Description
The Criminal Under My Own Hat is the fifth full-length solo album by the American singer, songwriter, and producer T-Bone Burnett, released on Columbia Records in July 1992. The album was produced by T-Bone Burnett and Bob Neuwirth.
On The Criminal Under My Own Hat, T-Bone Burnett seemed to be searching for a middle ground between his previous two albums, the bright, angular pop/rock of The Talking Animals and the spare, acoustic introspection of T-Bone Burnett. On this album, though, Burnett was willing to let these two sides of his musical personality display a greater influence upon one another; the acoustic numbers are more passionate and fuller sounding than on his previous efforts (often buoyed by Jerry Douglas on dobro and Mark O’Connor on violin), and the rockers have been peeled back a bit, giving the individual musicians a bit more room to move and letting the inner workings of the songs show. The operative philosophy appears to have been to allow the songs to shine though without excess gingerbread, and that’s just what the material demanded; as always, Burnett’s songs reveal his obsessions with the human failings of pride, fear, and greed, and he’s willing to point the finger at himself as often as he finds shortcomings in others (though he saves his greatest wrath for the corrupt politicians and media savvy preachers attacked on «I Can Explain Everything», in which he suggests a little selective beheading might be a good idea — as Burnett puts it, “the French knew how to lynch”). But unless his subjects happen to be George Bush or Jimmy Swaggart, Burnett finds room for compassion in nearly all of these songs, once again proving he’s one of the few avowed Christians in pop music who seems to understand how tricky the nature of sin and forgiveness can be. Thoughtful, often witty, and boasting a stellar cast of fine musicians, The Criminal Under My Own Hat was easily T-Bone Burnett’s strongest album since Proof Through the Night, and a rare pleasure for thinking music fans. [Mark Deming, AMG]
T-Bone Burnett, lonesome guitar strangler, Dylan sidesman, top producer (Costello, Cockburn, etc) Bono-collaborator, sometime Country artist but more usually maker of distinctive solo albums mixing laconic surrealism with songs of love and loss, aching with nostalgia and regret, sung in an understated, nasal, drawling Texan kind of way. This is possibly T-Bone’s best ever album. At first it seems a bit incoherent. His two sides – quirked out guitar rock/film soundtrack pastiche and sparse, minimal country folk are both present and have each developed a casual grace of their own but sound so far apart that they might belong on different albums, albeit very excellent ones. Variety is certainly the spice of this one. «Tear This Building Down» is bone-crunching Bo Diddley guitar under the influence of Tom Waits whose lurch underpins the much gentler «It’s Not Too Late» amidst plinking mandolin, sighing violin and slide guitar. «Humans From Earth» is a track that escaped from Truth Decay’ only to wind up on the planet of bottleneck feedback (REM go there) where humans are trying to take over armed only with multi-channel TV, manifest destiny and a well-polished sales pitch. “You got nothing at all to fear/ We think we’re gonna like it here.” Scary. «Primitives» is folkier again and has the atmosphere of night falling, with more of that gorgeous violin. It’s one of Burnett’s finest moments; a series of vivid, seemingly unconnected images by turns sinister, intense and magical. Similarly «Every Little Thing» explores the tortured country of dislocated relationships (Elvis Costello practically lives there) and Burnett takes it for his own. Simpler, bleaker and more universal than Costello, once upon a time Dylan sounded as concentrated as this. «Criminals» takes us into the confession booth for a wry, honest peak into the unreliable self. If it sounds like we’re visiting a lot of dark places then wait till you hear «I Can Explain Everything», 1984-TV-politics-paranoia (I think) in two parts to a Frankenstein’s monster soundtrack in the first case and blistering guitars in the second. Even more scary. Over the years Burnett has delivered an often weird narrative on the true state of the western world but you never get the feeling that he sits in judgement. Rather, it’s sorrow that’s expressed – sorrow at man’s foolishness. Yet as a whole this is by no means a depressing listen. If Burnett is suspicious of everything including himself it’s because only under grace is it safe to look and see things as they really are. The darkness is shot through with the light of faith, human love and God’s mercy. “The atmosphere is lethal/ But I will fear no evil.” Even the apocalyptic vision of «Kill Switch» seems somehow to have more hope than dread in it. “It’s not too late…” Vital. [Peter Small, Cross Rhythms, April 1993]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/no/album/the-criminal-under-my-own-hat/533603129)
CD tracklist:
01. Over You – 2:20
02. Tear This Building Down – 4:37
03. It’s Not Too Late – 4:27
04. Humans From Earth – 2:49
05. Primitives – 3:15
06. Criminals – 3:45
07. Every Little Thing – 2:54
08. I Can Explain Everything – 1:54
09. Any Time At All – 3:03
10. I Can Explain Everything – 3:19
11. The Long Time Now – 3:01
12. Kill Switch – 2:55
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Columbia Records.
CREDITS. Produced by T-Bone Burnett and Bob Neuwirth.
Musicians: T Bone Burnett (vocals), Billy Swan (background vocals), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Marc Ribot (guitar), Dean Parks (slide guitar), Mark O’Connor (mandolin, violin), Andrea Zonn (viola), Van Dyke Parks (accordion), Jerry Scheff (bass), Roy Huskey, Jr. (bass), David Jackson (bowed bass), Edgar Meyer (bowed bass), Jim Keltner (drums), Harry Stinson (bass drums).
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