Okay, I said it; and now that the "D" word's been uttered, I might as well go ahead and say that if one wanted to find a functional musical analogue or fellow-traveler for T Bone Burnett, Dylan would just about be it — and not only because Burnett first heightened his profile as one of the musical cast of thousands on Zimmy's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour. In fact, Burnett's taste for verbose, cryptic, symbolism-ridden turns of phrase — as well as the occasional adenoidal sneer — make him for once a deserving recipient of the "New Dylan" award; though he's nowhere near as accessible as the man behind "Blowin' in the Wind," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," or "Like a Rolling Stone," with a little effort T Bone Burnett can be every bit as compelling.
It would be a mistake, however, to merely cast Burnett as a poor (or even rich) man's Dylan. Because, while the pair have about as much in common with one another as anyone can with such idiosyncratic artists, there's little doubt in my mind that not even Bob "Self Portrait" Dylan would have had the balls to throw out a multi-lingual slice of baroque, Van Dyke Parks-arranged psychological pop opera like "Image," just when his audience thought they had him pigeonholed. Yet that's exactly what T Bone Burnett did; first on 1988's sprawling The Talking Animals, and now again on Twenty Twenty. The song is an anomaly, but it's undeniably captivating for it. It's pretentious, but why must that word always have such negative connotations? The fact is, a song like "Image" is unlike virtually anything else in "rock" music, even within Burnett's own discography; and for that reason, any hope of unpacking the heart of T Bone Burnett's persona through his past accomplishments is once again foiled. The fact that the song in question is yet another rumination on the nature of identity and perception is just the delicious icing on the cake.
Listening to The True False Identity, however, one really gets the impression that the obfuscation of Burnett's own identity is an intentional one. "Honesty is the most subversive of all disguises," he intones during the ominous tribal rumble of "Hollywood Mecca of the Movies." "I said goodbye a long time ago / You must not have heard me." And while I'm not one to confuse the poet with the poetic persona, it's hard not to read this as a direct address to the audience, even a statement of intent for The True False Identity as a whole. Here is the core of an ingenious record, Burnett's most complex and fleshed-out investigation of the self yet; an album which drops facades by erecting entirely new ones, often more bewildering than the ones he's given us before.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
Very well-written. Usually when I disagree on a point or two, I tune out, but this kept my interest.
True False is so good that I wonder if I should skip The Essential and just get his other albums instead, so I don't miss anything.
"Best-ofs are for housewives and little girls"
- Bruce McCullough
2 - Joan Hunt
Perfectly done, Zach. Bravo!
3 - Andrew
The song "Palestine Texas" should not have a comma.
4 - Zach
Thanks for the compliments (and corrections - I can't make the change here but I did it on my own site). Another reason why critics don't seem to pay much attention to T Bone Burnett, which I neglected to mention in the review, is that he's an absolute bitch to write about. So I'm glad you guys think I did okay.
And yeah, El Bicho, I thought pretty much the same thing; there aren't even that many T Bone records out there, and the overall quality seems so high, so I'll probably be picking up the individual albums myself.
5 - Robin Riebe
Twenty-twenty has me outraged. Being a big T bone fan, when I heard it was coming out I got very excited. Mainly because I was looking forward to hearing many of the songs from Truth Decay (my favorite T Bone album) on CD for the first time. Then when I saw the song list I was stunned. So many throw aways (Disney and Hefner to mention one) instead of Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk. T Bone, I love ya, but ya let me down.
PS - Review, and thanks.
6 - El Bicho
Correction:
"greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls"
- Bruce McCullough
7 - rocket kirchner
Zach , T-Bone Burnett is the Riddler . it takes real diligence and work to unravel his stuff. at the bottom of all his stuff is Christ . He makes us work . which is great ! T-bone deliberly left off the vital clues of what really counts in the body of his work in his 20 20 --the essential . like the movie Alphaville , where no means yes and yes means no , T-bone has witheld the essential songs like ''Interviews'' Madison avenue '' , The Sixties '' ''Strange case of Frank Cash and the morning paper''. aS well as songs that are pregnant with Egyptian imagery , and the songs that finally can bring us to a place were the body of the work of the Riddler is decoded.
i have spent over 30 years with a freind of mine working on this , and have met T-bone backstage playing the same clubs that we have played in NYC and K.C. i have talked to him on his influences , primarly writers. He turned me on to the work of G.K.Chesterton . Chesterton Father Brown mysterys is where Burnett gotthe terms ''the wild truth '' , and ''the criminal under my own hat''. theological murder mysterys . all for now .