Dan Bern - New American Language (2001)

When asked what he thinks of Bob Dylan, whom he has been repeatedly been compared to, Dan Bern has been known to reply "I think he's the Dan Bern of the '60s." Brash? Well, remember that Dylan once challenged a journalist by asking "name someone who writes better songs than me." It would be hard for Dan Bern not to realize that he is this generation's greatest poet because, as New American Language demonstrates, he is so far ahead of the pack that anyone would be hard pressed to name one better.

Bern's last three releases were on Sony/Columbia, which yielded no chart success. Nada hits. Which ought to be an indicator of how stale the major label system has become. Of course, Bern's offbeat approach to songwriting doesn't lend itself to streamlined radio playlists or MTV video rotation. Dan Bern is more about frontiers.

My introduction to Bern came when a friend mailed me a CD-R packed with MP3 files of Bern performances lifted off the Internet. Among the tracks was a song called "Shakespeare's Got An Uzi." Indeed. These recordings weren't smuggled out of a record company vault. They weren't sold into circulation by some unscrupulous soundman at one of his concerts. A disgruntled former manager didn't give them out. Bern himself handed them over to his fans. They are easily available on the Internet and Bern is not screaming that he is being robbed as some less visionary old-school artists do. On New American Language's "Albuquerque Lullaby" Bern addresses industry execs who fret over "stolen royalties" with the line "no one cares about your glory days." Bern has built an almost fanatical following without the help of the status quo entertainment system.

New American Language is Bern's first post-Sony release and it is his best to date (not to downplay the Sony releases – they are all excellent). The Dylan comparisons are inescapable, not as a Dylan song-writing clone, but rather as a poet with a firm grasp on the social issues of the day. Bern paints a bleak picture where violence is just fodder for TV ("Tape"), you can get beat up just by looking different ("New American Language"), elections are bought "fair and square" ("Alaska Highway"), and even God is a cynic ("God Said No").

But throughout New American Language Bern finds refuge on the frontier where with a "guitar and a backpack, my soul is intact" ("Black Tornado"). In "Albuquerque Lullaby" he states "at the bottom of the ocean you might find a pearl. Don't let your heart get broken by this world."

Bern smartly avoids overwhelming (or boring) the listener with a healthy dose of comedic relief in his writing. "Alaska Highway" is a joyous gonzo cruise into the Alaskan frontier with Cowboy Joe filling in as Raoul Duke's 300-pound attorney. In what is becoming a Bern trademark, some familiar faces are encountered along the way. I wouldn't think anyone could namecheck Leonardo DiCaprio, Eminem, Britney Spears, Keith Richards, and God in the same song and make it work. But on "Alaska Highway" Bern does and even makes it one of the album's highlights.

Bern closes the album with the epic "Thanksgiving Day Parade" which is delivered with perfect Dylan cadence, a nasal delivery, and even incorporating a harp that sounds as if it were being played by Dylan himself. Mythical and non-mythical figures weave in and out of the story in Dylan fashion. Like many Dylan epics, it's a sometimes humorous, often mysterious tale open to any number of interpretations. A musical joke? Probably. But when Bern sings "we'll have to bring our own tunes," you know he's not just whistlin' "Dixie." (Messenger Records)

Review by Bill Glahn, copyright 2001

(Click on the CD cover to buy New American Language from Amazon.com)