DiFranco delivers her soul on latest

I hope those seasoned Ani DiFranco aficionados out there will forgive the fact that I was only recently turned on to this guitar-strumming righteous babe's music by a friend. Since hearing the content of nearly all of her previous albums just last year, I find myself constantly thirsty for new material that's chocked full of emotionally profound messages and bold statements. So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter definitely delivers this and more.\nLaughter, like DiFranco's last album, Reveling/Reckoning, is two discs, each with its own subtitle. Disc one is dubbed "Stray Cats," while disc two is called "Girls Singing Night." Laughter is her first live album since 1997's gold-selling Living In Clip, featuring three previously unrecorded songs and 20 classics, including "32 Flavors" and "Jukebox," from throughout DiFranco's career. Even though the songs are old standards, she recreates them.\n"Shrug," her first new track, starts out with an extended intro with the sounds of a keyboard, smooth brass and DiFranco on guitar. Her soft sound slowly builds and then retracts, and when combined with the band, a relaxing mood is created, no matter what may be going on around you. \n"Welcome To:," the second previously unrecorded track, starts out speaking to an audience. She says the song is about going home for the holidays and having to "subject herself to her family." The bittersweet feelings she seems to express about her family come out from time to time in her voice when she gets louder. Yet, her soft, subtle quality dominates the majority of this track, with her guitar complementing her sound throughout.\nThe last piece of new material comes in the form of a poem backed by minimal music. In "Self Evident" she uses alliterations in place of a melody. DiFranco dazzles me with a political message, speaking about everything from Sept. 11, Afghanistan and Iraq, to George W. ("George W. Bush is not president"), eliciting a rousing response from the crowd. \nMy one complaint would be the fact that this is a live album. At times I have to strain to hear what she is saying or singing. Then again, a benefit would be that this is a live album. Even if you're not a fan, you should use this album to take a trip inside DiFranco's soul.