This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 4/08
Any artiste of reasonable quality can wallpaper every room in their house with reviews written by critics who are almost paid-up-members of their fan club. But the reviews they really cherish are those positive reviews from critics who were, if not formerly hostile, then at least were lukewarm or indifferent in their previous attitude to that artiste.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfFijbldRNY
(Move quickly: stuff can disappear from YouTube in a heartbeat.)
And thus it was that the last two or three years I have listened to
some of her earlier stuff anew, with fresh ears. And realised that
maybe I was coming at her from the wrong direction.
You see, the plain fact is that Ani DiFranco’s talent as a performer
was never in doubt to my mind. A fine elastically expressive singing
voice, allied to a persuasive guitar style and - as the DVD of this 90
minute concert so ably illustrates – a very real stage presence, meant
that she always exuded “star quality” as a performer.
No, (and here I utter the heresy of all heresies), it was the aspect of
her that her fans love the most, which had me feeling that the “jury
was still out”. Her song writing.
In my mind, for several years I bracketed her alongside a singer who
most people won’t even THINK of connecting her with: Mary Chapin
Carpenter. Oh sure, their songs and styles are very different, but both
seemed to me to be much better performers than writers (though
mentioning “performing”, I am well aware that ADF’s supreme
stage-confidence is the antithesis of MCC’s well-documented bouts of
stagefright). Both seemed to represent the triumph of Style over
Content. I always wanted to hear them interpret other people’s songs
rather than plough their own furrow.
But as I say, that 9/11 poem proved so extraordinary, that it was time
for a root and branch re-appraisal from me. And what better than this
new DVD which contains 18 of the songs she delivered over two nights on
September 11 and 12, 2007, in her concerts in her hometown of
Buffalo in New York State.
These were the inaugural shows in what is now her very own performing
place, an apparently finely restored state-of-the-art music theatre
which had previously been a 19th century Methodist church doomed for
demolition. Great that it has been so wonderfully saved from
destruction by Ani and her manager, though perhaps a trifle sad for old
church members that it has to labour under the new name of “Babeville.”
(There is a charming bonus interview in the DVD where Ani points out
that had they known all the massive problems that would ensue with the
conversion project, then they probably would never have taken it on!)
Ani turned the two nights into something of a retrospective, and
delivered songs from different stages of her extensive catalogue –
amazing to think that averages over an album a year, as she has made 19
CDs since 1990, and this is even her third DVD – and also included two
songs not recorded at the time of the concerts.
She was helped by an extraordinarily tight band: Allison Miller on
drums, Todd Sickafoose on upright bass and Mike Dillon on vibes and
percussion. All three can hold their own in any company, but I have to
say that Mike Dillon’s work on vibes just took my breath away. I
have not seen a man attack a vibraphone with such flair and passion for
many years: he made me think of Lionel Hampton in his prime. Superb job.
What did not take my breath away was the sycophantic audience (by the
look of it split about 65-35, female-male), who bordered on a CLAQUE in
their adoration. I swear to you that if ADF had made an
involuntary rude noise, they would have cheered her to the rafters.
But that said, this DVD marvellously captures the electricity in the
air on those two nights. Six cameras were on hand to capture the
excitement in high definition video and 5.1 surround sound. (So, Martin
Scorsese, so much for your EIGHTEEN cameras for the “Strolling Bones”!
Seems to me that six ought to be just fine.)
And so, playing this DVD through all the way through a total of three
times, have I developed a greater regard for her song writing talents?
Yes, I think I have.
She expresses raw emotion very well. She can “capture the moment” very
well in a line. There is a real HONESTY there in the writing.
But all that said, there is one area on which her songs fail to
deliver. And that is MELODY. For all her own innate musicianship, and
that of her three dazzling band members, the songs never grab you
melodically.
Now, some might say that her subject matter is such that it does not
lead to jaunty hummable tunes! But, I am not asking for such.
I am simply recalling someone who in 1970 (the year incidentally of
Ani’s birth) was really getting well into her stride as a creative
artiste and stunning song writer. That artiste - Joni
Mitchell - was someone who mined the same subject area. And for several
years Joni could come up with melodies that never left your
head. Most of ADF’s never really risk more than an
overnight stay, even if her profound words do indeed occasionally root
themselves in your soul.
And in ending this piece I must state the obvious: a great SONG demands
a great lyric and a great melody to match. If one of the two is
missing, then you are left with a great VERSE or a great MELODY. (And
hey, that’s more than good enough for most of us mortals!)
That said, I was delighted to review this DVD. Ani DiFranco is indeed a major presence.
Dai Woosnam
Grimsby, England
daigress@hotmail.com
Track list:
BONUS FEATURES (band sound check)
all songs written by ADF
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