Customer Reviews

My Country II

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It can be hard to combine art and message; they can all too easily get in the way of one another leaving neither satisfying. But sometimes art can give messages wings to reach us in new ways. Woodie Gutherie, Dylan, Lennon, and many others, have numbers to their credit that succeeded in combining the two. Bern hits some out of the park on "My Country 2." "Sammy's Bat" is an awesome tune. It's my favorite right now (I just got the album yesterday). A great rollicking rolling song with terrific biblical imagery that makes stark comment on the dangers of growing fascism and complacency:

I had a dream, I had a dream
something about Guantanamo Bay
and something about all these cows ...

"President" is a fun tune. Even if you don't agree with all of Bern's "proposed initiatives," the ideas make you think some about the problems that face us from illegal immigration and dependence on foreign oil to nation building and armed service.

"Tyranny" speaks to the insular echo chamber of this neocon led administration, our global society, and the work we all need to do to make democracy succeed and gives it a good beat!

"Ostrich Town" is a rather scathing indictment of too many in our society who are too comfortable to question what's going on or care. This melodious little number kicks sand in the face of complacency and self-indulgence.

"After the Parade" is as hard hitting a song about war and the sacrifice of the troops as any that have been made. In the vein of Dylan's "Masters of War" and "With God on Our Side."

"My Country II" makes earnest commentary about class divisions and the all too common intolerance these days of those who love America, but don't necessarily buy into every aspect of American majority culture (flag waving, consumer culture, etc.):

I pay my taxes
vote on election day
stop at stop signs
just like you

"The Torn Flag" is a nice translation of a powerful poem into music a la Wilco and Bragg's effort with Gutherie's poems on Mermaid Avenue.

"Bush Must Be Defeated" is a catchy chant that serves as a great coda. The rhymes are sometimes humorous, but this hardly detracts from the number in the way Roy Kasten suggests.

Kasten obviously is not a Dan fan. This EP is completely in line with Dan's often sly and frank lyrics from past efforts.
I completely disagree with Kasten's dismissive assessment that this some kind of disposable novelty. It's anything but.

Rather, it represents a terrific effort by one of the best and most real musicians of the present era. Dan's the man and these numbers deliver not just interesting messages, but GREAT MUSIC.

And, oh yeah, Bush must be defeated.

I've been a Dan fan for many years and have seen him perform many times- mostly at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Dan's great strength as an artist is his spontaneity + his musicianship. When he is "on" few can compare.
His "stream of consciousness" approach to his music can also result in performances that don't always match up with his best.

"My Country II", I am very happy to say, is among his best efforts. People who love Dan know that he's great at being smart and sarcastic. When he's empathetic and tender he really shines though. "After the Parade" and "The Torn Flag" are my favorite tunes on the new CD; as good as "Sister" and "Wasteland" from previous CD's.
I've looked forward to the release of this CD and Steve Earle's "The Revolution Starts Now" for the past month. I can hardly believe what's happening to our democracy. I love Steve and Dan but think that Dan has put out the better CD. If you're looking for emotional/spiritual/political support over the next couple of months I'd recommend both of these CD's... unless you're a Republican.

If you're a real Dan Bern fan ... as am I ... then you'll love this album.

But: As the other reviews indicated, it was a pre-election Bush bash. "Bush must be defeated," sang Bern, but he wasn't. Now what?

Thoughtfully, Dan answered the question on another EP released right before the election: Anthems. While his modified-Guthrie call to vote against Bush as "the greatest thing mankind has ever done" is now a melancholy listen, other songs on Anthems are indeed Anthems for those of us what to do with our electoral energies after the balloting is over.

"Take Back the New Millenium" he sings, "this one was going to be ours." "Planes crashing into airplanes..... can't pull us apart."

"Revolution Begins in the Basement" is Beatlesque in its apparent appeal for political action mixed with surrealism.

I ordered Anthems from MessengerRecords; now it's on Dan's site too. Hopefully Amazon may start carrying it. It's my soundtrack for the next four years.

Dan Bern's "My Country II" is vibrant folk music. It's topical & bubbles with the best protest music. Rather than tracks such as "President," "Bush Must Be Defeated" & the title track seeming outdated because of George Bush's election, this is part of the soundtrack of the continuing protest of a government dominated by Republicans in the executive, congress & in the courts. The music becomes even more on point because of the spiraling debt, intolerance of gays & lesbians and bellicose foreign policy of what has been referred to in the past as "the land of the free."

Brian Schey's bass riffs joyfully on the title track with Bern's lyrical sense in top form, "I don't drive a Mercedes Benz & I don't desire to own one; I'd sooner watch a flower grow than the latest from Sylvester Stallone. I don't have me a country club membership; I ride the Greyhound bus. I don't have a cabin two hours north of here & I don't celebrate Christmas, but it's my country too." Bern sounds like a nouveau Woody Guthrie on "The Torn Flag." "Bush Must Be Defeated" is creative if only for the unique lyrical rhyme that Bern utilizes, "Bush must be defeated, his evil gang unseated, his base of power deleted, his energy depleted." "President" is one of those fantasy tracks of what Bern might do if he were president & is as humorous as it is poignant. "Sammy's Bat" is another of the best tracks on this set with the fast repeat on "I had a dream." "Ostrich Town" is an excellent metaphor for America in the Bush era where the politics of selfishness & greed supercede the traditional American values of caring for others, helping the little guy & loving your fellow man. "After the Parade" is a sad epitaph for how America celebrates its veterans by cutting their benefits and pay. Obviously, this is not music for the right wing. Along with Stephan Smith's "Slash & Burn," some of Rickie Lee Jones', the Mammals & Kate McDonnell's new "Where the Mangoes Are" CD, this is vibrant political music in an era that needs some hope. Enjoy!

I wonder if the writer of the sole one-star review of this CD feels like a total moron now, in 2009, after Bush is out of the White House, and his lies and deception, approval of torture, spying on American citizens, and total disregard for the Constitution are well-documented.

Two losers? Kerry and Bern? No, Kerry is still a power in the Senate, just as Dan is still a viable, relevant artist with something to say.

The loser, my myopic reviwer from the past, is George W. Bush, as well as the thousands upon thousands of Americans he deceived, and the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead because of a war based on Bush's lies and deception.

John Lennon once wrong a song addressed to Paul McCartney during the early days after the Beatles broke up, when both still had hostile feelings toward one another. It's titled, "How Do You Sleep?" I think that would be an appropriate question to ask George W. as he fades into oblivion in the suburbs of north Dallas. How do you sleep, knowing thousands of young Americans serving in the military lost their lives because of your lies? How do you sleep, knowing you treated the Constitution like it was toilet tissue? How do you sleep knowing your legacy will be one of shame and dishonor on a par of that of Richard Nixon's and Herbert Hoover's and Warren G. Harding's?

Gee, George W. Bush is gone and Dan's still making great music! Miracles do happen!

Besides the excellent hallucinatory track "Sammy's Bat", the rest of this EP doesn't live up to the high standards of Dan Bern's other recorded work. It's probably the most sincere novelty record of all time, though, with Dan's unique take on the state of the union circa 2004, complete with references to G.W., Guantanamo Bay, and Middle East oil. In a couple of years, I might be able to pull out this album (sub-titled "Music to Beat Bush By") and remember where I was when Bush was re-elected.