Around the blogs: I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has an update about Brandi Carlile. I Guess I’m Floating has an update (and a new song) from We Will Build. Idolator raises a ruckus about wiki-plagiarism on My Old Kentucky Blog. And a number of folks are talking about the new Lemonheads out today. I haven’t had time to give it more than a cursory listen, but will probably post about it in the next week.
Instead, today I want to discuss someone who has been criminally underrepresented in the blogs: Dan Bern. His newest album Breathe (or available on eMusic) was released with virtually no fanfare last week. It’s not his best work, but it’s not his worst, either, and adds even more compelling evidence to support the inevitable Dylan comparisons. And it’s got a fair number of very enjoyable songs.
These two are probably my two favorites:
The reviews I read before I heard the record it said that it was much less political than most of his other work, which was disappointing, because I love the role that Bern has staked out as someone unafraid to speak his mind, to speak with conviction and with irony. However, upon hearing the whole thing, it seems clear to me that while it is less overtly political, there is a whole lot going on beneath the surface.
At its core, this is an album about personal relationship, but it is framed within the broad context of materialism, war, and religion. As such, it’s political in a much more subtle way. And frankly, as much as I love the bitter humor, I’ve always enjoyed him most when he was earnest and personal (see “Chelsea Hotel” or “Kurt Cobain”). These two songs walk the line very well, revealing a lot of weariness but not succumbing. “Breathe” in particular contains a number of great lines, my favorite of which is:
There’s nothing innocent about a newborn babe
That a few years here can’t cure
And it’s not so much that you burn out
Baby, but you finally just endure
At the risk of taking the Dylan references a little too far, I’d suggest that this is something of a Blood on the Tracks for Bern. Not in terms of overall quality (as much as I enjoy the record, it’s hardly a masterpiece), but in focus and scope.
Other tracks worth checking out are “Past Belief,” “Suicide Room,” and “Trudy.”
And, while I’m on the subject of Dan Bern, and since I talked about Nirvana yesterday, here’s my all-time favorite Dan Bern song:
The best song about the modern “day the music died,” this is from his debut EP a decade ago. He’s done some great work since then, but this is still his best, in my opinion.