CD Reviews: T Bone Burnett - Twenty Twenty: The Essential T Bone Burnett and The True False Identity - Page 4

On his latest release, of course, we see more of T Bone Burnett's "second-person" side: these are fiery, pointed songs, raining down judgement on the current presidential administration and political situation as if it's the culmination of all of Burnett's previous stabs at the American condition. "Blinded By the Darkness," the raging climax of the album, is an almost exhausting listen, as he drops all pretense and just lays it all down on the line; half-singing, half-shouting lyrics like "Do we want to inject the concept of sin / into the Constitution?" over the monotonous growl of a fuzz-drenched electric guitar. It sounds more like the work of an impassioned street corner preacher than a poet or a songwriter, but then, there's always been a strain of that in Burnett's work; his tendency toward overt finger-pointing is even cited by Bill Flanagan in his Twenty Twenty liner notes as a possible reason why 1983's mostly third-person release Proof Through the Night still hasn't seen the light of day on CD. But now, of course, T Bone is a new man, and in a sense the lyrical honesty of "Blinded By the Darkness" excites even as it frustrates. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if this latest anti-Bush rant is unlikely to win over any opponents, his attempt to shake some sense into the public is admirable.

So where does this leave us? In a sense, not much farther from where we started. Newly-found frank political consciousness aside, T Bone Burnett remains an enigma to all but those closest to him; chances are that the closer you get, the less he looks like "T Bone" and the more he looks like the living, breathing human being Joseph Henry Burnett, who started playing and producing music when he reached college age and hasn't (at least publicly) looked back. And when all is said and done, if Burnett's latest record was meant to reveal more of himself as a person than before — which I doubt — it couldn't be further off the mark; this is multi-layered, convoluted music, difficult and sharp around the edges, something like Tom Waits' recent (and excellent) Real Gone in terms of approach, subject matter and probable audience appeal. Its significance as to Burnett's identity is probably apparent only to Burnett himself, and its significance to our own identities won't make itself felt without repeated listens.

Article Author: Modern Pea Pod

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