| Revolutionary Love | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 29, 2021 | |||
| Recorded | February 2020 [1] | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 56:34 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Righteous Babe | |||
| Producer | Ani DiFranco | |||
| Ani DiFranco chronology | ||||
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Revolutionary Love is a 2021 studio album by American folk musician Ani DiFranco. The music continues DiFranco's commentary on politics and activism and has been met with positive reviews by critics.
DiFranco was inspired to write the music on Revolutionary Love by the political turmoil in the United States at the time and a book written by her friend, activist Valarie Kaur. [4] The music expresses love that DiFranco has for her homeland, in spite of differences she has with individuals politically. [5] The recording was made in two days at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and shortly after DiFranco had finished a tour. [1] Prior to the album's release, DiFranco released "Do or Die", "Contagious", and the title track as singles. [6]
Editors at AllMusic Guide rated this album 4.5 out of five stars and labeling it one of the best albums of 2021, with critic Thom Jurek characterizing the music as "economical and smooth", with music that "challenges notions of personal and collective responsibility and elucidates the hope for inner and outer change, in illustrating exactly what it means to live and love in a ravaged, suffering world". [1] A brief review in The New Yorker notes how DiFranco's resistance to the politics at the time are not filled with anger, but calmer emotions, calling this release an album that has "robust melodies, padded with streaks of soul and jazz that represent some of DiFranco’s fullest productions yet, prop up a challenging attempt at peace and healing". [3] In No Depression , Jim Shahan emphasizes how DiFranco has always mixed the political and the personal in her recordings and praises her shift toward jazz-pop as "a warm, vivid accompaniment to the emotional and political heft of her words". [2] Will Russell of Hot Press rated this album a seven out of 10, also noting the tone of the album as "more kiss on the cheek than battering ram" that has a "remarkable genre-hopping pedigree" on display in the music. [7] Writing for musicOMH, John Murphy gave this album four out of five stars, opining that "shame not to hear her frantic finger-picking guitar in action", but "there’s still much to admire in the more modern version of DiFranco" and praising several tracks in particular but noting "there are times when it becomes rather too shapeless and meandering". [8]
All songs written by Ani DiFranco.
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
Revolutionary Love peaked number 65 on Billboard 's Top Album Sales chart. [9]
Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. 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 has released all her albums on her own record label, Righteous Babe.
To the Teeth is singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco's 10th studio album, released in November 1999.
Dilate is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released in 1996. Dilate is her highest-selling and most critically acclaimed record, with US sales of over 480,000 units according to SoundScan. In 2011, Slant Magazine placed the album at No. 67 on its list of "The 100 Best Albums of 1990s".
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.
Revelling/Reckoning is the 11th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released in 2001 on Righteous Babe Records. It is a double album of winding, narrative, acoustic-based songs.
Evolve is the 12th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released in 2003. The album won DiFranco and Brian Grunert a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package in 2004. This album is more eclectic and stylistically venturous than DiFranco's previous works, experimenting with styles such as jazz and funk.
Educated Guess is the 13th album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released January 20, 2004. It was recorded alone at her homes in Buffalo, New York and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Knuckle Down is the 14th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco. It is the first album where DiFranco has collaborated with a producer; Joe Henry. The record is also her first studio album to feature a string section. It is considered among her most accessible records, and compared to the stark Educated Guess, it is more abundantly produced.
Sara Lee is an English-American bassist and singer-songwriter, who came to prominence replacing Dave Allen on bass guitar in post-punk band Gang of Four, which she was a member of from 1982 to 1984. She was also a member of Robert Fripp's short-lived band The League of Gentlemen and is also notable for work with B-52s, Ani DiFranco and Indigo Girls. As of October 2021, Lee rejoined Gang of Four with founding members Hugo Burnham and Jon King as well as David Pajo, to tour in 2022.
The Body Acoustic is a studio album released by American singer Cyndi Lauper in 2005. It consists of ten previously released songs which have been re-recorded and re-arranged acoustically, as well as two new songs. The album title is a play on Walt Whitman's poem I Sing the Body Electric, with the word body in this case referring to Lauper's body of work as a recording artist. The album features a number of guest artists, including Adam Lazzara, Shaggy, Sarah McLachlan, Jeff Beck, Vivian Green, Ani DiFranco, and Puffy AmiYumi.
Reprieve is the 15th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released on August 8, 2006.
American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released in 2007 by Epic Records. A concept album, American Doll Posse sees Amos assuming the identity of five different female personalities inspired by Greek mythology in order to narrate stories of life in modern America. Themes include opposition to the Iraq War, recording industry misogyny, disillusionment, sexuality, personal loss, and female empowerment in general. Musically, the record is more rock-oriented than other studio works by Amos, notably featuring more guitar and drums than previous albums The Beekeeper (2005) and Scarlet's Walk (2002).
Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love is the eleventh studio album by American country music artist Trisha Yearwood. The album was released on November 13, 2007 on Big Machine Records and was produced by Garth Fundis.
Canon is a retrospective album by Ani DiFranco which was released on September 11, 2007. It contains songs covering her career to date. DiFranco re-recorded five songs that had been previously released: "Both Hands", "Overlap", "Napoleon", "Shameless" and "Your Next Bold Move".
Red Letter Year is the 16th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released on September 30, 2008.
Hadestown is the fourth studio album by Vermont-based Anaïs Mitchell, and was released by Righteous Babe Records on March 9, 2010. The concept album, which became the basis for the stage musical of the same name, follows a variation on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus must embark on a quest to rescue his wife Eurydice from the underworld. It has been advertised as a "folk opera". Several of the songs feature singers other than Mitchell, including Justin Vernon, Ani DiFranco, Greg Brown, Ben Knox Miller and Tanya, Petra and Rachel Haden.
¿Which Side Are You On? is the 17th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released on January 17, 2012.
Allergic to Water is the 18th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released on November 4, 2014.
Binary is the 19th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released on June 9, 2017. On this album she was supported by Todd Sickafoose, the upright bass player who has toured with her since 2004. Drummer Terence Higgins, who has been touring with DiFranco since 2012, also accompanied her on most of the tracks on the album. Jenny Scheinman and Ivan Neville join the band for more than half of the record. Other musicians showing up on the album include Maceo Parker, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, and Gail Ann Dorsey. The album was mixed by Tchad Blake.
The discography of Ani DiFranco, a United States-based singer-songwriter, consists of 22 studio albums, four live albums, three compilation albums, and three extended plays.
