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Knuckle Down

Ani DiFranco - Knuckle Down Audio CD

A fair review of the Ani DiFranco "Knuckle Down" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Ani DiFranco reviews here, or go back to the Ani DiFranco tabs.

Band: Ani DiFranco
Title: Knuckle Down
Rating:

Release Date: 2005-01-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: knuckle down 2: studying stones 3: manhole 4: sunday morning 5: modulation 6: seeing eye dog 7: lag time 8: parameters 9: callous 10: paradigm 11: minerva 12: recoil

I miss old Ani....
I've continued to buy her CD's but they are getting more hit or miss, instead of sure-stedies. I LOVE Ani's older stuff. Unfortunately, this one never grew on me. .

Will be checking out more Ani CDs after this
I like 'Dilate', but not so much to motivate me to buy others of hers. This is only my second Ani album, after 'Dilate'. I totally love 'Knuckle Down', however, and will be checking out more of her stuff ('Canon' is particularly appealing).

'Knuckle Down' is less aggressive than 'Dilate', which is not necessarily a good thing, I suppose. But her voice sounds so much better than on 'Dilate', on which she seemed to be snarling the lyrics; and the guitar picking and melodies are clearer.

I particularly like "Callous", "Paradigm" and "Recoil", but every song is great. .

Overated
If she ever goes on American Idol, she won't even make the 1st round. Ani is really overated. Any Amercian Idol can outsing her anytime and I'm sure Simon can really say something bad about her vocals. Her voice is really sub-par. Her lyrics are so self-indulgent. Her guitar playing is OK but gets boring. I was so disappointed with her CD. I find it so boring after listening 2 minutes into the CD. Her music and lyrics are not memorable at all. What a waste of money. If you heard of Ani through the media and want to buy her CD - just don't. Save your money and listen to tons of singer/songwriters out there. .

Ani's most accessable and enjoyable album in years
Chalk up this album in the latter category. Ani DiFranco continues to release albums left and right, sometimes just as Ani solo, at other times as a full blown band, and at yet other times somewhere in between.

"Knuckle Down" (12 tracks; 57 min. ) starts off very strongly with the title track and "Studying Stones", only to reach an ever higher plateau as her band joins in and rocks on "Manhole" and Modulation", the latter being the best track on the album. Sandwiched in between those songs is "Sunday Morning", a great melancholic view back on a relationship gone wrong. After the stellar first half of the album, things falter a bit. "Parameters" is the now seemingly obligatory spoken piece/poem that appears on most recent albums. "Paradigm" is one more standout, but towards the end the album starts to lag a bit and ultimately is a bit overlong.

That said, "Knuckle Down" is overall a great listen, and in particular the first half recalls the best music that Ani has ever done. Even though this album is now just about 2 years old, it still sounds fresh to me and I play this more often than any other Ani album. Throughout "Knuckle Down", Ani sounds like she might even be enjoying (!) the very music that she is bringing. Highly recommended, and not just for Ani fans.

As Ani knuckles down, she mellows out..
At the point in time when she has released Knuckle Down, she is reminiscing about her divorce - life can indeed be hard throughout the years, never letting up. Thirty-three year-old Ani will never be the exact same Ani as the nineteen-year-old Ani that met the other half of the "Two Little Girls" on the train in NYC. Although this album is nowhere near the more hard-rock-punk grit of albums like the Living in Clip live album or So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter, as raw as Dilate or Not a Pretty Girl, or as unfinished and folky as early Ani of Puddle Dive or Imperfectly, the Ani of Knuckle Down is more refined, finished, and reflective.

The title song is probably the most reminiscent of earlier albums, with the faster tempo and almost rapped-out verses. It sums up the album in a sense - that life was going to be different for her despite her stardom - "I know that I was warned, still it was not what I hoped" - and the motif of "Knuckle Down" may seem similar to those who know and love Little Plastic Castle's "Pixie" - "I gotta knuckledown, be OK with this".

"Studying Stones" and "Paradigm" are reflective of life among family, the first brush with the ups and downs of life. "Studying Stones" has a more melancholy melody to it with a bluesy twang, while "Paradigm" edges ever-so-slightly into the familiar politics Ani of which Ani has always sung.

"Manhole" is a sarcastic look at lost love and getting over someone (trust me, it helped me get through my own breakup!) and has a good rock beat and excellent chorus. This is probably my favorite song on this album. The sad "Sunday Morning" follows the breakup theme, notably right after the sarcastic tone "Manhole", and seems a tribute to the domestic happiness of her marriage, culminating in the most poignant line, "still it's Sumday morning I miss you the most", purposefully standing out as the instruments wind down.
As many others on this review noted, "Seeing Eye Dog", on its own, as an Ani song, is pretty godawful, which I guess is in keeping with the loser of a guy she compares to a dog in the song, with stories that "fall from you lips, with just enough slobber so it sparkles and drips". I don't think I ever want to hear Ani sing "slobber" in that way ever again either. The song definitely does not belong on this album!
"Modulation" and "Lag Time" are pretty good and relatively upbeat, with the same poetic lyricism Ani is known for. "Parameters" is of course the requisite poetic interlude Ani includes on most of her albums, and is haunting and well-presented as a bit of a warning horror story. The "dark and stormy night" is represented in the tones behind Ani's voice as it winds up stairs and into her room right up to the intruder "sitting there, sitting in what must be the prized chair in your collection of uncomfortable chairs".
In all, the album is more reflective than anything, if not a bit resigned to the difficult changes of life. Ani has definitely mellowed out as time has gone on, and even seeing her live now may be a very different experience than seeing her live ten years ago.
Best wishes to her as an expecting mother, too!

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You can see a complete list of all Ani DiFranco discography, or go back to the Ani DiFranco tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.