From: ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman)
Subject: Re: Various Q's - Heard, Been, T-Bone
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 13:44:52 GMT

In article <BvqtMJ.Mzn@rice.edu> rburlin@owlnet.rice.edu (Rusty Burlingame) writes:
>
>I just picked up 'Satellite Sky' after reading such good things about
>it here on rmc.  It's great.  I love it.  Buy it now.  A few questions:

Yep, it's great.  I may moan about the overall lack of quality in CCM,
but when an album like this comes along I remember why, at its best,
Christian music speaks to me in ways that secular music can't even
begin to approach.  The music is just fine, and the lyrics are the
finest I''ve encountered in CCM.  Purty durn close to a masterpiece,
in my opinion.  

>1) How long was the interval between completion of SS and Mark Heard's
>   first heart attack?  Could some of the poor production be because
>   someone else had to finish it?

Well, Mark was touring with Bruce Cockburn and Sam Phillips until early 
'92, so I'm assuming that the album was recorded maybe late winter,
early spring.  The album was released before Mark's heart attack, so
I would also assume that he had control over the production process.

>2) Michael Been plays bass, Jim Goodwin horns.  These two guys are the
>   driving force behind The Call.  I hope they aren't going to end up
>   as studio musicians!  Any recent info on what they or The Call are
>   up to?

The Call are alive and well, as far as I know.  You're right, though - 
Been has shown up on a lot of other people's albums of late. Check out
his great bass work on Bruce Cockburn's "Nothing But A Burning Light."

>3) I read many good things about 'Dry Bones Dance', and will probably
>   begin looking for it soon.  I read nothing about 'Second Hand',
>   which apparently came between DBD and SS.  What's it like?  Any good?

I don't own "Second Hand" (yet), but I've heard it a couple of times.
It's good - more of a straightforward acoustic folkie album than either
"Dry Bones Dance" or "Satellite Sky."  The lyrics are typical Mark
Heard, which means that they're flat-out beautiful.  

>4) Also, I haven't read any reviews of "The Criminal Under My Own Hat."
>   How is it?  Any news from Sam and T-Bone?

"The Criminal Under My Own Hat" is wonderful.  Buy it.  I've been meaning
to write a real review for a while, but I'd say it's the best T-Bone
(or is it T Bone?  I wish he'd learn how to spell his name) album ever.
Musically, it's similar to the 1986 album "T-Bone Burnett" (the  
acoustic countryish album that features our boy wearing a beret on 
the cover).  There's a little rock 'n roll on "Criminal" ("Tear
This Building Down," "Criminals," "I Can Explain Everything"), but
not too much.  Mostly it's T-Bone and his six-string acoustic, backed
up by some of Nashville's best musicians (Mark O'Connor on fiddle,
Jerry Douglas on dobro, Edgar Meyer on bass).  The musical interplay
has to be heard to be believed.  At times these guys sound like a
classical string quartet colliding with a bluegrass band, and I just about
did cartwheels across my family room the first time I heard the music.
I'm alright.  Kate moved the table so I wouldn't hurt myself and 
closed the curtains so the nosy neighbors wouldn't look in.  Believe me, 
it's gorgeous music.  

Lyrically - it's T-Bone.  Nobody else can combine the Bible, Bob Dylan,
and "Mad Magazine" and get away with it, but T-Bone can.  There's
more of a spiritual focus here than on the last couple of albums,
which is just fine by me.  There's a sort of bizarre update of
Psalm 23 in "It's Not Too Late" ("the atmosphere is lethal/but I
will fear no evil"), some great social commentary in "Humans from
Earth" and "I Can Explain Everything," and some surprisingly tender
and heart-felt confessions of love for God and Sam in "Over You"
and "Long Time Now."  Sounds like fairly normal stuff?  Don't
believe it.  "I Can Explain Everything" links lying politicians 
and lying televangelists, French cuisine, and lynching.  "Criminals"
is a rant about how criminals are scum and should be caged and put 
away, and concludes with T-Bone's admission that he's a criminal
too. "Humans from Earth" is a little fantasy about how us humanoids
could introduce television and marketing techniques to other planets.
In other words, this is your typical T-Bone album.  Great stuff it
is, too.

By the way, "Musician Magazine" interviewed T-Bone and Sam a couple
of months ago.  You might want to hunt down a back issue to see
what they're thinking about and doing these days.

>Thanks for any information you might have...

No problem.  Sorry to be so effusive - you just happened to pick
a couple of my favorites.  I don't want anyone to think that 
music makes me *happy* or anything, though.  Okay, I'll go back
to being sober-minded now. 

>Rusty
>rburlin@owlnet.rice.edu

Andy Whitman
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio
att!cblpn!ajw  or
ajw@cblpn.att.com

"We live in a world lit by lightning/
 After the flash we're blind again."
  -- T-Bone Burnett, "Over You"
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian