I’ll start with this: I’m a huge fan of Ani’s and her work, but I cannot stand Evolve (2003).
First special note – and a complimentary one – goes to packaging. As I recall it took Grammy for packaging and is quite original in a way. It’s noteworthy and everything they say about, but not more than you expect from Ani. Then, since I enjoy the following Educated Guess (2004) way more (there’s truly no comparison) and the package of that one knocks my socks off, I tend to disagree that packaging of Evolve is greater in any sense than of Educated Guess.
Surprisingly, it’s music we’re reviewing here. So musically wise I reject this CD. Not because it’s bad – in no way anything that was done by this woman could be bad – but because it makes so little sense. Some sub things annoy the hell out of me. And you’re lucky because I’m willing to share.
When I first put the CD in a player I seriously prayed to hear new old Ani or at least not to hear old new her. Unfortunately, I did not hear anything new or inspiring or even giving hope for future clearing and spiritual enlightenment. There’s a sad path in Ani’s works starting in 1999 when she decided that trumpet was an essential part of every song that seems to be going on for a few years and a few records. While it took me a year for To The Teeth to grow on me, I’m still deadly scared of Revelling and Reckoning. Though I have to admit, in a new light of Evolve it’s not that scary at all.
What I’m trying to say, Ani’s music used to be different and it shall remain so for as long as that little woman is breathing, but in times it gets difficult to perceive her. There’s one song that I truly love on the album and it’s called “Serpentine”. It’s more than ten minutes long and has a long intro but is so refreshing after the first ten songs (actually nine, because I enjoyed “Second Intermission”).
Serpentine starts with “Pavlov hits me with more bad news” and that immediately caught my ear. It’s not every day that you hear a Russian name in a song by an American folk singer, aye? But it’s more than that. It’s a true Ani song (in my humble opinion) for it follows exactly what she said years before “people used to make records/ as in a record of an event/ the event of people playing music in a room”. It made the only basically worth it song, not worth buying an album though.
Throughout the whole album I had a feeling I heard it all before. Some songs return me to To The Teeth and I have a feeling a completely different song I’ve heard before is playing. Still, it’s the same new new Ani. Trumpet almost in every song annoyed the hell out of me. The songs I was ok with or (dare to admit) enjoyed were not overwhelmed by excessive amount of trumpet sounds. And maybe in a way to thank her for that I liked them. Concern with the inclusion of every single instrument available – and I really believe it’s not true, but it looks that way – surpasses the lyrics and the overall harmony of a sound.
Some of the songs give me the feeling that Ani got stoned and placed a picture of the reason for this album and started singing them everything she thought of them. In any case, the result is not something I should be bothered with. Both musically and lyrics wise this is not for the mass audience.
The record failed to impress me, it failed to fulfill me, in a way it even makes me mad at Ani (yeah, I know – who am I?). But then, I can’t see her sacrificing quality to quantity. Cast the stone, but the marginal utility of this album is way below the zero.
I can’t name you a single album by Ani, where not a song appealed to me. Before Evolve. I so loved her raw sound – you can put me in a box labeled “before trumpet fan”. But really, there are so many albums by Ani where I really enjoy maybe a handful of songs, but they are really big and that’s why the rest begin to blur. The very first song on her very first album made one of the best songs I’ve heard (Both Hands).
And then, there’s Evolve. And I’ve no idea how to approach it. It doesn’t grow on me and probably never will, because I did not really enjoy the trumpet first time around, so why would I do while listening to the third of a kind?
Since I can’t really buy her music here, I don’t chase chronological order of her works. I heard Educated Guess first. It didn’t meet my expectations, because I expected something like “Imperfectly” because everyone praised it as a comeback to roots. Now I know what they meant: Educated Guess is a breath of fresh air. Love it! And especially appreciate it after Evolve. So, in the end it had a purpose – it helped me to hear Ani again and to believe on her and her music.
I thought that would never happen but I strongly recommend avoiding this album, though once again I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s something that I don’t want to listen to.
Throughout her career, Ani has never shied from pursuing new musical directions. On Evolve, her latest release on Righteous Babe Records, the singer/s...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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