Educated Guess (CD - 2004)

Recorded at The Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, Louisiana and The Dust Bowl Studios, Buffalo, New York.

Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, guitar).

Audio Mixer: Ani DiFranco.

Recording information: The Dust Bowl, Buffalo, NY; The Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, LA.

Photographer: Eric Frick.

Few indie artists (or "mainstream" artists, for that matter) can rival the body of work of radical folkster Ani DiFranco. Without the backing of a major label (or seeking it), DiFranco has gone her own way at every fork in the road and proven herself to be an inspiring creative force. With her provocative views, sardonic wit, and poetic acumen, she's an anti-establishment jugular biter with a sweet smile. About as solo as an album can be -- DiFranco wrote, played, sang, and produced everything -- Educated Guess is a tribute to her talent and industry. But DiFranco is a rare -- and authentic -- stylist who has set the bar very high for herself. The canny wordsmithing and busy guitar work are here; she is as proficient at execution as ever. DiFranco is the consummate musical experimentalist, and while that can be a hit-and-miss game, it's also the key to greener pastures, new ideas, and fresh musical territory. And that's the primary virtue of Educated Guess: a different kind of DiFranco album that, not for the first time, finds the artist on her way to somewhere else. ~ Adrian Zupp

Few indie artists (or "mainstream" artists, for that matter) can rival the body of work of radical folkster Ani DiFranco. Without the backing of a major label (or seeking it), DiFranco has gone her own way at every fork in the road and proven herself to be an inspiring creative force. With her provocative views, sardonic wit, and poetic acumen, she's an antiestablishment jugular biter with a sweet smile. Unfortunately, Educated Guess will likely be a mild disappointment to DiFranco's legion of faithful supporters. About as solo as an album can be -- DiFranco wrote, played, sang, and produced everything -- it's a tribute to her talent and industry. But DiFranco is a rare -- and authentic -- stylist who has set the bar very high for herself and, compared with landmark discs like Not a Pretty Girl and the live So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter, Educated Guess comes off as a little uninspiring. Yes, the canny wordsmithing and busy guitar work are here: proficiency of execution is not the problem. But from a listener's point of view, many of the tracks bog down. Composition convolutions turn in on themselves rather than shoot upward and outward. Ani has taken her penchant for spastic rhythm collages to the farthest point of the pendulum swing at the cost of melody and flow. If that's the record DiFranco wanted to make, who can dispute her right to do so? But whether that will translate to a keen collective-audience ear is another matter. In a sense, DiFranco is the consummate musical experimentalist, and that's a hit-and-miss game. But it's also the key to greener pastures, new ideas, and fresh musical territory. And that's the primary virtue of Educated Guess: a decent but not spectacular album that, not for the first time, finds DiFranco on her way to somewhere else. ~ Adrian Zupp

With her storied shunning of major labels and the cultivation of her own record label, Righteous Babe, in beleaguered hometown Buffalo, New York, indie-folkster Ani DiFranco hasn't had to cultivate any image as the ultimate in DIY, she just emanates the essence of everything that acronym embodies. To declare, however, that her 13th studio album, EDUCATED GUESS, is her most do-it-yourself record since her beginnings is saying something. And EDUCATED GUESS is just that, as Ani sang and played every note directly onto an 8-track recorder.

The album thrives in that intimate setting, achieving the feel of Ani sitting in a shadowed room with a guitar, letting us in on what's been on her mind, whether it's musings on patriotism and feminism on "Grand Canyon" or lovers drifting towards complacency on "Company." Just when Ani's earnest lyrics seem to be veering towards teenage poetry, out comes a line like "when I said this was what I wanted, did you think I thought it would be fun?" The music, as on her previous two albums, is part MINGUS-era Joni Mitchell, part poetry slam, and she's found a comfort zone in it, making EDUCATED GUESS, like the majority of her records, an always-pleasing, always-intriguing listen. minimize