Customer Reviews

Puddle Dive

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ok. I must admit it. I'm a fan! I can't even play it cool when it comes to Ani. She is just AMAZING! This is my favorite record simply because it shows MR Difranco at her very best. Bouncy and playful and yet also serious and emotional. Lines like..."Im not going to pretend that I dont pick my nose, thats just the way it is my friends thats just the way it goes..." will make you smile to yourself and maybe laugh. Her sheer honesty, quick wit and mellow guitar make this a perfect album for a sunday drive, or the perfect soundtrack for playing cards with friends on a warm summer nite... The track "My IQ" is a out and out poem but if you listen to the cadence and rhyme of the songs you will see that Ani is a gifted poet even when her poems are set to music. If you dig the sound of REM and the wit of Dar Williams (only I find Ani more witty) you will LOVE this album.

A friend of mine once commented that she likes Ani but she gets sad if she listens to some of her albums too much. She needs "Puddle Dive": it's defiant, triumphant, jubilant. In this album, Ani makes fun of egotistical musicians; makes friends with a little boy in Iowa; tells off a cop that gives her a speeding ticket ("for history"); menstruates on The Man's office furniture; gets a little seductive on "Anyday" and "Back Around;" and, as always, encourages you "to fight/ for what you think is real/ for what you think is right." A joy to listen to.

This was one of the later Ani albums I bought, starting with Out of Range, jumping to Little Plastic Castle (which was brand new at the time)and jumping around from there.
After her recent change of style (from 6up on) I was looking for more of that familiar "out of range" sound.... THIS WAS IT! Not quite as razor-edged as Dilate, not as simple as her self-titled debut, this album was like digging into the memories of that first year back in High school I spent absorbing all things Ani.

A few hits, a few minor misses, and as always, her prophetic, insightful lyrics.

On one of her most political albums, Ani dares to show her sense of humor. How can you not love that? And who else could write a great song about having your period in a boardroom? She's being silly, provocative, sentimental and brazen. I have to say that I don't normally pick a favorite song among artists that I listen to... it's just too hard. Even with Ani it's hard to pick just one song. But I think I can actually say that "Anyday" is my very most favorite Ani DiFranco song. It's beautiful and simple and honest. It's impossible not to fall in love with this song. Other standouts are "My IQ" which is probably my favorite poem that Ani has ever included on an album and "Used to You," the clever and humorous song that the title of the album is derived from,

boy, oh boy, what can i say about this album? I already owned Dilate, NAPG, and Out Of Range when I got this, but halfway into the first track "Names and Dates and Times" I knew that the way I looked at life was going to change. The way I looked at Ani's music changed. For such a long time I listened to the songs and enjoyed them, but this album made me HEAR. Probably because it is lighthearted and fun, and humorous. But it also has the ferocity of most of her music and has some of the most quotable, life-endearing lines she's ever written. This is my favorite album. It often gets lost in the heap amongst a lot of Ani fans, but I recommend it with the highest accolades.

I LOVE this album! Ani is really brilliant and her writing inspires me so much. There is a lot of diversity on this particular record. Some soft beautiful songs like "Anyday" or "Back Around" and then there are some sprawling crazy acoustic numbers like "Born A Lion" and "Egos Like Hairdos"...all great! I love Ani's whole Righteous Babe Record label. Such great music! Check it out today!

But she has better albums. This is a good album, but not necessarily a fabulous Ani album.. I can listen to whole Ani albums and not feel the urge to press the forward button, but this is not one of them. Certainly, it has wonderful tracks, particularly 'Anyday', '4th of July' and 'Pick yer Nose', but I must confess I find some of the tracks exceptionally irritating, particularly 'Names Dates and Time' (I don't know why, I find it grating!) and 'Blood in the Boardroom.' I am by no means a prude, but that strikes me as a particularly crude track and beyonds the realms of mere feminism.. She seems more like a joyful girl on this album, and while it is Ani and therefore marvellous, there are higher degrees of marvellous I am afraid!

As with anything, opinions differ. When I read one or two previous reviews that called this Ani's most annoying album, or that the songs here are great because they are about nothing but she makes great songs out of those nothing moments anyway... wow for a minute I was thinking I must have clicked on the wrong album.

I think Puddle Dive is one of her best albums. Certainly it has several of my favorite Ani tunes thus far. Willing To Fight isn't even remotely about nothing. It's about the difference between paying lip-service to certain things when it's convenient to do so (or ignoring the problems completely because you don't feel they affect you), and actually doing something about a problem. Of course that description sounds rather dry and preachy, but the song isn't at all. It's one of her best melodies. Or if you're just one of those soundbyte-types of people, there are more than a couple lyrics from just this song alone that could be lifted out to stand by themselves just as incredibly powerful sentences. Willing To Fight is, for me, one of the definitive Ani songs. It's everything that she is. It's everything I wish more people were.

As for other songs here, had Ani ever been a stage-guest of the Grateful Dead's during her middle-early years, which coincided with their last years, Anyday would have been my number one choice for Ani and them to perform. Such a softly powerful, emotional song. Garcia didn't have too much (instrumentally) to say on the big jam tunes anymore by that time, but he could still occasionally work magic on the ballads like So Many Roads, To Lay Me Down, Wharf Rat, etc...

To hear Ani leading the Dead through Anyday, with Lesh behind her, and Garcia's delicate late-years ballad playing in there could have been magical had he been having a good night.

Blood in the Boardroom, as has been said before, will certainly be a little too direct for some people, but I love it. Even if the lyrics bother you, still listen to her guitar playing. At this point in her career, this was one of her most rocking tunes so far. She is such a great, vibrant ryhthm-lead player.

Used To You... another favorite that I wish she would dust off and perform in concert again. This will certainly sum up some of the relationships you have had (or known of), although I don't know which side of the relationship you were.

For lyrical depth and emotional power, as well as the continued growth of her aggressive, percussive guitar style, this is another of the essential Ani albums.

This is one of my absolute favorite Ani albums. The lyrics and melodies are catchy and the album is short (only about 30 minutes) so it's perfect for driving in the car or while tooling around the house. Her lyrics and poetry are as personally and politically relevant as always but there's also a really playful side (Blood in the Boardroom, Pick Yer Nose) that Ani doesn't showcase too often in her later albums. A more "human" Ani is appparent in this album than in any she's produced since. Definitely buy Puddle Dive.

I had heard of Ani for years before I finally gave in and purchased a CD. I had thought I would not be into it. Dear God, as soon as I slipped this CD in, I fell in love with it. It goes on my top 5 albums of my lifetime, I highly recommend this to anyone who is ready to experience, a cool, strong women, who can really belt it out, and play guitar like you can't believe. This album started me on my Ani craze, 5 years ago, and my insanity keeps going strong! Buy this CD!!!!