Ani DiFranco - So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter

The second two-disc collection in a row for DiFranco, this is, again, a lot of music. This CD was recorded over the course of a handful of concerts in Canada, the U.S., and Italy, and features some of the rockingest versions of her songs to date, as well as her eloquent, heart-breaking tribute to 9/11 ("Self-Evident"), and some excellent reworkings of her older tunes.

I doubt I'm alone among songwriters when I confess that Ani DiFranco had the dream band there for a while: Julie Wolf on keys, Darren Hahn on drums, Jason Mercer on bass, and an outstanding horn section. Soon after releasing this record, she let the band go and started performing solo again, before bringing in the folks she's playing with these days (the equally as fabulous Todd Sickafoose and now Allison Miller).

This is mostly old songs, an updated listing of her greatest hits, complete with killer horn sections (particularly on "Swan Dive!") and between-song banter. The first disc, Stray Cats is the most moody of the pair, whereas the second, Girls Singing Night features a lot of collaboration between DiFranco and Wolf, as well as more daring versions of some great songs.

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Stray Cats (Disc One)

Swan Dive

Letter to a John / Tamburitza Lingua

Grey

Cradle and All

Whatall is Nice

What How When Where Why Who

To the Teeth

Revelling

Napoleon

Shrug

Welcome To:

Girls Singing Night (Disc Two)

Comes a Time

Ain't That The Way

Dilate

Gratitude

Rock Paper Scissors

32 Flavors

Loom / Pulse

Not a Pretty Girl

Self-Evident

Reckoning

My IQ

Jukebox

You Had Time