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Arista Albums

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Alpha Band Format: Audio CD
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 7 ratings
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Audio CD, Import, October 25, 2005
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Editorial Reviews

All Three Alpha Band LPs in their Entirety on Two CD'S. "The Alpha Band" (1976), "Spark in the Dark" (1977) and "The Statue Makers of Hollywood" (1978). The Alpha Band First Came to Prominence in 1975 as Part of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review Band, Guam. Members Include T-bone Burnett, Now Famous Not Only as a Performing Artist but as a Top Producer (Elvis Costello, "oh Brother Where Art Thou" Soundtrack), David Mansfield and Steven Soles. Ringo Starr Guests on Two Cuts! These Recordings have Never Been Available on CD Before.

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.55 x 4.97 x 0.54 inches; 2.83 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Acadia Records
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ February 10, 2007
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Acadia Records
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000A3X6WG
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
7 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Eleutheros
4.0 out of 5 stars Will T-Bone Burnett please stand up...
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2009
Verified Purchase
Call me Eleutheros.

So, this where it all began.

Metallica is a really good band, but their style is un-variable. Same thing with my all-time favorite guitarist, Robin Trower-he is really good at blues/rock but... well, just listen to his 'In the Line of Fire' from 1990 as he tries to capture the 80's sound and you realize just how difficult it is for even the best artist to 'branch out', especially successfully.

Not so with T-Bone Burnett and the Alpha Band. Having never heard anything before by The Alpha Band (their music is rather hard to find, don'tcha know?) from the third track on I realized that I was going to be taken for a musical ride around the world. Literally.

That is to say, the Alpha Band is eclectic. And very good at it, too.

It's not a wondering thing to me that their music never 'caught on', despite both the musical history that they were so intimately a part of, prior to becoming, 'The Alpha Band' and the considerable and patient backing they got from Arista (it's all in the liner notes). That is because The Alpha Band seems to never have been about finding a `groove', even a successful one and sticking with it.

"So, they're eclectic. So what?"

Well The Alpha Band is eclectic to the bone - the T-Bone.

Having followed T-Bone's career from a chance encounter with his 1982 'Trap Door' EP on - even buying CD's from artists that I never would have otherwise, simply because T-Bone produced them - I have come to understand the word "eclectic."

And now I know that this is where it all began; The Alpha Band is J. Henry Burnett alongside the multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist and life-long friends David Mansfield and Steven Soles. Fort Worth, Texas should be proud.

So, if you consider yourself an eclectic lover of music, or even a lover of eclectic music, then the price of this set should be worth the undiscovered country you will find resurrected in this CD anthology. Especially if your among those who can't help but smile when you read on the back of the new CD your holding "Produced by T-Bone Burnett".

One more word, please. T-Bone Burnett is good. Yes, his voice is as unique as is Jon Anderson's and therefore, instantly recognizable. And his song lyrics are decipherable, you think. But, even if you aren't left with a thought at the end of each song, you will be left, at the least, thinking.

However, that isn't what I meant by "good". T-Bone's true gift, the thing that stands him out among an awesome crowd of more popular and equally talented humans (besides being very tall), earning him their accolades, is that he is a master at being a good human being, even with all the inherent faults thereof. And from this life he has lived, all recorded for posterity in his life's music, one can learn that it's not a sin to be human; that, in fact, being good at being human is what we were created to be.

Thanks for reading.
7 people found this helpful
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Dwight Buhler
5.0 out of 5 stars Will Wonders Never Cease?
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2006
Verified Purchase
I thought for sure that my vinyl copies of these critically acclaimed, but publicly unclaimed records would be nothing more than collectors pieces that I would take out and admire once in a while, trying to recal how exactly those tunes went. And I suppose that's still what they are, but now I can hear them again, and I had pretty much lost all hope of that.

Any complaints about sound quality from the vinyl are unfounded. From that one review, I was expecting to hear scratches, pops and skips. Such is not the case! Yes, it's taken from the vinyl, but such is the state of many older recordings that the magnetic tape it was recorded on is delaminating and unusable. Vinyl is the only alternative, and this transfer is very good. (I've heard much worse!)

As to the music, what we have here is an incredibly eclectic mix of pop /rock /folk /country and blues, and just some flat out great songwriting. Not every song is a winner, but I enjoy the vast majority of them, and with T-Bone recording his own material less and less these days, it's just a joy to have more of him to listen to.
6 people found this helpful
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Eric R. Last
4.0 out of 5 stars Great To Have On CD, And Sounds Just Fine To Me
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2006
I'm happy to add one more voice to the Alpha Band fans delighted to see these albums finally out on CD, and perfectly satisfied with the sound. I admit I'm no audiophile, and even if the sound was as poor as the first reviewer indicated I'd still want to own this. But in fact I never noticed any LP surface noise at all in the 4-5 listens I've given this since I got it. For the most part I was listening in the car, with the obvious background noise of the road affecting my ability to detect any flaws in the sound. But to me, the sounds is just fine.

As for the music itself: T-Bone Burnett's 3 albums with the Alpha band are not the best things he's ever done, but they are solid, quality efforts. My favorite is the eponymous first album, as it is the most musically adventurous. The second ("Spark In The Dark") seems a bit bland in comparison, but has some top notch work nonetheless. The third ("Statue Makers of Hollywood") falls somewhere in between the other two. Burnett's solo efforts that followed the demise of the Alpha Band sometimes acheived greater heights ("Trap Door", "Proof Through The Night", the eponymous 1986 effort, and "Criminal Under My Own Hat"), and sometimes fell somewhat short ("Truth Decay", Behind The Trap Door", "Talking Animals"). The Alpha Band albums, falling in the middle, are certainly worth having if you are a T-Bone fan. And, hopefully, if enough people spring for this collection, someone out there will finally decide to give us "Proof Through The Night" and "Trap Door" on CD.
6 people found this helpful
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Gord Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars Statue Topplers of Hollywood
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2006
Another reviewer made a very good point that these are the records transferred to CD. But are you going to hit the golden oldies shops trying to scare up these three Alpha Band records or get this CD? Are you going to vote with your wallet and get this set before it vanishes into oblivion or wait for the Man to have a change of heart and release a remastered CD?

Hollywood has a vendetta against T-Bone Burnett. Not just because of what he said at the Grammys re: O Brother Where Art Thou and real country roots music and the lack thereof on corporate "new" country radio stations. T-Bone's Proof Through the Night was consistently named a top album of the mid-eighties and thanks to the powers that be, it's never made it to CD. If you ever hear it, you'll know why. Truth Decay, originally on Takoma Records, only exists as an expensive import. You can't get Trap Door at all (Behind the Trap Door on Nick Lowe's Demon Records is a different album).

And what of the rest of the Alpha Band triumvirate, Steven Soles and David Mansfield? How are we going to ever hear their music? The only way to vote is with your wallet. (You know that). Buy this through Amazon and send a signal to Hollywood (I'm preaching to the choir). Against all odds you made U2 the biggest band in the world. Time to vote again, for more great music from T-Bone and the maverick Alpha Band.
5 people found this helpful
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