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List Price: $16.98 | | Label: Righteous Babe
Salesrank: 13011
Released: February 17, 1998 |
| Our Price: $9.96 |
| Used Price: $0.79 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Little Plastic Castle Track Listing:
1. Little Plastic Castle
2. Fuel
3. Gravel
4. As Is
5. Two Little Girls
6. Deep Dish
7. Loom
8. Pixie
9. Swan Dive
10. Glass House
11. Independence Day
12. Pulse
Editorial Review:
As she's gone from the Young Woman Who Could to the Woman Who Has, Ani DiFranco has explored more than her share of musical styles, all the while remaining true to her core. Even during her most extreme departures, you could hear the sound of the early albums coming through. On Little Plastic Castle, an album on which people are credited for adding pontifications, incantations, and an "evil machine" to songs, you could--for the first time--hear an almost completely new artist. Call her Ani, version 3; she couldn't have existed without hearing all of Ani, version 1's albums, and she wouldn't be as funky and experimental without the influence of Ani, version 2. She still has a lot to say--about politics, about relationships, about herself--but the messages aren't thrown in your face here (well, not as often). Instead they're wrapped in funky hooks and lots of production--anything you learn from DiFranco on this album will come from pure repetition, and for the first time, the album is varied enough, catchy enough, and subtle enough that you'll push the repeat button while cleaning the house. --Randy Silver
Little Plastic Castle Reviews:
one of Ani's best 
2009-11-11 - This is one of my favorite Ani Difranco albums. I've listened to it many times, alone, loud, dancing around. Its just that kind of album.
Maybe the best Ani CD
2009-01-01 - This CD is great. When deciding what the best Ani CD is I'm torn between this, Not a Pretty Girl, and Dilate. All three are must haves (along with her self titled, Imperfectly, and Puddle Dive).
That said, there are a couple of skippable songs which maybe makes Not a Pretty Girl and Dilate inch out in front, because I don't think there are any skippable songs on those albums, but the good stuff on this album is very, very good. Some of my favorite Ani songs on any album are on this one like "Independence Day" "Swan Dive" "Pulse" "Little Plastic Castle" "Gravel" "Fuel".... hell they're all great except, in my opinion, "Deep Dish" and "Pixie" Just press the skip button through those two for a perfect listening experience.
Another quasi-masterwork 
2008-02-18 - 3 1/2
DiFranco strives at creating consistent, edgy folk punk with a feminist slant, and although she has a distinguished career amongst her peers, has rarely created an album that engages full-throttle throughout. Little Plastic Castles is known as one of her stronger discs, and it does showcase her many talented styles of various acoustic alchemy with little effort. But only about half of the album's material truly stands the test of time, usually centering around DiFranco's excellent up-tempo numbers. Her talent for mesmerizing strum patterns in these songs simply outshines mid-tempo predictability coupled with (at times) strained vocals/lyrics or poetry-styled readings.
AWESOME!
2008-01-21 - Ani DiFranco is in my opinion the best female folk singer songwriter ever. If you haven't heard her this Cd is a great one to start with. It will open your eyes to a beautiful world. Her lyrics are so fabulous and thought provoking and the guitar is incredible. All music lovers should be educated about Ms. DiFranco, otherwise they do not know what they are missing! Check out a few choice songs on here AS IS being one of my favorites. The lyrics are incredible. Its really an amazing album. You just gotta give it a chance.
Still the one to beat 
2005-12-07 - Like some others who've posted here, I'm not necessarily an Ani-holic, but I have huge respect for her honesty and integrity, and the way she ran her career from a completely outsider approach into what is now a time-honored creative dynasty. She's not someone I listen to constantly, but I return to her regularly for a fix of the kind of blunt and exhilarating earnestness she represents.
That being said, I've always felt that after a certain point she just made too damn many CDs, so that at times musically she covered the same ground again and again. Try making a compilation sometime of your favorite Ani songs and you'll realize quickly just how many have the same tempo, the same key, the same basic structure and feel but (and this is the difference that saves them) new thoughts in the lyrics.
But LITTLE PLASTIC CASTLE probably is the best combination of all of Ani's best instincts along with the greatest variety in style, tempo and overall musical creativity. She also achieved a kind of unusual level of spontanteous vocal excitement on this album where she sounds even more intense and exuberant than her usual standard (which is always pretty intense!).
For me, this album and IMPERFECTLY are her two finest efforts, although I love many things scattered throughout all the rest of the CDs. If you are not already an Ani fan, this CD may be the best way "in," since if you don't like this one, I can't imagine you could generate much affection for Ani, who is so exuberantly accessible here.
