I've been a fan of Ani for years, and this album is a definite landmark. It's jazzy, funky, latin, folky, fantastic. If you're gonna give it a try, I recommend listening to it a number of times to really fall into it. Like a lot of her albums, it takes repeat listening to appreciate the depth of the music, and this album especially can be very subtle in its texture. Listen to the sample tracks a coupla times (I just *love* Slide), but my three very favorite songs don't even have samples (Here For Now, Phase, and Serpentine). Go to Ani's website at righteousbabe.com to listen to more tracks.

If you've never listened to Ani before, I recommend this one for her mellower jazzier stuff, 'Dilate' for her [ticked]-off, righteous, rockin' girl power, and 'Little Plastic Castle' for fun upbeat tunes that are easier to appreciate on the first listen.

This is my first Ani Difranco cd. At best I have a pedestrian knowledge of her music, so I have really no idea how this compares to any of her previous recordings. Now that that's taken care of, this is an AMAZING cd. The line she walks between jazz, rock and folk is so thin that you really can't label it. The folk/funk and rock/jazz combinations are so incredibly good that even non-Ani Difranco followers like myself have no choice but to take notice. She is the real deal. Incredible voice, incredible music, incredible songs. At this point I'm not ready to single out any particular tunes as choice cuts, and even if I were this cd is meant to be listened to as a whole (you simply cannot skip over any tracks, it's THAT good). Get this cd and hear what I'm talking about.

It's difficult for avid Ani fans to objectively critique any new album, because face it: after a while, you just fall in love with her. And being head over heals for the Righteous Babe makes every new release seem like a personal letter to that fan, so on some level it's taken personally. I put that aside here and now.

I'm proud of this one. I love that I can put on all her albums and they span a myriad of genres, emotions, politics, outlooks and questions. I love that they all show growth in some form, and I'm overjoyed that this album continues this trend. Of course it won't be like her first album; she was 19 when she made it! She's 32 now, and she's growing and showing it well "Evolve" is slam-packed with some solid tunes: "Icarus" has reflections of a instrument-laden tune from the "Dilate" era, "Evolve" is guitar-driven and harkens back to a more stripped-down Ani sound, "Oh My My" is the first song Ani not only wrote but played on piano, All 10+ minutes of "Serpentine" keep her political views fresh in the minds of all the 'calmed down' critics, and "Welcome To:" is just a beautiful slower Ani tune that's bound to be a classic.

My beef with this? I'm not a huge horns fan, but I think she does well in enhancing the songs without allowing them to overshadow her lyrics and famous guitar-slamming abilities. She's maturing well, and her conscious dynamic musical spirit is just another characteristic of her that fans grow to love. I was not as impressed with Revelling/Reckoning--it seemed she was releasing every song she wrote w/o thought or serious revision--I enjoy this compilation much more.

You would do well to own this one--probably not a great first album, but a great addition to what will become, without you noticing, a vast repertoire of Mr. Difranco. Could possibly end up among the classic Ani's.

Let's just say outright: lyrics are NOT the strong point of this album. Instead of giving us heartbreaking love ballads, or firey political lyrics with teeth, she has given us . . .what?

A good portion of the time, I have no idea what Ani is talking about. Since most of us, I believe, have come to see her principally as a singer-songwriter (whose greatest skills are singing, playing guitar, and writing killer lyrics) this lyrical failure could be seen as a failure in itself.

Anyone who expects a folk sound -- complex guitar fingerings, passionate but honest vocals, moving lyrics -- is barking up the wrong tree with this album. Ani has taken the proverbial road less traveled -- and perhaps half succeeded.

On its own, the album has a few captivating tracks. The artists who work with Ani are obviously very talented. Many of the tracks are interesting to listen to. However, several of them are rather tedious. For example, the 11 minute track Serpentine, intended as perhaps a jazz-style poem, becomes incredibly slow and rant-y. The truth is, if I wanted jazz, I would have bought jazz. I love jazz, but the songs are not extremely satisfying as such and instead reach towards two aims, satisfying neither.

So, I anxiously awaited the release of Evolve for a few weeks, ran to my nearest music superstore to purchase a copy on the Tuesday of the official release, unwrapped the plastic in a fire-driven frenzy, crashed on the floor of my bedroom and listened to the entire album in one sitting. I was utterly disappointed. After the decidedly brilliant but certainly unexpected jazz vibe of the first three tracks, i was deeply missing and longing for the bare, raw acoustic of Ani's earlier albums. However, on a roadtrip, i forced myself to give Evolve another shot and little by little, found myself enjoying each song. Different but good, i decided. To understand what I mean I have to compare this album to those of some other notable performers in other genres. Counting Crows third studio album, This Desert Life (i'm not even going to get into hard candy...) disappointed me because i longed for and was expecting the driving honesty of August and Everything After, or the melodic counterpart of Recovering the Satellites. And i truly had to put the album back on the shelf for a few weeks until i got over my anger at the Counting Crows for evolving as musicians and allowing their music to reflect that. Same with the newest REM. I think, artists need to change, they can't just put out the same album over and over again. Change is part of being a musician, as well as a part of the recording industry, and often, my dislike of a favorite artist's new album is just the immediate and involuntary reaction of discomfort at something new. So I am learning to love Evolve, because, although I miss the old acoustic Ani, it is a magnificent album and in no way does her any injustice.