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 Everyone from R.E.M. to A Perfect Circle has been trying recently to sing Bush out of the White House. But credit to Dan Bern, who kept the tradition of protest song alive while it was deeply unfashionable. Subtitled "Music To Beat Bush By", Bern's contribution to the current pressing cause consists of eight songs in his usual Dylanesque style, ranging from the didactic ("Bush Must Be Defeated") to the lyrical (a setting of Pete Seeger's poem "Torn Flag") via the satirical ("President", which sets out Bern's own programme for his first 10 days in the Oval Office). Angry, comical, justifiably concerned....full text |
| Slantmagazine |
| Okay, so I'm biased. Even if Dan Bern's My Country II was a piece of crap I'd be hard-pressed to give it less than three stars, if only for its subtitle ("Music To Beat Bush By") and its song titles ("Tyranny," "The Torn Flag," and "Bush Must Be Defeated"). The good news is that the album is actually pretty damn good. Bern, who emerged on the Anti-Folk scene in the mid-'90s, isn't the most gifted lyricist, nor is he the greatest vocalist, but he shoots his dissent straight from the hip—lest we forget that folk music was the first punk rock. Bern sings from the perspective of a wounded veteran and criticizes post-war pomp on "After The Parade" ("Who do you think will push my chair/After the parade is over?") and condemns American imperialism on the insanely catchy "Sammy's Bat" ("The Holy Roman Empire was brought down to its knees/For trying to bring the empire across the seven seas"), while "The Torn Flag" turns a poignant Pete Seeger poem into a stirring call for tolerance. (Amid the album's no-time-for-bullshit sermonizing, "Ostrich Town" is the only song where Bern even makes an attempt at allegory.) "President," a witty, seven-minute protest song in the tradition of Bob Dylan, addresses much bigger issues than just the current White House occupation—he covers alternative fuels, collective farming, capital punishment, healthcare, hemp, gay marriage, public school reform, and abortion rights ("No one tells a girl how to treat her body/Least of all some man!"), and that's just in the first song. The album's final track, "Bush Must Be Defeated," is quite repetitive (after all, how many words can possibly rhyme with "defeated"?), but it's a sentiment Bern knows is worth pounding home....full text |
| Pastemagazine |
| Ever since he burst onto the national scene in 1997 with one work boot in hootenanny campfire sing-alongs and the other in white-riot mosh pits, Dan Bern has seemed intent on proving you can pack an acoustic guitar and still be loud and snotty (that’s a compliment). And while there’s always been a clear left-leaning subtext to his music, Bern’s latest collection is his first to go full bore on both fronts simultaneously. Timed for release on the eve of the 2004 Presidential elections, My Country II is comprised of eight songs all dealing with the more pressing national and international sociopolitical problems of the day, and all delivered with brash, in-your-face attitude (another compliment). The opening track, “President,” is Bern’s keynote speech, and it’s a doozy, set against an all-American mélange of guitar and banjo. Swearing himself in as Chief Executive, Bern describes his first 10 days in office, during which he outlaws war, institutes universal health care, legalizes pot, inaugurates new national holidays like “Painting Day” and “No TV Day,”—and, naturally, makes John McEnroe Secretary of Tennis. He even takes the thorny issue of same-sex marriage off the table entirely: “Marry a woman / Marry a man / Marry a monkey, too,” declares President Bern. “Marry a big ole rhino, and visit him at the zoo.”...full text |
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| The 1971 edition of the Byrds (Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Skip Battin, Gene Parsons) were passé where rock’s tastemakers were concerned. Byrdmaniax, the ill-produced, lackluster album released that summer, would confirm their downward spiral. But as Live At Royal Hall demonstrates, on the concert circuit the quartet took on an unexpected guise: populist, road-tested American everyband, touching on vintage rock ‘n’ roll, bluegrass, blues, honky-tonk, gospel, and more. Weaving Dead-like “Eight Miles High” jams in with stripped-down Woody Guthrie gems—Clarence White’s stringwork zigzagging through the material with authority—this edition of the Byrds demonstrated a deep, oft-taken-for-granted kinship with the very foundations of American music. White, three years a Byrd and settling into the job with a rare sonic adventurousness, is the focus, gluing disparate styles together with dazzling versatility, gracefully reinventing each song with the instincts of a guitar genius. In fact, White’s playing—from stinging, stringbending leads to stirring banjo runs to feral globs and smears of funky, psychedelic texture—turns overplayed warhorses into fresh propositions altogether: Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” emerges as alt-country primer, White’s Telecaster sneaking bits of twang all around McGuinn’s spirited vocal; “Mr. Spaceman” is given a ’65-style Byrds jangle; even Chuck Berry would smile at White’s rapid-fire barrage on set-closer “Roll Over Beethoven.”...full text |
| Pitchfork |
| The Byrds weren't just one of the greatest and most influential bands of all time, they were several of them. There was, of course, the original folk-rock version of the Byrds, which begat the psychedelic version of the Byrds, which in turn begat the country-rock version of the Byrds, which in turn begat a hodgepodge of all those iterations before the group burned out once and for all. Each version of the Byrds likewise showcased what could generously be categorized a shifting lineup, with Roger McGuinn the sole constant up through the band's somewhat unsung end in 1973. Yet McGuinn's not the star of the lineup captured on Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1971, the masters of which the singer recently found sitting in his archives. Rather, the focal point is former bluegrass prodigy turned rocker Clarence White, whose short-lived career ended around the same time the Byrds did, when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver while loading gear. White got his start in the Kentucky Colonels, crossing paths with the Byrds several times before McGuinn eventually invited him to join in 1968 as a permanent member. His virtuoso solos and interplay with McGuinn are what kept the band interesting, especially in its later years and particularly for a band never renown for its live prowess....full text |
| Allaboutjazz |
| Rescued from a tape that had sat forgotten in Roger McGuinn's climatized garage for decades,The Byrds Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 contains a complete concert from the fabled London venue including two encores that, as part of this well-recorded 77-plus minute CD, effectively summarize the career of this seminal American rock band. Anyone who becomes familiar with the history of The Byrds will inevitably encounter mention that this seminal American group had its shortcomings as a performing unit, but Scott Schinder's liner notes explicate the serendipitous discovery of this recording, refuting that premise. "Mr. Spaceman" contains the first prominent use of the familiar twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar in the show, and it follows "So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star," sounding ever so wry in the hands of these seasoned pros. "Roll Over Beethoven" is important to recall how Chuck Berry's guitar fused the crispness of country with blues flavor, and is also noteworthy as a part of The Byrds' early repertoire (as well as The Beatles, by whom the Byrds were profoundly influenced)....full text |
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