ANI DIFRANCO - NOT A PRETTY GIRL

 Ani Difranco - Not A Pretty Girl

Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (born September 23, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, who has released more than 20 albums on her own record label, Righteous Babe Records. At 25 years-old an independent businesswoman, giving her significant creative freedom and creative control over everything including her records, independent distribution in US and Canada, her merchandise, her tours selling out venues coast to coast and making headlines.

DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influences from punk, funk, hip hop and jazz.  

She's a very bold unabashed singer/songwriter who writes lyrics no one else dares to produce. (An advantage of being the CEO of her own music company)

Her album, Not a Pretty Girl is the sixth studio album, released July 18, 1995.  The album extended the folk singer's early formula of acoustic guitar and drums, accompanied by percussionist/vocalist Andy Stochansky.  "On Not A Pretty Girl, I wanted to really scale down sound to its essence," Ani Says.

Some of the highlights and a few expected topics Ani takes on, on the Not A Pretty Girl album, include "Tiptoe", a spoken word piece about abortion; "Cradle And All", a beautiful, gut-wrenching ballad concerning a rough day in the life of a city girl who's got last night's underwear in her back pocket as she rides home on the subway, depicting a sure sign of the morning after. The album features some of her most memorable songs, like "Sorry I Am"; "Light Of Some Kind", repenting for being unfaithful, sung with heartfelt, bang-it-up umph; "The Million You Never Made", a hardcore kiss-off to the music industry, convincing why she isn't on a major label; "32 Flavors"; "Crime for Crime", a song about capital punishment.

DiFranco's gifts as a songwriter, singer, and musician, showcase imagery that is urban and gritty. The album's title track "Not A Pretty Girl", is a classic feminist song with lyrics like “I am not a pretty girl/ That is not what I do”, and the classic rebuttal to all those macho men who want to save the wounded bird being more than a beautiful woman and refusing to play the socially acceptable role of a damsel in need of rescue, with a line like "Don't you think every kitten figures out how to get down whether or not you ever show up." She addresses the classic misconception of a strong woman being perceived as an "angry woman" with the lyrics, 

"I am not an angry girl but it seems like I've got everyone fooled
every time i say something they find hard to hear
they chalk it up to my anger
and never to their own fear"

.....because people often fear what they don't understand and men are often threatened by a strong woman! 

Ani DiFranco – Not A Pretty Girl
Label:  Righteous Babe Records – RBR007-D
Format:  CD, Album
Country:  US
Released:  1995
Genre:  Rock
Style:  Folk Rock

Tracklist

1.  Worthy  4:31
2.  Tiptoe  0:36
3.  Cradle And All  4:18
4.  Shy  4:43
5.  Sorry I Am  4:45
6.  Light Of Some Kind  4:07
7.  Not A Pretty Girl  3:55
8.  The Million You Never Made  4:18
9.  Hour Follows Hour  6:01
10.  32 Flavors  6:07
11.  Asking Too Much  2:55
12.  This Bouquet  2:28
13.  Crime For Crime  5:42
14.  Coming Up  2:29

15.  Tiptoe (Bloopers)

ANI DIFRANCO - LITTLE PLASTIC CASTLE

 Ani DiFranco - Little Plastic Castle

Little Plastic Castle is the eighth studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released in 1998. It is her highest charting album on the Billboard charts, reaching number 22 on the Top 200 list. The song "Glass House" earned Ani DiFranco's third Grammy Award nomination in the Best Rock Performance – Female category. 

Dubbed one of the 25 "most anticipated albums of 1998" by Alternative Press.

"A serious expansion of [DiFranco's] musical palette, as though she's thrown open the windows to let the light in and discovered whole new worlds waiting there, new surroundings for her blunt, challenging poetry." - Philadelphia Inquirer  

Ani DiFranco – Little Plastic Castle
Label:  Righteous Babe Records – RBR 012-D
Format:  CD, Album
Country:  US
Released:  1998
Genre:  Rock
Style:  Folk Rock

Tracklist

1.  Little Plastic Castle    4:03
2.  Fuel    4:01
3.  Gravel    3:32
4.  As Is    4:06
5.  Two Little Girls    4:57
6.  Deep Dish    3:38
7.  Loom    2:51
8.  Pixie    4:25
9.  Swan Dive    6:28
10.  Glass House    5:18
11.  Independence Day    3:44
12.  Pulse    14:15

Companies, etc.

    Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Righteous Babe Records
    Copyright © – Righteous Babe Records
    Mixed At – Congress House Studio
    Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering

Credits

    Bass – Jason Mercer (tracks: 1, 2, 6 to 8, 10 to 12), Sara Lee (tracks: 3 to 5)
    Drums – Andy Stochansky (tracks: 1, 2, 6 to 8, 10, 12), Jerry Marotta (tracks: 3 to 5)
    Edited By [Digital Editing] – Marty Lester (tracks: 12)
    Engineer [With] – Bob Doidge, Mark Hallman
    Layout – Adam Sloan
    Mastered By – Chris Bellman
    Mixed By, Engineer – Andrew Gilchrist
    Organ [Pump Organ] – Andrew Gilchrist
    Photography By [All Other] – Albert Sanchez
    Photography By [Cats] – Asia Kepka
    Producer, Mixed By, Layout – Ani D.
    Trombone – Jon Blondell
    Trumpet – Gary Slechta, Jon Hassell
    Vocals, Guitar, Songwriter – Ani DiFranco

Notes
Made in U.S.A.
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Barcode: 748731701222
    Barcode (As Printed): 7 48731 70122 2
    Matrix / Runout: 11882 ESP LASERMATRIX
    Mastering SID Code: IFPI L126