|
New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
|
Tooth Of Crime
by T Bone Burnett
The producer of many albums releases an album of songs from the Sam Shepard musical "The Tooth of Crime: Second Dance."
| LABEL: |
Nonesuch |
| RELEASE DATE: |
13 May 2008 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rock, Singer-Songwriter |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
88
The Phoenix
It’s a sonic adventure thanks to Burnett’s current signatures: booming drum kits sans cymbals, knotty guitars, lyrics sung through amplifiers, and an open, airy quality that’s the antithesis of modern rock production.
80
All Music Guide
Tooth of Crime is a smart, absorbing, and beautifully disquieting collection of songs that could have come from no one else but T Bone Burnett, and it shows that one of America's best songwriters may be working at a very deliberate pace but he still has some remarkable things left to tell us.
80
Boston Globe
Burnett has fashioned a sumptuously spooky, if lyrically opaque, work that feels both spacious and claustrophobic.
80
The New York Times
Mr. Burnett’s songs for the show are the basis for his new album, and a decade of marinating and reworking has only deepened their black-humor charm.
70
Hartford Courant
Had the album been inspired by any other play, that ambiguity would be a problem. Given the vagueness of the source material, however, Burnett's interpretation makes perfect sense.
60
Rolling Stone
The lyrics are nearly as evocative, with Burnett issuing detective-novel threats ("I can stir you like a Bloody Mary") and spinning dystopian sci-fi fantasies. But too often, on songs such as the droney 'Dope Island' (a duet with ex Sam Phillips), Burnett's melodies veer between off-puttingly strange and nonexistent.
60
Uncut
While there is no doubting the power of Marc Ribot’s off-kilter twanging or the noirish density of the music, the songs don’t really work on their own.
60
PopMatters
Much of the album features a heavily minor-saturated tone complimented by dissonant brass chords and harmonies that emphasize the play’s catastrophic surrealism.
40
Q Magazine
But even knowing that [it's inspired by a Sam Shepard play], it's impossible to tell what's going on. [June 2008, p.149]
40
Austin Chronicle
Guitarist Marc Ribot adds a little flash to the gray affair, but Burnett prefers subtlety, which may have worked in theatre but not so much on disc.
40
Spin
Between the singer/songwriter's hectoring-preacher delivery and predictable surf-guitar-noir arrangements, the result is one dreary sermon.
The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Discuss this album in our forums |
|
GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
