From Amazon.com
Proof Through The Night & The Trap Door
Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Proof Through The Night and the two Trap Door EPs was released by Rhino Handmade (limited 5000 edition) in 2007 as Proof Through The Night & The Complete Trap Door.
T-Bone Is A Bone-Head!
Album Rating: (1 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I agree wholeheartedly with the T. Davis review. This is one of the worst compilations I've ever bought. What a shame, because I truly enjoy T Bone's music. The sound quality is horrible and to add insult to injury the "New" versions are simply God Awful!
Should get wider acclaim
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: T-Bone presents some unique views of the world. All of his songs make great lyrical points, and they musically outstanding.
20/20 hearing with unnecessary corrective surgery
Album Rating: (3 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: 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.
Idiosyncratic document of an idiosyncratic career
Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: 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]
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