Never content to go for understated irony when blunt polemics will do, singer/songwriter Dan Bern's protest songs seethe with bitter indignation even as they induce chuckles. On his second album, Fifty Eggs (produced by pal Ani DiFranco), the Los Angeles-based neofolkie dumps the cloying Bob Dylan mannerisms that marred his 1997 debut in favor of terse, sardonic narratives that vacillate between tough and tender yet always manage to impart some kernel of hard-won wisdom. Singing in a clipped growl over lean arrangements, Bern ponders the noxious effects of celebrity culture in "Tiger Woods" and "Monica" (as in Seles), the high-tech glut in "No Missing Link," and even the Women in Rock hype in the hilarious "Chick Singers." His targets can be a tad obvious, but Bern's gift for skewed imagery and the roughhewed sparkle of his melodies win you over. (RS 787)

MARC WEINGARTEN