Trap Door - EP
Artist: T-Bone Burnett

Following a short stint with Takoma Records, T-Bone Burnett moved back into the majors with a 1982 release for Warner Bros., the six-song EP Trap Door. Whereas his previous record, Truth Decay, had the feel of an early Sam Phillips recording for Sun Records, rap Door is filled with tight, radiant folk-rock. Fronting the same basic lineup... Read More

One from the Heart
Artist: Tom Waits
Community Score: 7.72

One From the Heart is the score to the most misunderstood of Francis Ford Coppola's films. Far ahead of its time in terms of technology, use of color, montage, and set design, its soundtrack is the only thing that grounds it to earth. Coppola's movie is a metaphorical retelling of the exploits of Zeus and Hera set in Las Vegas. Coppola claims to... Read More

This Is Where I Came In
Artist: Van Morrison

This umpteenth repackaging of Van Morrison's Bang Records material is notable for containing the most complete set of the recordings yet issued on a single disc. Fifteen tracks are crammed onto this LP, which constitutes the entire set of Bang masters with the exception of the B-side single "Chick-A-Boom." (This Is Where I Came In was superseded... Read More

Moondance/His Band & Street Choir
Artist: Van Morrison
Truth Decay
Artist: T-Bone Burnett

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,... Read More

Hearts and Bones
Artist: Paul Simon
Community Score: 10.00

Hearts and Bones was a commercial disaster, the lowest-charting new studio album of Paul Simon's career. It is also his most personal collection of songs, one of his most ambitious, and one of his best. It retains a personal vision, one largely devoted to the challenges of middle-aged life, among them a renewed commitment to love; the title song... Read More

Trouble in Paradise
Artist: Randy Newman

Randy Newman began the slow process of transforming himself into a polished L.A. song-crafter on the album Little Criminals, and with Trouble in Paradise the metamorphosis was complete; by this time, Newman could make a record just as ear-pleasing as anything Paul Simon, Don Henley, or Lindsey Buckingham could come up with, and proved it by... Read More

Good Old Boys
Artist: Randy Newman
Community Score: 8.00

Randy Newman's songwriting often walks a narrow line between intelligent satire and willful cruelty, and that line was never finer than on the album Good Old Boys. Newman had long displayed a fascination with the American South, and Good Old Boys was a song cycle where he gave free reign to his most imaginative (and venomous) thoughts on the... Read More

Greatest Hits
Artist: Dan Fogelberg

Greatest Hits may ignore some of his better album tracks, but it does contain what the title says -- Dan Fogelberg's biggest hits, prior to its release date of 1982. Really, that means only one big hit -- "The Language of Love" -- is missing, since his peak of popularity arrived in the early '80s, when "Longer," "Same Old Lang Syne," "Hard to... Read More

Phoenix
Artist: Dan Fogelberg
Community Score: 10.00

His first solo album since 1977's Netherlands, Phoenix was a fine effort but one that didn't add any new twists to Fogelberg's ever-expanding vision apparent up till then on one album after another. The album paled somewhat in comparison to Fogelberg's previous efforts and didn't do much to expand his audience. On the other hand, it certainly... Read More

Retrospect
Artist: Randy Newman

To date, Warner Brothers in the U.S. has not released a compilation of Randy Newman's best work, but the U.K. division has, and here it is. From "Political Science" to "God's Song," these 16 songs should show any listener the depth of Randy Newman's talent as a songwriter and provide some big horse laughs along the way. ~ William Ruhlmann, All... Read More