The Criminal Under My Hat

"In dreams begin responsibilities" – is the Delmore Schwartz line that's been used by both Lou Reed and U2. But it doesn't quite suit the latest album from another member of their coterie, T-Bone Burnett. This time out, he's far more concerned with responsibilities than any dream.

On past albums, the Texan has mixed his moralism with a highly developed sense of the ridiculous but here, there's little of his absurdist sense of humour on what may be the most sombrely shadowed set of songs he's written. Towards close of play, The Criminal Under My Hat does have its moments of resolution but often it's heavy emotional weather.

Musically, it's tersely classic. Burnett has the wisdom from experience to know that players of the calibre of Marc Ribot, Jim Keltner, Van Dyke Parks, Jerry Douglas and Mark O'Connor don't need to grandstand. Even Kiltner's drums are used on only four tracks on an album that uses acoustic values to obtain emotional clarity.

And yet the spirit of Buddy Holly doesn't always preside over this album. 'It's Not Too Late', co-written with Bob Neuwirm and Elvis Costello, could be comfortably covered by either Marianne Faithful or Gavin Friday while the second extended version of 'I Can Explain Everything' has harsh lock-step rhythms reminiscent of Devo or even, God save the mark, the early Virgin Prunes.

But the album is definitely shadowed by the two painful out-of-love songs, 'Over You', and 'Every Little Thing', that open each side. The album has other themes but somehow you're constantly focusing on those two brooding songs and their apparent companion pieces, the closing 'Kill Switch' and the more optimistic 'Any Time At All' and 'The Long Time now'. Burnett's set himself the hardest songwriting task of all: to be universal, directly emotional and yet neither superficial nor obvious. In the hands of others, these songs could become hazardously earnest but the tautness of the playing and the emotional accuracy of the production saves Burnett from such perils.

There are other themes. 'Tear This Building Down' may be an extension of his earlier Marilyn Monroe fascination onto Madonna, while both 'Humans From Earth' and 'Primitive' poke a sharp stick in the eye of consumerist culture. Finally, any nihilism is banished by the title track which returns to the theme of responsibility for self:

"He's capable of anything/or any vicious act/This criminal is dangerous/The criminal under my own hat". Not many people in rock know that. Fewer still would dare to admit it.