (bass, kazoo, background vocals); Daren Hahn (drums, background vocals); Scott Fisher, Mark Hallman (background vocals).

Recorded at the Dust Bowl, Buffalo, New York & The Congress House, Austin, Texas.

Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, baritone guitar, drums); Maceo Parker (saxophone).

It's clear Ani DiFranco never hesitates to swim in a gulf of her own lyrical prowess. A storyteller herself, she takes pride in her tales of heartbreak, society's woes, and life's journey. Phrases like "but the bacteria are coming to take us down, that's my prediction...it's the answer to this culture of the quick fix prescription" hands you a vision through her periscope of the world. DiFranco's status as a sublime symbol of artistic elegance is well proven through words on this revelling album. ~ Darren Ratner

It's clear Ani DiFranco never hesitates to swim in a gulf of her own lyrical prowess. A storyteller herself, she takes pride in her tales of heartbreak, society's woes, and life's journey. Phrases like "but the bacteria are coming to take us down, that's my prediction...it's the answer to this culture of the quick fix prescription" hands you a vision through her periscope of the world. But by the time Revelling: Reckoning ends, dimly lit acoustics and funkish groove seem to drag the album through the mud. Its sleepy-time mood with songs like "Reckoning," "Garden of Simple," and "Grey" leave you a little narcoleptic and dejected. Almost every track keeps you in a hole and never hands you a rope. DiFranco's status as a sublime symbol of artistic elegance is well proven through words, but the album could be too much revelling for one person to bear. ~ Darren Ratner

There was hardly a year in the '90s that didn't see a full-length release from Buffalo, New York's anti-folk rock icon and ultimate symbol of D.I.Y. success Ani DiFranco. So it was hardly surprising that she rolled into 2001 full-blast, sounding fully refreshed, spreading over two hours of inspired, defiant songs onto the double album REVELLING RECKONING. With her latter '90s output she had deftly cast off any shred of criticism that her earlier work possessed a certain monochromatic feel. REVELLING RECKONING continues her musical exploration.

The album finds her unique brand of mellow folk-rock imbued with a bluesier, jazzier feel than she had previously displayed. Songs like "Ain't That the Way" are a sweet yet gritty mosaic of melody. Her friend Maceo Parker drops by, saxophone in hand, for a radiant turn on "What How When Where (Why Who)," a breathy, brilliant, nomadic tune also featuring Hans Teuber's brilliant flute, which sets the sweet, misty tone of the whole album. DiFranco's knack for telling a story, and her skill in turning simple lines like "I'm learning how to be alone," on the beautiful "Marrow," into something special, persists throughout. minimize