PUDDLE DIVE info
(RBR004-D) 1993

There's a marked difference on Ani's fourth album released in 1993. Ani and Dale produced the album at International Sound (still in Buffalo) with Ed Stone engineering yet again. Guests on the album include Ann Rabson, a member of Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women (whose albums are released internationally via Alligator Records), Rory McLeod, a well-respected British blues-harmonica player who has released albums on Cooking Vinyl, and Mary Ramsey. The cover of the album shows us a picture of a young, ecstatic Ani, eyes wide open, smile mischievous, framed in garish yellow/green color with the words "Puddle Dive" in dark tan. Look within and all the song lyrics are written by Ani herself in a scrawl that begs and invites deeper examination. That sense of unbridled joy (and let's be specific here, the kind of joy as experienced by Ani, and not a standard, "everything-is-beautiful" kind of joy) is mirrored in the CD sign behind a statue of two monkeys, Ani smiling that infamous smile with hands in pockets, looking like a punk Little Rascal. Though I may sound flip writing about her this way, there's no denying the infectious nature of her presence, and on PUDDLE DIVE one really gets the best glimpse of Ani's sly, playful, sardonic nature.

      The album is of a piece with the previous IMPERFECTLY and her next album OUT OF RANGE. The three form a potent trilogy which saw her fan base explode towards a younger demographic. The emphasis is on re-contextualizing Ani as a Gen-X folk singer, an alterna-folk punk-rocker whose shocking get-up (not that shocking really) seemed antithetical to the usual folk-singer trappings (no Birkenstocks on her!). ~ Raffaele Quirino