T BONE BURNETT “The Other Side” (Verve)
Remarkable, because it is terribly unusual. Cool, because it shows that you never really date artistically, if you just know what you’re doing and stick to what you’re good at.
Then again, T-Bone Burnett is no novice, and it’s not exactly like he’s been in a musical hibernation for the past 20 years either. His last proper solo record (although a bit depending on how you count) came out way back in 2006, the rather experimental and semi-jazz “The True False Identity”, a record I remember as a big letdown after the absolutely fabulous masterpiece “The Criminal Under My Own Hat” (1992).
Check out this playlist of carefully selected highlights from T-Bone Burnett’s solo career (Tidal version at the bottom of the case)
A musical career with recorded music that spans seven different decades is something very few people can do, for purely physical reasons limited by the obvious limitations of the human body. When this is “only” his seventh regular album under his own name, it is tempting to conclude that he is a slow-witted person who suffers from occasional musical constipation. In T-Bone’s case, this is not the case at all.
Burnett has been very active all along, as one of the most important people behind the industry, both as a musician, curator and – not least – producer. He has played and worked with “all” the greats. His claim to fame was for a long time that he could hit the table with having been a guitarist and permanent band member in Bob Dylan’s in every way legendary Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1975-1976, but there is so much, much more.
The only child grew up in a well-furnished home in Fort Worth, Texas (as did the four-year-older Townes Van Zandt), with a large supply of 78 records from the world of jazz in particular. With a residential address in Fort Worth, it was also a short road to country, blues and gospel, and Elvis, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and later also Dylan. Like many others, The Beatles’ performance on The Ed Sullivan Show was a watershed moment, and from there he threw himself into rock with enormous appetite.
For the undersigned, it was his contribution on the 1990 release “Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye”, a tribute to Roky Erickson, where he did a beautiful version of “Nothing in Return”, which became the gateway to his universe, and made me to dive backwards in the catalogue, to the solo records.
At this point, I did not know that he was already well represented in the record collection. Among other things, he plays drums, wild and completely insane drums, on the to say the least spin crazy and crazy Legendary Stardust Cowboy single “Paralyzed” (one of David Bowie’s favorite songs, guess where he got the name Ziggy Stardust from. Or ask Iggy ), whose single is one of my dearest possessions. Burnett then also played in several small garage rock bands, inspired by “The British Invasion” and the emerging psychedelia scene in Texas, the heartland of the genre.
I have never finished the record “The Criminal Under My Own Hat”, a record that you could never skip in the collection when playing records, and which was made available on streaming services not too long ago. It is recommended to absolutely everyone. The lyrics and songs are beyond good.
It is nevertheless as a producer that he has the heaviest name, within the industry at least. For one thing, he has composed eminent soundtracks for the acclaimed Coen films “The Big Lebowski”, “O Brother, Where Art Thou” (as well as the Jerry Lee Lewis documentary of Ethan Coen, “Great Balls of Fire!”), films where music is central.
He was also the producer for the Cash film “Walk the Line”, and it was he who was musically responsible for the insanely cool concert film “Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night”. He also composed the music for the first three seasons of the HBO series “True Detective”.
Not going to turn this into a boring recap either, but he has also been a producer and master of ceremonies on important records for, among others, Gillan Welch, Elvis Costello (eminent “King of America” from 86), Elton John, the aforementioned Roy Orbison, for not forgetting the acclaimed discs of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. And a bunch of others.
T-Boner Burnett has always been on the ehhh…height.
Photo: JIM COOPER / AP
The point of mentioning all this is to emphasize that he has not only been a mastermind who has pulled strings and done a bit here and there, but that he has been super central, and one of the most important and most sought-after producers in the environment, and that he has always been terribly active, from the latter half of the sixties until today, in a bunch of different roles.
So this new record is basically not a comeback as a musician, but rather a comeback as the solo artist T-Bone Burnett, that is, as himself. In a recent interview with the publication American Songwriter, he says that he had not really intended to release any more records under his own name, that he had considered himself finished with that part of the business, but that the songs and lyrics just suddenly came rushing into his head on him, and that he then hammered them down, wrote the lyrics and recorded them before thinking better of them.
We should be very happy about that. The 12 songs are spread over 40 minutes, and with the exception of the slightly dull blues song “Sometimes I Wonder”, it is a disc where interest is kept up all the way from the first listen, and where the lion’s share of the songs continuously grow further.
The lyrics are allegedly about an ancient couple who find themselves in a parallel reality, and where Burnett sends us into double and triple train of thought centered around the fairly frequently thematized concept of love. It will probably take time to consume them and finish chewing them. He himself says in the aforementioned interview that lyrics are not that damned important to him, apart from the fact that the words, rhymes and sentences must flow nicely and gently together with the melodies, that the musical journey is always the most important. Agree with him here.
Heidersman. He is five years older than Johnny Cash was when he died. But damn, he still has so much to offer.
Photo: Enlistment
And for some absolutely superb songs he has written this time. It’s warm, elegant, well-played and brilliant folk/country with a perfectly portioned sprinkling of gospel to give the fairly muted music enough drama and punch. The vocal group Lucius provides precisely this part with their guest appearances on half of the songs on the disc, and they strengthen the musical alloy considerably.
The song “The Town That Time Forgot” is a solid candidate for the year’s most magical recording. Towards the end, when the female gospel voices really get going, it feels like the ceiling in the room is about to be lifted off, and you must be very allergic to being moved if you don’t get goosebumps both here and there.
Also T-Bone himself, then. His distinctive and slightly nasal voice has always been a defining either/or factor in whether his music hits or not, but here I think he sings better than ever. It’s a little rougher than before, something that really just makes it both tougher and warmer, and that’s impressive to say the least. He is, after all, five years older than Johnny Cash was when he died.
“The Other Side” is an eminent record to be directly moved by, delivered by a master of the trade who has had the urge of sawdust and has decided to run out into the manege again. May he have blood on his teeth. Now he will also tour for the first time in almost 20 years. Hope he gets a kick out of it, because now I want more from this superb gentleman. And I don’t want to wait until he’s 100 years old. Strong five.
