Search - T-Bone Burnett :: Truth Decay

Truth Decay
T-Bone Burnett
Truth Decay
Genres: Alternative Rock, Folk, Pop, R&B, Rock, Christian & Gospel
 
  •  Track Listings (12) - Disc #1

T-Bone Burnett is best known as the producer of records by Counting Crows, Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, the Wallflowers, Gillian Welch, and his wife, Sam Phillips. He's also released a number of his own albums that attracte...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: T-Bone Burnett
Title: Truth Decay
Members Wishing: 5
Total Copies: 0
Label: Demon Records UK
Release Date: 7/22/1997
Album Type: Import
Genres: Alternative Rock, Folk, Pop, R&B, Rock, Christian & Gospel
Styles: Singer-Songwriters, Folk Rock, Roots Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 027726807126, 722397278014, 722397278021, 722397278045, 740155007126

Synopsis

Amazon.com
T-Bone Burnett is best known as the producer of records by Counting Crows, Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, the Wallflowers, Gillian Welch, and his wife, Sam Phillips. He's also released a number of his own albums that attracted a critical following but never caught the popular ear. That could be because Burnett is a rather cerebral moralist who sometimes lets his message overtake his music. That's also why 1980's Truth Decay, which featured a small rock combo playing roots-oriented music, is one of his best albums. Songs like "Boomerang" and "Quicksand" rock with a compositional concision that matches the writing of his best production clients, while "Driving Wheel" has great archival fun recreating the sound of rockabilly. Burnett's not a great singer, but he's a savvy one, and able to do justice to a roadhouse blues tune like "Pretty Girls" and a sweet ballad like "The Power of Love." "I'm Coming Home" concludes the album with a touch of country, a genre that Burnett would explore on one of his other notable albums, 1986's T Bone Burnett. --John Milward

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CD Reviews

This CD *truly* merits five stars
09/28/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)

"By the third song of my first listening of Truth Decay, I was a T-Bone Burnett fan for life. He seems to be using his musical genius (yes! genius is not an over statement) these days as a producer. If you want to hear him in his full song-writing, playing and producing glory, this is the album. I must have listened to this album a hundred times! I'm not kidding when I say that it is so superbly crafted that not a single rim shot is out-of-place. It's truly a masterpiece, even if unknown to the general public. T-Bone seems to remain a musician's musician. He probably made a good career move into producing, where he seems to be widely appreciated. Start studying the liner notes of your CDs and you'll discover what a contribution he has made to the music industry. I love the guy!"
The only crime...
Earl B | Auckland New Zealand | 01/08/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)

"... is that T-Bone's later album "Proof Through The Night" is not available on CD ... (UPDATE in 2008 ... yes it is ... in a limited edition of 5,000 ... and I've got one!) So I have to restrict myself to four stars on this one, because for me "Proof Through The Night" has the edge. If you need any other proof of T-Bone's genius, check out the CD or DVD of Roy Orbison's "Black and White Night" where he was the musical director. Enjoy."
4 1/2 Stars: One of His Best
D.C. Hanoy | Athens, Georgia | 06/27/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"T-Bone Burnett released Truth Decay for John Fahey's Takoma Records, his first solo effort since 1972. Burnett delivers a collection of parables, tales, and personal struggles propelled by his strong beliefs and some captivating roots rock. "Quicksand," with a rhythm reminiscent of "Ring of Fire," opens the proceedings with a word of caution, and from there Burnett takes you through scenes of international affairs, betrayal, pure and untamed love, need, greed, and resolution. Songs such as "Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk," "Boomerang," and "Love at First Sight" couple sophisticated lyrical content with the simplest of materials (rockabilly, blues, folk, and country), as does the album's best cut, the bare-bones "House of Mirrors," a spoken, state-of-the-times parable in which the protagonist's fate is summed up in a wonderful historical reference. This, along with his passion and reverence for the music - as well as a willingness to subvert it if necessary - keeps him from coming across as retro or revivalist. Aside from the more complex material here, Burnett also proves to be equally adept at a more direct lyrical approach. Whereas in the past he would tend to lean toward the abstract, much of Truth Decay, with songs such as "Come Home," "Power of Love," and "Tears Tears Tears," owe as much to the eloquent simplicity of Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, and Willie Dixon as it does to Dylan. Removed from the big label, budget, and expectations of the Alpha Band, T-Bone Burnett produced a modest, passionate gem. - by Brett Hartenbach, AMG



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