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Dan Bern Fifty Eggs Work Imagine if Angus Young of AC/DC and Bob Dylan had a kid who grew up to be a sensitive smart ass and wound up getting an album produced by Ani DiFranco. That's pretty much what you're getting yourself into when you pick up Dan Bern's "Fifty Eggs." You can't listen to this album without a sense of humor, something many self-styled folkies tend to ignore. Bern's lyrics run the gamut from meaningful ("One Thing Real") to downright goofy nonsense ("No Missing Link"). It's a great balance, although hard to take if you don't cotton to it immediately. You'll know from the first line of "Tiger Woods" whether you're going to like Dan Bern. "I got big balls/big old balls/big as grapefruits/big as pumpkins/ yes, sir, yes, sir." It ain't deep. It ain't even original. But combined with Bern's stiff-lipped sincerity and a droning acoustic guitar, it's one of the funniest moments in recent musical memory. By the time you hear Bern's theory on where humans come from on "No Missing Link," it's hard not to smile. (Think E.T. and Bonzo getting it on.) There are more somber moments. "Everybody's Baby" is an ode to pining after that girl that everybody wants, and usually gets. Spitting out lyrics like "Everybody's baby ain't nobody's gal (for long)," Bern almost manages to sound as wounded and spiteful as Elvis Costello, circa "Not Angry Anymore" and "Allison." "One Dance" finds the loudmouth out of words in the presence of someone he truly loves. Still, it's hard to ignore that this is one of the longest works on the album. The humor is still never far away. "Monica" continues Bern's odd fascination with sports stars, his musical condolences to Monica Seles for getting stabbed on the court. I'm sure she feels much better now. He even slams a few people he'll probably end up touring with in "Rolling Away," hitting the shallow nature of deep thought these days. "So often these days eating Indian food passes for spirituality/ I don't meditate/ I don't pray/ But I eat two somosas every day." DiFranco adds a bit more than just production, lending Bern her stable of solid backing musicians, including drummer Andy Stochansky, and bassists Jason Mercer and Sara Lee. DiFranco herself picks up a guitar on a couple of tracks, and adds backing vocals in places. She plays "shimmery guitar" on "Rolling Away." Producing, singing, writing, and now shimmery guitar. Is there anything she can't do? This is Bern's second album, and he appears to be going in the right direction, away from the more vanilla, less humorous "I'm Not the Guy," his first single for Work a ways back. So have an egg. Or two. Or fifty-two. -Nick |
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