Clearly the year preceding Revelling/Reckoning was a productive, eventful year in the life of Ani DiFranco. This is a lot of music, but is, in my opinion, the best record she's released so far. Finally, DiFranco had a full, incredibly talented band, and the songs really shine as a result. The first disc, presumably, is intended to be about extroversion and revelry, whereas the second is a more introspective collection of tunes.
Ain't That The Way
O.K.
Garden of Simple
Tamburitza Lingua
Marrow
Heartbreak Even
Harvest
Kazoointoit
Whatall Is Nice
What How Where When Why Who
Fierce Flawless
Rock Paper Scissors
Beautiful Night
Your Next Bold Move
This Box Contains...
Reckoning
So What
Prison Prism
Imagine That
Flood Waters
Grey
Subdivision
Old Old Song
Sick of Me
Don't Nobody Know
School Night
That Was My Love
Revelling
In Here
The former features some really diverse tunes, from the very folky "Garden of Simple" (another road warrior song) to the mostly electronic "O.K." and the show-tuney "Marrow." The eerily prophetic spoken word piece "Tamburitza Lingua" was just as thought-provoking before 9/11, and "Fierce Flawless" is a fabulous tribute to DiFranco's staying power as an artist, whether that's what she intended or not.
Reckoning starts with a truly excellent folk song—something that happens again on "Old Old Song" and "Reckoning." It also plays host to the song that resulted in DiFranco's decision to not perform on the David Letterman show anymore ("Subdivision"), and some really exquisite guitar instrumentals.
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