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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent...a little underwhelming, November 13, 2007
I have been an Ani Difranco fan for over fourteen years - even having the pleasure of seeing her in small intimate venues before she became quite the force she is today. Like all Ani fans I was very pleased to hear she was "re-imagining" some of her classic songs on this compilation, but I feel kind of ambivalent about most of them. Definitely the two that stick out are "Both Hands" and "Overlap" because they really feel different than the originals, but "Your Next Bold Move," "Shameless," and "Napoleon" don't veer from the originals enough to live up to the hype.
As for the collection itself, I think it falls short in a lot of ways for both the old and new fans. Granted, it's incredibly difficult to sum up a career as prolific as Ani's (18 full-length albums and 3 ep's) in two discs because there are always going to feel like there are songs missing. I say Kudos to Ani for trying to make a career retrospective "that's arranged and intended to be played from beginning to end," as the review on her website says. However, since she's never had any legitimate radio hits, the entire line-up comes off as seeming really subjective. While retrospectives can irk the hardcore fans the most because they are so invested in their favorite songs, I am somewhat miffed that she couldn't find one single song off of Imperfectly to add to the collection (because I think that is easily the best album of her early career).
Overall, I think the first disc has a more accessible track list and is easier to be played over and over. These songs are definitely of a faster tempo because they are from the time in Ani's career when she was more of a folk-punk artist. The second disc is much more subdued being from her later jazzier period. While each has their own merits, I tend to prefer the earlier stuff more. Songs like "Buildings and Bridges," "32 Flavors," "Dilate," and "Little Plastic Castle" never disappoint, even after playing them for ten years.
In general, I think the old fans might be disappointed by the track listing here because it just doesn't do her justice. Whereas the Ani novice isn't really going to get a feel for the magic and intensity of her music just from listening to this compilation either. If retrospectives are a good way to introduce new fans to old music, then I'd recommend Living in Clip (the double-live CD she put out in 1997) or So Much Shouting So Much Laughter (the double-live one from 2002) instead. Both of those albums have a much better track listing than Canon and they are rich and full of Ani's energy, wit and banter to boot.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow ! Total Pleasure, September 15, 2007
I love Ani. Her music, her spirit...
I already own everything available by her, but I also like compilations, new ways of listening to what has become too familiar through addictive listening. Even though this compilation does not contain all of my favorites,(Rush Hour ?)... I was sort of pulled in by the advertised alternative versions of songs available here, (they are cool), but I was mostly hoping there might be an up gragde to cutting edge standards of the sound quality. Yippie eye aye, the sound quality met and surpassed all of my hope, uniformly clear and beautiful.
As a long time fan of Ani, I am really glad to own this compilation.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent starting point, but not a complete "greatest hits" anthology, December 24, 2007
Canon is an excellent starting point for new Ani DiFranco fans, but is by no means a complete "greatest hits" anthology. When creating this compilation, Ani chose songs that she has enjoyed performing over the years. The selected songs are not necessarily her biggest "hits". So although most of the most popular songs from her early folk-rock period are included, several fan favorites (Anticipate; Out of Range; In Or Out; Not A Pretty Girl; Angry Anymore; Swan Dive) are notably missing. From her later "jazzy" albums, again she omitted fan favorites like Evolve, Modulation and Recoil (which she rarely performs live but is her top ITunes download off her Knuckle Down album).
As for the five song "remakes", Both Hands and Overlap are awful when compared to the exquisitely beautiful originals. Shameless is interesting in that this is Ani's trademark rock-out song, but this version is played by just Ani and an electric guitar, sans drums. You can hardly tell that the other instruments are missing until the drum solo section (which is now a guitar solo). I found both Napoleon and Your Next Bold Move to be acceptable remakes, but unremarkable. Ani has done several other, better versions of Napoleon.
In general, the remakes were disconcerting to me because I'm not used to hearing Ani play an electric instead of acoustic guitar, and she sings the remakes in an unusually high-pitched voice (not sure why). Of the 5 remakes, Shameless is the most appealing, and I really hate the new Both Hands. Oddly, Ani's 2007 Canon tour featured a new arrangement of Untouchable Face that's fantastic and superior to any of the remakes on the Canon album. On her Canon tour, Ani's actual live performances of the "5 remakes" are both different from and far better than the versions on the Canon album.
As with all the recent albums from the Righteous Babe, the CD packaging (with complete lyrics and liner notes) is excellent and the sound quality is superb (My early Ani albums were on cassettes not CDs, so I may be comparing apples to oranges). So, Canon is a great compilation which provides an overall feel for the breadth of Ani's music, but should be treated as a starting point and not a comprehensive "best of" collection.
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