Search - T Bone Burnett :: The True False Identity

Anti-Music??? C'mon!

Major Tom 58 | Philadelphia, PA | 06/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have read several of the previous reviews, some critical because this is not the T. Bone they expected. Others did not like it because they did not know what they were getting into, and described the album as "anti-music." When the Pokemon craze was big, my son used to demand $10.00 packs containing a few pieces of cardboard. He saw my distress, and quipped that I was just against "valuable" Pokemon cards. I told him that in fact, I did not like the whole Pokemon business. Gathering up all the disgust and condescension that a 7 year old can, he said: You don't like it because you don't _understand_ it."



For those that do not like this album, however, I will not condescend. Some people do not like his music. It is an acquired taste. But, like the river in Greek philosophy, you can't step into the same one twice. It changes. Not only does the river change--but you have changes. It's like saying, "I don't like Bob Dylan." Which one?



Mr. Burnett deals in "Big" issues and in Myth. His role in movie making is under-recognized. He taught Joaquin Phoenix to have the right kind of sneer for his Johnny Cash role, "Walk the Line." In fact, he pretty much did all of the things relating to the music and the visual aspects that related to music in the movie, down to the guitars on display at the German music shop when Cash was in the Air Force. And there is so much more: "O, Brother Where Art Thou", "Cold Mountain", etc.



What does this mean for the listener? It means that Mr. Burnett gets the details down perfectly. Listen to the music. Is it strange? Yes, at times. But it is exactly what Mr. Burnett intended. There are no mistakes.



"Zombieland" is a wired, unsettling tune. "There Would be Hell To Pay" reaches deep into the old Blues, full of death imagery.



"Every Time I Feel The Shift" contains the same kind of images: "When you're out for revenge dig two graves,

When you run from the truth it comes in waves."



And about Hollywood he says in another song: "Honesty is the most subversive of all disguises...Someone stole my identity, and I feel sorry for them." Another, reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson, is "Fear Country." "Earlier Baghdad [The Bounce]" certainly references the present occupation:

I am not important,

I am a broken man,

Throw myself on your mercy,

You Who have wronged me.



"Blinded by the Darkness" certainly is referential to the Springsteen song, "Blinded by the Light."



Mr. Burnett, of course, has produced or been in charge of musical arrangement on a string of hit records, including Plant and Krauss' "Raising Sand." He is touring with them this summer, doing instrumentals for the singers. This must tell you something. They could get anyone. They chose Mr. Burnett.



For a trip into another dimension of word and song, Mr. Burnett's Twilight Zone is not to be missed.





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