Customer Reviews

Smartie Mine

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first saw Dan Bern open up for the Jayhawks a few years back and I hated him. But I couln't forget him. And so, a few years later plus a lot of time with Bern's discs in my CD player, I am a confirmed believer. Bern lays it all on the line with this raw, almost-live studio effort. There are some songs on this album that are fun and novel, (Woody and Bob, Bruce and Dan), covers that are phenomenal interpretaions (Freight Train Blues, Cocaine/Blue Jay Way) and some tunes on this album that are downright inspired (Joe Van Gogh, Gambling With My Love). Where most songwriters can't get past the idea of even the most basic metaphors and tend to employ hackneyed and cliched lyrics, Bern is a true poet. On songs like "Gambling With My Love", Bern spins a yarn that operates on multiple leves of storytelling and metaphor all at once. Songs like that aren't written, they are divined through discipline and experience. You can compare Bern to Dylan just as easily as you can compare him to Elvis Costello, but the truth is, Dan Bern is just Dan Bern. He draws from a number of traditons (folk, rock, punk) and manages to come up with something rare: an origional sound. His influences come through from Tom Waits to Dylan to Costello to the Beatles and more, but there is no doubt that this man is no imitatior. Bern may well go unrecognized in a public eye that seems to have an ever increasing appetite for disposable pop. His sound is too raw, his message to brutally honest and real. But if you are interested in some unabashed ego, some biting satire, some valuable insight into the human condition, then you have to hear this man. You may not like who Dan Bern is but the power and authenticity of his art are undeniable.

Dan Bern doesn't take himself terribly seriously. And for that reason, among others, you should. Every few years, an album comes along that reminds true fans of music that everything hasn't been done. There is new territory yet to be explored. While Bern has obvious influences (Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Elvis Costello, to name a few), he also has a unique voice and message that represents a refreshing change of pace from the cacophony of bubblegum, formulaic pop, so-called-alternative and loud statement-rock that dominates the airwaves. Bern's music is firmly grounded in the tradition of modern folk pioneered by the likes of Dylan and Woody Guthrie, but he's not so impressed with his predecessors and himself that he can't have fun with his songs. Another Amazon.com reviewer of this two-CD, 27-song set observed that upon practically every listening of "Smartie Mine," the listener finds a new favorite song - one he or she hadn't fully appreciated before. I agree. This is an album that listeners who "get it" will never get tired of listening to. Bern's raw vocals, harmonica and acoustic guitar add to the authenticity of most all the album's songs. The discs contain socially poignant tracks like "One Thing Real" and "City of Models" scattered among entertaining, funny and subtly masterful compositions like "Tiger Woods," "Krautmeyer" and "Gamblin' With My Love." Bern also is not above treating listeners to the occasional tender love song, as witnessed with "Alia," "Baby Love" and "Sculptor." And on tracks like "Chelsea Hotel," "Crosses" and "Talkin' Woody, Bob, Bruce and Dan Blues," listeners will swear they're hearing the second coming of Bob Dylan. However, no comparison to an existing artist is adequate to describe the album's coup de maitre and final track, "True Revoultionaries." From Timothy McVeigh to Nike, all bases are covered. Enough said. In summary, check out Dan Bern if you'd like to reminisce about a time when music meant something, or dream about a time when it can once again.

This is perhaps my favorite of all the Dan Bern cd's and I've bought it for a few of my friends. Not only does it have more songs than any of his other releases, it has a lot of variety. I highly recommend it to any of his current fans who may have missed buying it, or any new fan that would like to hear more. My favorite tracks include: Chelsea Hotel, Two Month Affair, and Sculpter, but I've been known to pop one of the cd's in my car and listen to it for a week at a time.

There are absolutely no words to do this collection justice. The first time I saw Dan at in NYC promoting his first album, they hustled Elvis Costello into the club after the lights went down. He launched into "Tiger Woods" and my friend looked at me with horror and said "what the hell kind of concert did you take me to?"

Dan busted Folk music wide open. Why? Because its topic area was too small before he came along. When folksingers sung about "the world", they could only be bothered with stuff about politics, injustice, oppression, and other "noteworthy" topic areas. Enter Dan Bern, for whom anything is fair play: an imaginary chat between Bart Giamatti and Pete Rose, having Vincent Van Gogh's son as a roommate, longing for a Russian coffee shop waitress, or seeking the blessings of Bruce Springsteen by breaking into his house.

The music world has been bereft of originality since December 1993 when Frank Zappa died, but this artist filled the gap very nicely. He is simply the best thing to happen to folk/pop music in a very, very long time. Check out his first record to get your feet wet ... his song, "Marilyn" (which answers the musical question, 'what if Marilyn Monroe married Henry Miller rather than Arthur Miller?') is worth the price of admission.

And see him play live for goodness sake!

When I first heard Dan Bern doing "The Day They Found A Cure For AIDS" several years ago on NPR, I was not impressed. But "Smartie Mine" proves that first impressions can be mistaken.

This is a brilliant album that almost transcends the limitations of the folk music format. Drawing on influences ranging from the obvious Bob Dylan touches to the Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, and Beatles type of arrangements, this double disk set shows that Bern is at least a good enough artist to steal his riffs from the best, and at his finest even able to combine the many different sounds of his forebears into new and interesting tunes that seem both catchy and clear in their purpose.

By exploring styles as varied as those from blues and country and folk to those of jazz and pop and rock, Bern takes a lot of artistic chances. And yet they usually pay off. Highlights on the first set include "Chelsea Hotel" (not the classic Leonard Cohen song but a beautiful original piece), the hilarious "Krautmeyer" put-down of the Charlie Manson media legend, and the wonderful old chestnut "Freight Train Blues," which still seems fresh here with a funky, loose, and playful appeal that seems in perfect sync with the material.

Side two has equally good work. My favorites here are the wry, funny little ditty "Joe Van Gogh" (about the unlucky son of the famous painter), the sleek "Little Russian Girl," the talking blues stageplay of "Gamblin' With My Love (Pete Rose)," and the great hooks in "Dark Chocolate," which really comes across as the sort of thing Costello and Warren Zevon would do at their most creatively deranged. Then there are the neat grooves in the "Cocaine/Blue Jay Way" medley, and how smoothly Bern and his band make the two songs blend together in a seamless manner that hits the ear as entirely natural. It has an utterly relaxing feel to it that only softens you up for the power ballad parody opus of "True Revolutionaries." Original and startling enough at the time it came out, with its plea for understanding even the evil of Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber, it strikes the listener as almost haunting or prophetic today, now that some of the worst nightmares envisioned in the lyrics have come true.

There are some weak numbers on here, though. "Hooker" runs long and a handful of other pieces like "Crosses" and "Sculptor" fall short. Yet for every dud such as Decadent Town," there are two winners such as "One Thing Real" and "Alia." Overall, one cannot find much to complain about in this rather bizarre collection of disparate elements. Bern is a talented writer who challenges his audiences to question their core beliefs, but always with his own unique brand of subversive and irreverent humor. "Smartie Mine" is the most accomplished release I have heard from a single artist in years, and many of the tracks on the album will only grow on you as you play them over again. That is the mark of good music. This is the kind of record that not only deserves attention, it demands respect. Give it a spin and it will have you tapping your foot even as your head is reeling with the clash of ideas Bern asks you to consider in his world of pain and pleasure. From the headlines of the evening news to the poetry of the ages, he covers a lot of ground.

This appears to be all of the usual junk that was not good enough to make it on the original records. The record company obviously packaged it up and put it out after the success of his other stuff. I am a huge Dan Bern fan, when he is good he is really good, but this is just formulaic filler nonsense; three decent songs out of the two CDs and the rest is just, well, bad.

I agree with the previous review and this is probably my favorite Dan Bern CD. Lord knows, I have 'em all, including the download-only EPs. The price for the CD is kind of preposterous, considering you can download this elsewhere on amazon for less than nine bucks. So if you are able, I'd recommend downloading it and then burning to CD. It's a two-CD release, so you may have to play around to find where CD1 ends and CD2 begins. I'm all-mp3, so it's moot for me.

This guy is one of the truly great overlooked artists of our time! Spread the word!

Great album with too many filler songs. Dan's best song (Chelsea Hotel) is here, and so are the best versions of his other classics (Tiger Woods, One Thing Real, both of which are much lusher and fuller than they are on 50 Eggs), so it's a great CD. But this should have been pared down to one CD; if it had been, this would probably be my favorite album ever. I'd recommend New American Language for first-time Dan Bern listeners, while for everyone else this is a great investment, if too long.

If you are looking for truth, in this case through art, then buy this record and listen to it regularly. On top of being spiritually enlightening it will entertain you. Not too shabby for 17 bucks. You could opt to buy a few hundred bucks worth of self-help books instead and probably walk away from reading them feeling as empty as before.

Dan Bern is just too damn good! He whips off lyrics that vacillate between hilarious and thought-provoking. He's definitely The Bob for anyone who thinks pop culture is absurd and kind of fascinating.