Customer Reviews

Twenty Twenty - The Essential T Bone Burnett

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Not only has Van Morrison still not gotten the Nobel Prize, but T-Bone's Proof Through the Night and Trap Door albums aren't out on CD. Until that second faux pas is rectified, however, here's an eclectic look into his varied repertoire. It's a comment on T-Bone's prolific songwriting skill to note that most of my favorite songs didn't make the forty song cut.

Disc one starts off with "Humans from Earth" from the Wim Wender film Until the End of the World, which also appears on Criminal Under My Own Hat. "Born in Captivity" and "East of East" come from the second Alpha Band album, Spark in the Dark, with "The Dogs" from the band's first self-titled disc. "Monkey Dance", "Euromad" and "Image" come from The Talking Animals.

Songs from Truth Decay include "Hall of Mirrors" "Power of Love", "Boomerang" and "Drivin' Wheel". "River of Love" is best known in the version done by T-Bone's wife, song writer Sam Phillips on The Turning, her last album as Leslie Phillips. Trap Door was only a six song E.P. ("extended play" record) but it nevertheless contained some of T-Bone's best songs. A different album called Behind the Trap Door was released by Nick Lowe on his Demon Records label in Britain. From Trap Door here is T-Bone's talking blues take on "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," the title song "Trap Door" and "I Wish You Could Have Seen Her Dance".

From Proof Through the Night come "Shut it Tight" (originally the last song on the record), "Hula Hoop", "The Murder Weapon", "When the Night Falls" (covered in concert by John Hiatt) and "Hefner and Disney." What's missing? Two of my favorite T-Bone songs from Proof: "Stunned" and "The '60s". From Trap Door: "Poetry" and "Hold on Tight." The three Alpha Band albums are out as an import set, and fans will still want them as there's nothing in this collection at all from the third and best Alpha Band album, Statue Makers of Hollywood, not even "Rich Man" or "Back in My Baby's Arms". From The Talking Animals: Where's "The Wild Truth", drawn from a quote by G.K. Chesterton, or "The Strange Case of Frank Cash," a talking blues story with Tonio-K, sort of like Dylan's "Brownsville Girl" with Sam Sheppard on Knocked Out Loaded? Clearly, there are many musical gems buried and many bones yet to be unearthed.

In the liner notes T-Bone says he's been wandering in the desert for 40 years, but it seems the other way 'round. This collection is far more accessible than his new album, The True False Identity. He seems to have followed the lead of Sam Phillips who makes both accessible albums ("The Incredible Wow") and very avant garde ones (Omnipop). T-Bone can be arty and convoluted, but he can also make some very catchy roots music, and in concert he connects instantly with the audience. Most of his songs are far above standard radio pop and strong enough to be covered by other artists. At any rate, this album and not his new one, serves as the best introduction to the enigmatic and unique artist known as T-Bone Burnett.

This is a decent compilation, which includes well-chosen tracks from most of the phases of T Bone Burnett's career. There's a lot to discover in his (modest but underheard) discography, and for a neophyte, this is surely a decent start. Some have complained that favorite tracks from his Warner Brothers releases aren't here (and I agree that some of the MIA tracks are among his best), but those omissions don't take away from the value of this anthology as a primer. Based on the track list alone, I'd give it four stars (though I do question why he chose not to include ANYTHING from his debut album, 1972's The B-52 Band and the Fabulous Skylarks).

But based on listening, it only gets two stars. Why? T Bone Burnett has committed the unforgivable sin of re-recording the tracks from his best album, Proof Through the Night. Burnett is on record as stating that he doesn't like the production of the original album at all, and I guess he took this as his chance to re-envision those tracks. BIG MISTAKE. The original album, whether or not Burnett likes it, is a classic, and these re-recordings are simply not as good. Given that Proof Through the Night has yet to be reissued on CD, these substitutions are criminal.

Oh my! I have been waiting for this cd. There was a rumor and in fact a listing for "The Tooth of the Crime" a few years back - that was supposed to be his greatest hits - or was it a soundtrack to a play he was working on? But it never was released. Too busy producing other great artists. Now it is here.

I like all of T-Bone's cds - except for Talking Animals. I have heard each of these songs in their original forms on the previous cds and vinyl. This is a great collection. The re-recordings of the Proof songs are going to be a let down if you are used to the originals, though. Be forewarned. I think they are well done - we are all just so attached to the original versions. If the original is ever released on cd, this won't be a problem at all.

My one peeve - Trap Door was not available on cd up until now - here half of the songs are available. We need the other songs!

Trap Door (EP) Track Listing
----------
Hold on Tight - not on Twenty Twenty
Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend - yes
I Wish You Could Have Seen Her Dance -yes
A Ridiculous Man - not on Twenty Twenty
Poetry - not on Twenty Twenty
Trap Door - yes

Same goes for Proof Through the Night - there are still GREAT songs not on cd!

(edited on May 19th, and June 1 2006)

Not bloody likely! He's done more work as a producer than he has as a recording artist. Yet here he butchers his own songs!

These rerecordings sound like they've been filtered through gauze. The instrumentals are muddied by heavy reverb, and they bury the vocals in many instances. Everything just seems off-kilter and out of balance.

What earthly reason could be motivating his refusal to rerelease "Proof Through the Night" and "Trap Door"? Perhaps he's waiting for most of us to tire of waiting and buy this mangled mishmash instead.

I say: No thanks!

Although this album does a nice job picking through Burnett's career, emphasizing his better albums (Criminal Under My Own Hat and Proof Through The Night), it has to be docked a star due to the fact that Burnett tampers with some of the Proof tracks. While the liners note that some of these songs are "newly produced" by T-Bone (Jeff Eyrich was the original producer), they are more than that. On the first disc, the version of "Hula Hoop" has a new vocal, removes the Williams Brothers' backing vocals, and ends up being a sub-standard rendition of a song that was fine the first go around.

If Burnett feels the need to redo his songs, this should have been clearly indicated on the packaging. Since Proof Through The Night is not available separately on CD, I was tremendously disappointed to not get the original versions of some of these tracks.

I also think a couple more tracks could have been taken from The Talking Animals, perhaps at the expense of the nice, but not so essential tracks from The Alpha Band.

Putting aside these beefs, this album shows how Burnett's wide ranging musical interests, keen production and well-written lyrics have created a body of work that is varied yet with a very constant sensibility. It's a shame that he so rarely releases his own material.

The multitalented Burnett released this 40-track career retrospective on the same day he released his first new album ("The True False Identity") in fourteen years. He's on record as imagining this collection as the summation of a musical period from which he's now somewhat estranged. Having put his solo career on hold in 1992, Burnett expressed himself for over a decade as a producer, sideman, record label executive and soundtrack composer, and revisiting his older catalog wasn't apparently always a comfortable situation.

Burnett cherry picks from his six previous solo releases (1980's "Truth Decay," 1982's "Trap Door," 1983's "Proof Through the Night," 1986's "T Bone Burnett," 1988's "The Talking Animals," and 1992's "The Criminal Under My Own Hat"), as well as two of three earlier albums by The Alpha Band (1976's "The Alpha Band" and 1977's "Spark in the Dark," but nothing from 1978's "Statue Makers of Hollywood"). Also included is "The People's Limousine" with Elvis Costello (as The Coward Brothers), the Wim Wenders soundtrack contribution "Man, Don't Dog Your Woman," and a trio of previously unreleased tunes ("The Tooth of Crime," "Song to a Dead Man," and "Bon Temps Rouler'").

Burnett's selections go especially deep on the hard-to-find EP "Trap Door" (including a terrific stripped-down, half-spoken cover of "Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend"), the unreissued "Proof Through the Night" and the last LP of his original run, "The Criminal Under My Own Hat." Other highlights include the Everly-esque "I'm Coming Home" (from "Tooth Decay"), the original "Song to a Dead Man," recorded with Norman Blake, Dennis Crouch, Jerry Douglas and Stuart Duncan in Nashville, and an oddly modern take on the second-line rhythms of "Bon Temps Rouler'."

As has been noted by many others, Burnett took the opportunity to "newly produce" five of the seven tracks included from "Proof Through the Night," leaving only "Shut it Tight" and "After All These Years" in their original form. It's an ill-conceived vanity, and a disappointment to those hoping to finally hear the original album in digital form. In addition to new vocals, overdubs and remixes that drop some of the original instrumentation, fans are still missing the album's middle four tracks, including "The Sixties."

At 40 tracks and nearly 2-1/2 hours of non-chronologically arranged music, the depth may be overwhelming to those who've only recently discovered Burnett. Still, this is an impressively cohesive set, with the most recent tracks from 1992's "The Criminal Under My Own Hat" sounding like close relatives of the earliest tracks from 1976's "The Alpha Band." In between these folk- and country-tinged efforts, Burnett t out some slicker, rock-oriented ground, but always with a rootsy pulse.

Those already familiar with Burnett's solo catalog will find the extras and rarities on this set fall short of the sort that a true box set would include. And those simply waiting to get "Proof Through the Night" on CD are still left waiting by Burnett's rewriting of aural history. Still, this set makes a compelling case for the consistency of Burnett's artistry, and Bill Flanagan's lengthy profile (augmented by Burnett's own song notes) are worth squinting at. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]

How dare I criticize this guy, this astounding writer, master of production and studio technique, this paragon of creativity, truthful urbane wit and literary sophistication? T Bone, that catalyst of musical bonhommie and beacon of self-effacing, humane Christianity, does really seem to be, as Mr. Flanagan's essay attests, a "force for good" in the music industry. But what was he thinking?

His deconstructions and reworkings of the "Proof though the Night" tracks amount to the defacing of a masterpiece. I have never disliked a T Bone album; they're brilliant in all their variety, but "Proof" has always been the most hard hitting for me. It's like lightning. It's what raised him from the status of a cool new artist I discovered with "Trap Door" and "Truth Decay" to one of the most important voices in my musical life. When you've got a record this good, this balanced, this unified in content and style, this real--you don't start messing around with the eq, slicing off the highs as if we'd all die from a sibilant "s." You don't turn up the bass and obscure the clarity of the midrange like it's some average dance record, or smash the dynamic energy out of it with lots of extra compression and limiting. Yes, trends in mixing and mastering have changed since 1983 (not always for the better), but this record should be held above that sort of thing. And by all means you don't, you just don't--gasp--re-cut brilliant vocals 23 years later and replace them with rather half-hearted, back-pedaling substitutes. That the originals were superior should be obvious to anyone: much of the bite and snarl, the snap and poetic power are just gone.

I have noticed a subtle antipathy towards this record in some of T Bone's interviews over the years and have never been able to figure out what he disliked about it. But hey, it's his music, he has to live with it; and so I guess he has to be free to do with it as he sees fit. But maybe he will at least give us clean, relatively un-retouched transfers of "Trap Door" and "Proof through the Night" before he really closes the book on this music. And if he does close it, let's hope he doesn't shut it tight.

I have been a fan of T-Bone Burnette since my college days, from the Alpha Band's "Spark in The Dark" on. Since many of his albums have - and probably will - never seen the light of CD, I was excited about getting this double disc. Imagine my disappointment then when the selections from "Proof Through The Night" turned out to be remixed unnecessarily. According to the liner notes, T-Bone made the decision to keep that album (and I would suppose, the "Trap Door" EP) from getting to CD. That's a shame, because there are those of us who consider "Proof" to be a masterpiece. Otherwise, I'd say this was a four star collection. I was happy just to finally get "I Wish You Could Have Seen Her Dance" on a CD at last.

And to that extent, you get some superb songs. T-Bone is one of America's musical geniuses; had he stopped after producing Los Lobos, The BoDeans and Elvis Costello's best works in the 80's, he'd rate Hall Of Fame nominations. But he is also a world class songwriter, combining sly wit and roots music (long before it had a name) over some 30 years of recording. There are more than a few masterpieces in his discography if you want to seek them out ("The Criminal Under My Own Hat," "The Talking Animals" and - even if he doesn't like it - "Proof Through The Night"). If you're a neophyte, I strongly suggest getting this CD as a starter kit.

But if you're a long-time fan, be prepared for a few let downs. And we can only hope that T-Bone will give those of us that have stuck by him all these years the undiluted "Proof" one of these days.

When I first heard that this compilation was coming out, I was thrilled. For years I had longed for Trap Door, Truth Decay, and Proof Through the Night to be released on CD. Forty songs? That should take in a great deal of each. Then I saw the list, and was a bit disappointed. It's a tough job, these anthologies, and coming up with what belongs can be difficult. Just look at some of the questionable selections on Bob's Volume III, or Van's Volume II. As I scanned the songs, the glaring omissions quickly jumped out. I had to take a second look - did I miss Hold On Tight, Ridiculous Man, Poetry, Baby Fall Down, The Sixties, and a few others? No, but T-Bone, or someone else, did. At least half the cuts included don't measure up to these. Apart from a few bizarre elements, it's an interesting and largely entertaining collection, but man, it could've been a whole lot better.

This is a great intro into the musical past of T Bone Burnett as a recording artist. A more eclectic and interesting array of songs would be hard to find on any one retrospective. There's a couple of new songs too and for me the crowning moment is the wonderful closing track, the creole styled "Bon Temps Rouler". A neat lead in to the new him and, the "True False Identity". It's hard to take all of this in as there are a generous 40 tracks in all. I can't think of too many artists that can hold you captive for that many songs. I could listen to the whole lot in a sitting if I had the time - there is just so much to hold my interest. This, along with "True False Identity" was a belated birthday present and thoroughly appreciated it has been too!