Educated Guess: Ani Difranco: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Platforms

2. Swim

3. Educated Guess

4. Origami

5. Bliss Like This

6. True Story Of What Was

7. Bodily

8. You Each Time

9. Animal

10. Grand Canyon

11. Company

12. Rain Check

13. Akimbo

14. Bubble

Product Description

From Amazon.com

In form, this is the disc DiFranco fans have wanted for years: a return to her naked roots of words and guitar, entirely played, sung, and taped to eight-track by Ani herself. But in important ways, Educated Guess suggests there is no going back. Even alone, the lessons of DiFranco's adventurous decade with a band are apparent. Taking a wide-open approach to arrangements, structure, and sound, she piles up tracks of bell-clear, percussive guitar, then does the same with her vocals, the gymnastic phrases echoing, reflecting, and doubling back on themselves. This is DiFranco undiluted, her melodies pulled by rhythmic innovation, alliterative snippets of spoken word woven between jazz-inflected folk songs, lyrics tracing tangled webs of lovers, nations, and various versions of herself. Not surprisingly, it's excessive, but her legions say that's the price of letting ragged passion just hang out. --Anders Smith Lindall

Album Description

Japanese edition of the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter's 2004 album features 14 tracks packaged in a digipak. JVC.

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Customer Reviews

52 Reviews

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (52 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An 'Educated Guess' Says You'll Like It Too..., Jun 18 2004

By

Rudy Palma "The Writing Fiend" (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Educated Guess (Audio CD)

This latest release from Ani Difranco, a venerable veteran of folk music at age 33, is an interesting work of art, to say the very least.

The set, which debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums tally (it also peaked at #37 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart and fell to #5 on the Independent chart in its 2nd week), swaps professional-sounding studio production of last year's "Evolve" for the raw simplicity of the her eight-track tape recorder. While her least fine-tuned record perhaps ever in her career, the result is the kind of intimacy comparable to seeing her live from the front row at one of her excellent shows. Even though her voice and guitar will pour out of your speakers, she may as well be performing in your closet.

After the 16-second intro of "Platforms" follows "Swim," a lyrically dense track about escaping an oppressive relationship; doubtless a reference to her now ex-husband who she once jokingly referred to as "Goat Boy". Because of the rawness of the album, her voice has the most imperfect pitch of any of her studio recordings, and in some songs her voice takes on a particularly cartoonish characteristic. A perfect case in point is the nevertheless extremely catchy "Bliss Like This". Soon, however, the uniqueness of her vocals and the kind of guitar-strumming that takes years of practice will win listeners over.

In "Grand Canyon," Difranco dishes her feelings of love for her country, a place where she's seen "stewardesses whose hands look much older than their faces" and where "our foremothers and forefathers came singing through slaughter, came through hell and high water, so that we could stand here".

Also, the political slice-of-life "Animal" is as eye-opening as "Origami," where she vents her frustrations on the male population. One has got to have some sympathy for "Goat Boy". Divorce is bad enough without having negative songs written about you. Oh well; he must have known what he was getting himself into.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Ani is beyond you, Jun 4 2004

By

N. Campbell (WASHINGTON, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Educated Guess (Audio CD)

People who don't understand a cd should not comment on it. Anybody who thinks the lyrics are dumb is not a fan of music. She is on her game as always. This must mean you can't hear what she is saying. So open your ears and stop cryiny about her being Sad. Music doesn't have to be pretty and happy to be enjoyed.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Not a pretty album..., April 17 2004

By

stefanie lyon (virginia beach) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Educated Guess (Audio CD)

I purchased this album despite the negative reviews that I have been reading over and over again. YIKES.
WHAT can I say about this album? I don't even feel that it should have been pressed, to be honest. The voice layering makes Ani sound out of tune and the music has no real melody. Also, I can't even tell the difference between one song and another. I must say that my liking for Ani has declined steadily since up up up up. It is not exciting. I could have made up better tunes while singing in the shower......Maybe she is smoking too much reefer and has a lack of judgment. Maybe a song sounds "really cool man" or she feels "really inspired" because her reality is altered. This perception only comes to mind because of the spanning dvd...I don't know. I simply think this album is aweful.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars listen for yourself!!!
Many reviews of Ani's Educated Guess saddens me.

What matters most is whether the music, or song (even, part or a song), hold some significance to the... Read more

Published on April 13 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars reaction to other review
I bought this cd for my wife, who has been a fan in the past, but less so as time has gone by. I guess Ani has developed in a direction which some people feel ambivalent about. Read more