CD Details
- Released: July 26, 1994
- Label: Righteous Babe
Tracks:
- 1.Anticipate
- 2.Rockabye
- 3.She Says
- 4.Make Me Stay
- 5.On Every Corner
- 6.Small World
- 7.Not So Soft
- 8.Roll with It
- 9.Itch
- 10.Gratitude
- 11.The Whole Night
- 12.The Next Big Thing
- 13.Brief Bus Stop - (bonus track)
- 14.Looking for the Holes
Product Description:
Solo performer: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic guitar, congas).
Recorded at Audio Magic, Buffalo, New York in September 1991.
Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, acoustic guitar, congas, sound effects).
Editors: Don Wilkinson; Tony Romano.
Photographers: Scot Fisher; Karen Richardson.
Unknown Contributor Role: Ani DiFranco.
Arranger: Ani DiFranco.
Having announced herself with a quietly intense folk-style debut (ANI DIFRANCO) in 1990, this Buffalo, New York-based singer/songwriter-still barely into her 20s-almost entirely reinvented herself with the aptly titled follow-up NOT SO SOFT. Whereas much of her debut album recalled both Joni Mitchell and Suzanne Vega, DiFranco here jettisons stark acoustic beauty and instead fields a much more unique and personal vocal style.
On NOT SO SOFT, DiFranco uses a rougher, talk-singing style, her lower-register delivery owing much to both Patti Smith and Lou Reed yet more nakedly emotional. DiFranco also adds brasher acoustic guitar, a heavily rhythmic playing style that gives the album a fuller, more rock & roll-oriented sound than the often- delicate debut. Her songwriting is equally improved. She examines personal and political issues while sidestepping preachiness and stridency, even on the spoken-word title track. NOT SO SOFT is an exciting, passionate folk album with punk intensity.
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