Search - Alpha Band :: Arista Albums

Great To Have On CD, And Sounds Just Fine To Me

Eric R. Last | San Bruno, CA United States | 03/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm happy to add one more voice to the Alpha Band fans delighted to see these albums finally out on CD, and perfectly satisfied with the sound. I admit I'm no audiophile, and even if the sound was as poor as the first reviewer indicated I'd still want to own this. But in fact I never noticed any LP surface noise at all in the 4-5 listens I've given this since I got it. For the most part I was listening in the car, with the obvious background noise of the road affecting my ability to detect any flaws in the sound. But to me, the sounds is just fine.



As for the music itself: T-Bone Burnett's 3 albums with the Alpha band are not the best things he's ever done, but they are solid, quality efforts. My favorite is the eponymous first album, as it is the most musically adventurous. The second ("Spark In The Dark") seems a bit bland in comparison, but has some top notch work nonetheless. The third ("Statue Makers of Hollywood") falls somewhere in between the other two. Burnett's solo efforts that followed the demise of the Alpha Band sometimes acheived greater heights ("Trap Door", "Proof Through The Night", the eponymous 1986 effort, and "Criminal Under My Own Hat"), and sometimes fell somewhat short ("Truth Decay", Behind The Trap Door", "Talking Animals"). The Alpha Band albums, falling in the middle, are certainly worth having if you are a T-Bone fan. And, hopefully, if enough people spring for this collection, someone out there will finally decide to give us "Proof Through The Night" and "Trap Door" on CD."

Will T-Bone Burnett please stand up...

Dennis! | Mansfield, TX. United States | 04/16/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"So this where it all began.

Metallica is a really good band, but their style is un-variable. Same thing with my all-time favorite guitarist, Robin Trower- he is really good at blues/rock but... well, just listen to his 'In the Line of Fire' from 1990, as he tries to capture the 80's sound, and you realize just how difficult it is for even the best artist to 'branch out', even successfully.

Not so with T-Bone Burnett and the Alpha Band. Having never heard anything by them, collectively, (their music is rather hard to find, don'tcha know?), from the third track on I realized that I was going to be taken for a musical ride around the world. Literally. That is to say, the Alpha Band is eclectic.

And very good at it, too.

No wonder their music never 'caught on', despite the musical history they were so intimately a part of prior to becoming The Alpha Band (it's in the liner notes...) and the considerable and patient backing from Arista- The Alpha Band were never about finding a groove, even a successful one, and sticking with it.

"So, they're eclectic, so what?"

Well The Alpha Band is eclectic to the Bone- the T-Bone.

Having followed T-Bone's career from the 1982 'Trap Door' EP on, even buying CD's from artists I never would have other wise, simply because T-Bone produced them, I have come to understand the word eclectic.

And now I know that this is where it all began- The Alpha Band; J. Henry Burnett along with the multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist and life-long friends David Mansfield and Steven Soles.

So, if you consider yourself an eclectic lover of music, then the price of this set should be worth the undiscovered country you will find resurrected in this CD anthology. Especially if you've learned to smile when you read on the back of the CD your holding "Produced by T-Bone Burnett".

One more word- T-Bone Burnett is good. Yes, his voice is as unique as is Jon Anderson's and therefore, instantly recognizable. And his song lyrics are decipherable, you think. But, even if you aren't left with a thought at the end of each song, you will be left, at the least, thinking.

However, that isn't what I meant by "good". T-Bone's true gift, the thing that stands him out among an awesome crowd of more popular and equally talented humans (besides being very tall), earning him their accolades, is that he is a master at being a good human being, even with all the inherent faults thereof. And from this life he has lived, all recorded for posterity in his life's music, one can learn that it's not a sin to be human, that, in fact, being good at being human is what we were created to be.

Thanks for reading."

Will Wonders Never Cease?

Dwight Buhler | Toluca Lake, CA United States | 03/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I thought for sure that my vinyl copies of these critically acclaimed, but publicly unclaimed records would be nothing more than collectors pieces that I would take out and admire once in a while, trying to recal how exactly those tunes went. And I suppose that's still what they are, but now I can hear them again, and I had pretty much lost all hope of that.

Any complaints about sound quality from the vinyl are unfounded. From that one review, I was expecting to hear scratches, pops and skips. Such is not the case! Yes, it's taken from the vinyl, but such is the state of many older recordings that the magnetic tape it was recorded on is delaminating and unusable. Vinyl is the only alternative, and this transfer is very good. (I've heard much worse!)

As to the music, what we have here is an incredibly eclectic mix of pop /rock /folk /country and blues, and just some flat out great songwriting. Not every song is a winner, but I enjoy the vast majority of them, and with T-Bone recording his own material less and less these days, it's just a joy to have more of him to listen to."