1. Untouchable Face 2. Outta Me, Onto You 3. Superhero 4. Dilate 5. Amazing Grace 6. Napoleon 7. Shameless 8. Done Wrong 9. Going Down 10. Adam And Eve 11. Joyful Girl

Ani DiFranco may carry an acoustic guitar, but she's plugged in, has green hair, multiple body piercings and is outspoken to the point of constant earburn. So how's she charming the masses? Her albums have all contained hard, biting, honest and crude songs of vitriol, gender confusion and focused personal politics. Yet, for all her stark heart and energy, the songs weren't strong enough to break through beyond an avid cult audience because they were too stripped down, most often just DiFranco's guitar and drums from longtime cohort Andy Stochansky, and they often leaned more to story telling than song singing. On Dilate, released last year, DiFranco finally jumped past the "folksinger" role, adding her own overdubbed bass and other instruments along with hip-hop samples to the mix. This allowed songs such as "Superhero" to hit as hard as they need. Sound samples and ghostly voices let DiFranco create a hauntingly original version of "Amazing Grace," which is an amazing feat. Sure, in most songs she uses just about any offensive and/or dangerous word you can imagine, but DiFranco's unique because she uses such language appropriately to express intense emotion and with wit and imagination. For instance, "Untouchable Face" weds a simple and simply beautiful melody to a bitter kiss off that pays off with the repeated "fuck you" in its chorus. As strong as Dilate is, the live Living in Clip presents the whole DiFranco picture. She's an extremely personable performer, and her silly, witty between song conversations are almost as important to her connection with her audience as her songs. Here, you get two hours of both on two CDs. Songs from older albums live anew, thanks to expanded arrangements from Stochansky and bassist Sara Lee, including yet another stunning and funky take on "Amazing Grace," this time with the Buffalo Philharmonic. More Joy, Less Shame offers four different takes on "Joyful Girl" from Dilate (who really wants four versions of one song?) plus two other tunes. Jeff Lindholm (Charlottesville, VA)