Thornton's dark-hued Private Radio from 2001 drew comparisons with Cash and Cohen, but this follow-up seems more influenced by a British singer-songwriter—unfortunately, it's David Brent, in the episode where the manager of The Office produced a guitar to grunt sincerely about "purdy gurls on the hooduvva Cadillac." Thornton mostly ditches the low-key sound of his debut for MOR, delivering clichéd lyrics in an over-emphatic style. Still, with Daniel Lanois and the late Warren Zevon present, it can't be all bad. When Thornton finally settles down for "Saviour" and "Midnight Train", sleepy, shuffling meditations on ditching the wild life, it suggests Lanois reworking The Ghost Of Tom Joad.

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