- Audio CD (8 July 1996)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Import
- Label: Cooking Vinyl
- ASIN: B000024M7Y
- Other Editions: Audio CD | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 165,585 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
From Amazon.com
Following up two of her strongest records, Not a Pretty Girl and Out of Range, Dilate takes a different tack. It's quieter and more lush than previous efforts but just as intensely personal, with songs like "Untouchable Face" that are easier to identify with than many other DiFranco tunes. At the same time, DiFranco's old fans might not recognize the sound here, especially on tracks like the trip-hop-influenced "Amazing Grace," the shuffling "Napoleon," or the indescribable "Shameless"--this isn't the same thrash-folkie of old. There's a lot to like on Dilate, especially if you're a fan of Portishead or Lisa Germano, but it takes some getting used to. After spending time with the album, you may find it as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans, but you also might find out that the jeans never really fit quite right. --Randy Silver
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is probably the most personnal ani album. There is something for everybody; a line, a verse... which will put it in words for you, make you wish you'd come up with it yourself. Because ani Difranco is about lyrics, first and foremost. Then comes her amazing guitar technique, inspired and unique, and her voice, the voice of someone who has lived yet retains a naive faith in the things to come, a voice she uses like no-one before, as an instrument in it's own right. This is an absolutely classic album, ani fan or not. it will move you, sadden you, rise your hopes, relax you... a fantastic "time out".
Format:Audio CD
I was educated into listening to ADF by my wife a few years ago and must say they have together transformed me!
This album is one of my favourites as it leaves very little to doubt. From the first track, the seemingly angry yet tender Untouchable Face, she kicks and scratches her way through Outta Me Into You. No hostages are taken! Her guitar work is breathtaking at times and the variety of rhythms she uses dazzle. Then comes Superhero, which start nice and soft with more serious guitar work and sweet melodies. She then explains how she was a Superhero and I'll leave you to listen to the track for the rest of the fab lyrics.
The title track is so mellow to begin with that you really hear the quality of her singing while she is caressing her guitar into submission. A few turns of phrase and almost giggling delivery during the painful lyrics and you know just where she was when writing this one.
Amazing grace then comes through where Ani is just showing off how well she can play her guitar followed by the slightly weird Napoleon track, that by the way has nothing to with a short one-armed frenchman!
Shameless is definitely one of the best on the album and you won't be able to resist tapping your feet to some tight syncopated rhythm work. Wondering how she does what she does? Shamelessly I'd say and even shocking at points at how she drops into softly plaintive melodies.
Done Wrong then goes on to creep into all the crevices that hurt can open up and couple with Going Down you can hear the influences that she has had on other artistes. Adam and Eve then takes probably the widest detour from the other tracks on the album before Ani delivers a song that you will fall in love with the first time you hear it.
Joyful Girl is that song and I wrote this review because this song gave me permission to believe I can.
If you have not heard this song you should buy the album simply for this one. The beauty and hope she conveys simply lifts her above all the rest and she even has room to wiggle her guitar a few times during the little run through beautiful emotions.
Buy this album and I bet you will buy more of her work.
This album is one of my favourites as it leaves very little to doubt. From the first track, the seemingly angry yet tender Untouchable Face, she kicks and scratches her way through Outta Me Into You. No hostages are taken! Her guitar work is breathtaking at times and the variety of rhythms she uses dazzle. Then comes Superhero, which start nice and soft with more serious guitar work and sweet melodies. She then explains how she was a Superhero and I'll leave you to listen to the track for the rest of the fab lyrics.
The title track is so mellow to begin with that you really hear the quality of her singing while she is caressing her guitar into submission. A few turns of phrase and almost giggling delivery during the painful lyrics and you know just where she was when writing this one.
Amazing grace then comes through where Ani is just showing off how well she can play her guitar followed by the slightly weird Napoleon track, that by the way has nothing to with a short one-armed frenchman!
Shameless is definitely one of the best on the album and you won't be able to resist tapping your feet to some tight syncopated rhythm work. Wondering how she does what she does? Shamelessly I'd say and even shocking at points at how she drops into softly plaintive melodies.
Done Wrong then goes on to creep into all the crevices that hurt can open up and couple with Going Down you can hear the influences that she has had on other artistes. Adam and Eve then takes probably the widest detour from the other tracks on the album before Ani delivers a song that you will fall in love with the first time you hear it.
Joyful Girl is that song and I wrote this review because this song gave me permission to believe I can.
If you have not heard this song you should buy the album simply for this one. The beauty and hope she conveys simply lifts her above all the rest and she even has room to wiggle her guitar a few times during the little run through beautiful emotions.
Buy this album and I bet you will buy more of her work.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
69 reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Not Ani's best, but still beautiful.
27 Sep 1999
Format:Audio CD
I have to admit, when I first bought this album a few weeks ago, my reaction wasn't very positive. I was like, "What the hell happened? This isn't the Ani DiFranco I've grown to love!" And songs like "Outta Me, On To You" and "Shameless" still freak me out a bit.
But once I listened to it a second or third time, I really began to love it. Ani's voice is the best it's ever been on any of her records, the lyrics are brilliant as always....now I can't believe I once disliked it so much. My favorite tracks on it are Superhero (such a wonderful song), Napoleon (I get such a big smile on my face whenever I listen to this one), Done Wrong (gorgeous and sad), and Joyful Girl (whispery and pretty).
I love this album because on it Ani displays such quiet, heartfelt emotion that I've never heard on any of her other records. Not A Pretty Girl is still my favorite album of hers, but Dilate will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you, Ani.
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Give up the folk (tear the roots off the sucka!)
7 Dec 1999
Format:Audio CD
Supposing that, like me, you don't normally want to listen to people with acoustic guitars whose fans (who can't spell "inspiring") regard them with awe - well, have a listen to this album, distinctly grittier than many of its kin. Apparently this is the album on which DiFranco got tired of being a folkie and upped the funk level by several degrees. The songs are cool: Napoleon, a blast of contempt at unspeakable rock-biz types, has a grungy swing and an unprintable chorus; Amazing Grace (yes, it's that old chestnut) is all overdubbed thumb pianos and whispering; Untouchable Face is a splendidly miserable love song (again with an unprintable chorus, which redeems the more ordinary sadness of the verses); the title track is a real killer, with a guitar sound big enough to fit a cathedral into it and positively bilious lyrics. Fine stuff. Never mind Laurie Anderson (recording with Lour Reed? What can she be thinking?), DiFranco is the singer-songwriter for people who don't normally listen to them.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Brooding, Blunt and Personal
18 Jun 2004
Format:Audio CD
Some people were annoyed, if I remember right, when Ani DiFranco made this album -- much more brooding and with a lot more backup band than her others.
To them, I said: "She already made like a gazillion albums in her other style! She recorded more songs already than most artists ever will. How long was she supposed to keep going before trying something new?" I figure she has to either reinvent herself or get bored, and I think she made the right choice
I think this album is a TRIUMPH. It's mopey, honest, and absolutely heartfelt. Her lyrics are just as smart as ever.
SUPERHERO is a fantastic song about how when we fall in love, we all become ridiculous cliches ... no matter how 'above it' we thought we were before.
ADAM AND EVE is a powerful, brooding feminist statement about men who "leave you in the morning".
OUT OF ME, ONTO YOU is more or less ... a curse on someone you hate.
I think DILATE is a gem, and every Ani fan should take it back out again and listen to it with fresh ears.
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