Latest DiFranco release could be her best

If the best way to experience Ani DiFranco is live in concert, then the closest runner up is the newest addition to her marathon of releases, Living In Clip. A double-album of highlights from her 1996 U.S. tour, this ninth release from the critically adored songwriter could very well be her best.

Capturing the essence of her energetic live show in over two hours of intelligent, accompanied guitar works, the album shows off DiFranco's best side: her live act. Famous for her charm with the audience, the artist's talent shines through not only in the raw, honest mannerisms of her music, but her spoken word accounts included between sets. She is, after all, a story teller, and what better way to work in a few anecdotes than between riffs of her own life story: her tour.

DiFranco selected the roster for Living In Clip by including the "classic hits" as well as tracks she feels have evolved in some way or another since their original studio releases. "Joyful Girl," for example, has been reworked numerous times already, but still sounds new with this effort. The singer takes her audience by surprise with this inclusion from her Eugene, Oregon show (each song is from a different city on the tour), starting off slowly and thoughtful and leading into an almost melancholy, emotional effort for her non-lyrical singing.

Despite the numerous reworkings of old favorites included on Living in Clip, DiFranco has included several previously unreleased songs, as well. "I'm No Heroine," for example, must have been a favorite concert number given the recorded background roar of her Berkeley, California audience, but appears for the first time on disc with this album. Carefully angsty, DiFranco gets her strong point across without sounding too arrogant. This is one of the artist's many strong points: while she raises the crowd into a happy rage by just elevating her voice slightly, she just as easily hushes them to a whisper during the slow parts. DiFranco is manipulative in that way; not at all a bad thing.

Besides the fact that Living In Clip is an excellent hallmark of DiFranco's music career in so-called "punk folk," the two-disc package also includes a crafty 36-page Ani DiFranco photo album with candid shots of the singer, bassist Sara Lee and drummer Andy Stochansky, as well as the roadies and the down-to-earth Righteous Babe staff. Somehow, in looking at the photos and listening to the album, one begins to trick herself into thinking of DiFranco as an old friend of sorts.

And it's easy to do so. With her voice, DiFranco puts into words the personal feelings and true-to-life irony so often unnecessarily bottled up. The artist has discovered how to speak her mind, as well as that of her listener. The collaboration of the two, especially with Living In Clip, has an effect unlike other live albums, often too charred with crowd feedback and over-done live renditions that the true meaning of the songs are lost. DiFranco, in contrast, shines best in her live set. As she put it herself in an interview, "I think I like this album a lot better than the studio albums, just because it sounds like me, playing music, whereas most of the others sound to me like me trying to make an album."

DiFranco extends her lyrics out to anyone with a pair of ears, but, unlike other artists, she doesn't let go during the weaker parts - there are none. Even in her most sentimental numbers, one can almost hear the audience leaning on her every word. She captures her fans like she captures the essence of song writing: with force and confidence. And it shows.

Even if catching the artist live is only possible a few times a year when she passes through a near-by city, the far away ones sound just as good recorded. So if you missed DiFranco when she came through your city during her 1996 tour, Living In Clip lets you relive the highlights from all over the U.S.

Joyful Girl: Living in Clip, DiFranco is enjoyed in her most flattering form: raw, live and full of righteousness. (photo courtesy Righteous Babe)