Customer Reviews

New American Language

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If the only track on this album was "God Said No",and the rest of the playing time was static, it would still be a great album. Ok, that's silly, but "God said no" is one of the best songs I've ever heard. It is totally heart-wrenching rumination on the irrevesible nature of time and consequently, the indellible marks of guilt and evil. It may not be the best song Bern ever wrote, but it's probably the most ambitious and beautiful.

Oh, yeah, the rest of the album is brilliant too. The title track is another favorite, wherein the singer dreams of not just a new American language, but a kinder, bigger world in general. There isn't a bad track, and while pundits will debate if it is THE best DB album, it is easily the most consistent and listenable.

Great, smart music.

You can see from below that there's no need for another review of high praise for Dan Bern, but I wanted him to have another 5-stars under his belt.

A friend said the other day that he felt Bern was derivative of Springsteen, Dylan, etc...a common enough response and not undeserved on much of Bern's work, heck he courts it, even if it is ironic. Well, this album has turned all that over.

Not only does this go beyond much of the previous work, nearly every song can stand with the greats from the past like Chelsea Hotel, it proves that Bern is ready to be HEARD by the rest of the world. I don't think there's an overtly offensive lyric on this album. In the past, a song like "One Thing Real" cut itself off at the POP knees with a verse that could not be played on the radio. Not so here.

I'm a great fan of the self-titled release as a cohesive recording--rare for most albums, and Bern's other albums have songs that can clash against each other--New American Language keeps it together for the whole work. One song after another--all are worthy to be ranked with anyone's favorite by Dan Bern. This album does the work of turning over the influences so overt in the past to create an original voice and sound.

Thanks, Dan. Now get to St. Louis!!!

I saw Dan recently in Asheville, NC. He performed most of the songs from "New American Language". He and the CD are incredible. I reccomend this CD for everyone. I love all of Dan Bern's work and own all of his CDs.
However, I haven't had a huge response when trying to turn others on to his music. I think his song writting is clever and unbelievable, but often, it is difficult to get my friends to pay attention to the lyrics. However, "New American Language" with the new band sound is much easier to love at first listen. Buy this for yourself and all your friends!!!

This is the best album I've heard all year. I'm buying it for everyone I know for the holidays. By far Dan Bern's best official album. The music spans the states and the globe, as well as musical styles, from folk ballad to rockin' Stones-like riffs to rockabilly.

Listen to the tracks, especially "God Said No" (I get choked up every single time I hear it). BUY THIS ALBUM!

Don't think about it, just buy it.

Every once in a while an album comes along at just the right time. Dan Bern's New American Music says everything that everyone has been feeling the past 6 weeks. It preaches oneness and brotherhood, unity and peace, understanding and love. Dan Bern has done it.

I just feel like I want, or need, to listen to every song on the album, every word, all at once, over and over and over. I can't sing enough praise.

This cd is a few daring DJ's away from turning Dan Bern into a phenomenon. There are several bonafide hits, most notably the title track. "Tape" is one of the timely songs in which Dan sings about the possibility of seeing World War 3 before Thanksgiving Day, an eerie lyric in the wake of 9/11.

But above all, the unique character of Dan Bern the musician, is woven through the context and subtleties of this album. He truthfully characterizes what being a pop culture idealizing American is, without vilifying that characterization like many of his contemporaries, or even some of his previous work. His mature understanding, combined with his "crystal ball" vision, is ready to be catapulted to the forefront of his IndieRock-Folk genre, ushering in the eloquent, homespun, wholesome and cerebral sounds of a New American Music.

The title song in this collection recounts a hilarious he-said/she-said miscommunication about the meaning of love, prompting Bern's idealistic dream of a new American language, "one with a little bit more Spanish." While he's at it, he also dreams of a new pop music, one that "tells the truth, with a good beat and some nice harmonies."

Well, that in a nutshell defines the brilliance of Dan Bern: He tells the truth with a good beat. And any lack of nice harmonies in the background is more than made up for by the gorgeous melodies up front.

You want catchy melodies? Then take a listen to Turning Over, or Albuquerque Lullaby, or Toledo.

You want a good beat? Listen to Sweetness, or Alaska Highway, or Black Tornado, or (especially) Tape.

And then there's the closer, Thanksgiving Day Parade -- 10 minutes and 26 seconds of stream of consciousness that culminates in an ecstasy of pure sonic bliss. It is simply breathtaking, both for the arrangement and the performance.

You want the Truth? It's right here in every song.

If you ever have the good fortune of seeing a Dan Bern live performance, you'll come away realizing that he not only has dreams of a new American language and a new pop music - he's out there living his dreams.

Lucky guy.

Dan Bern's latest CD, entitled "New American Language" is a masterpiece. The backing band in tremendous, as are the lyrics which, as usual with Bern, range from laugh out loud funny, to painfully honest, all within the same song, or even line.

This is honestly one the best CDs I have heard in years, and it deserves the mass audience it may never see. You will not be dissapointed.

This is probably Dan's best cd. It isn't perfect, but it's a lot more consistent that Smartie Mine; is, of course, infinitely superior to the fiasco that was 50 Eggs; and is more rockin' and less self-important than the self-titled album. Dog Boy Van may be as good as this one, but it's too short to bear comparison. On this new disc, Dan breaks some personal musical ground--he includes some more country twang here than is his usual M.O. It fits very well with the more upbeat of the songs. Also, there is probably one of his best songs ever on this cd--New American Language. It's a little like True Revolutionaries, but it holds together better thematically. I also love God Said No. But make up your own minds.

Best album I've heard yet this year. Finally, Dan has found a sound to match his always brilliant lyricism. The title track tells what Dan is all about, when he declares, "I have a dream of a new pop music/ that tells the truth, with a good beat/ and some nice harmonies." All of his albums have told the truth in a compelling and passionate way, but sometimes the beat has struggled to keep rhythm with his complex lyrics and the harmonies have been hard to come by. On New American Language, every track sounds interesting, even if you don't listen to the words, which are evocative as ever. Part of this has to do with the backing band, The International Jewish Banking Conspiracy (especially Wil Masisak on the Hammond), but mostly it has to do with Dan's new emphasis on reaching a larger audience. As he sings, again on the title track, "I have a dream of your clock radio/ waking you up with my song." He's making important, vital music and he wants to be noticed by more than the handful of music snobs who listen to him now.

There's no weak tracks on the album. "Rice" sounds like a lost track from the Beatles' white album, "Thanksgiving Day Parade" from Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. Dan's apparently sick of comparisons like these so I'll resist more, which is fine because the highlights are the songs that you can't place-"Toledo," "Black Tornado" and others.

"God Said No," in my mind, rivals Clem Snide's "Moment in the Sun" for most beautiful song of the year. It's all about coming to terms with how we can't wipe out the evil in our shared history, about how we have to deal with the world we're in instead of hiding in an escapist dreamworld. Pretty relevant stuff.

Supurb. A career best. A long player from start to finish and the best album I've heard all year. You get your money's worth alone on "Albuquerque Lullaby" and "God Said No." Brilliant!