What's the deal with John Hiatt?

my favorite singer-songwriter in 1975:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rSUh2b1ufi4

wore that 45 OUT, lemme tellya.

John Hiatt always sounded like Costello to me, who also sounded like Graham Parker. Except John Hiatt sang worse than Costello. I guess I would put him in the tradition of successful Nashville songsmiths who are also you know troubadors and performers in they own right, and everyone lets them get by on vocal personality. I like "Memphis in the Meantime" and I believe I have an excellent Carl Perkins cut on that one around here somewhere. John Hiatt was "new wave" in Nashville, as I remember, and a cause celebre so to speak--in that sense of "what a great songwriter and what a personality! and yet he doesn't sell that many records! Fortunate he's a successful songwriter in his own right.." that kind of thing, and of course, he's quite skillful as a songwriter, no doubt about it. But I'll take Prine any day--or, for that matter, Squeezing Out Sparks, which goes beyond pub rockery, right?

I mean Alfred, Riding with the King, '83, is the only one you need own...

sounds like it!

"Thing Called Love" at the cafeteria; it reminded me of this thread. Good one! (the thread, that is)

Just finished playing Riding With The King from 1983, which I found for a quarter over the weekend, and though there's a remote possibility it might take a couple listens to sink in, right now I can't figure out for the life of me why Christgau gave this album an A- and Warming Up To The Ice Age a B. I'd reverse those grades exactly, I think. Riding just sounds anemic and slick and bleh in comparison; Warming, which I've liked since the year it came out, has groove and riffs and an almost ZZ Top chunkiness at points. And while it's not like the guy's songwriting has ever killed me, Warming has way more memorable lines, not to mention hooks, as far as can tell. On Riding I guess "She Loves The Jerk" stands out a little on the first side, and "Falling Up" at the end finally gets the album off its ass a little and gets some Diddley going, but honestly I always assumed Hiatt didn't sound this bland 'til the late '80s. Will say so if my mind changes on next go round, but I doubt it will. Still curious about the guy's '70s and new wave era albums, though.

Ha, just noticed above that Edd says "Riding with the King, '83, is the only one you need own..." Sorry, I don't get that at all.

And looking back over this thread, I should mention that (1) I also found Ry Cooder's Bop Til You Drop for a quarter over the weekend; (2) this morning, by a bizarre coincidence, I mentioned both Kris Kristofferson (negatively) and John Stewart (positively) in the same post on Rolling Country; and (3) I determined this year that I think the first Alpha Band LP is okay but Burnett's B-52 Band one isn't.

We had Hiatt's Best Of playing in the store this morning and it sounded sort of meh - mostly late 80's stuff, the re-recording of Have A Little Faith In Me being a particularly low point.
Still, I would like to hear his early albums, if they're actually somehow comparable to Garland Jeffreys or Mink Deville's first.

He's imperfect, this is typical of Midwest songwriters...I bought some of his old stuff and I found I couldn't listen to 10 John Hiatt songs in a row. I think it's good for the mp3 era.

Eventually decided I like the first two songs and the last song on Riding With The King. But of those three (the other two being "I Don't Even Try" and "Faling Up"), only "Death By Misadventure" sounds like it would've been tough enough for Ice Age. And what's in between mostly sounds as weak-kneed as I suggested -- reminds me, more than anything else, of '80s-and-later Nick Lowe. Which I know some people might consider a compliment, but I never really got him either, post-Labour Of Lust.

Have you watched his videos from this period? On YouTube. Typical overstatement.

"cry love" is so... i dont know, <em>something</em>, that i cant help but like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvXhPKRyr7c

dig the mandolin player

Liking Two Bit Monsters from 1980, which I found a copy of for $1 last week, at least as much and probably more than Warming Up To The Ice Age, even. Just seems obvious to me that Hiatt started (or at least started the '80s -- still have heard none of his '70s stuff) sounding much tougher and more rock than he wound up, and a few cuts here ("Face The Nation," "Cop Party," "String Pull Job") have him and his band stretching out some and getting more hard-boiled than I've heard him elsewhere. Overall vibe variously reminds me of not just This Year's Model, but also the first couple Graham Parker and Joe Jackson and Moon Martin albums, and Zevon's Excitable Boy. But unlike all those other guys, I seem to have a real problem grasping what Hiatt's singing about -- I'll catch cool lines here and there, but his voice muffles as often as not, and I almost never get a clear idea what the words add up to. Only real exception on this album is "I Spy (For The FBI)," a song about stalking an unfaithful woman which turns out to be the only one he didn't write. That's followed by a couple ("Pink Bedroom," "Good Girl, Bad World") that I take it have something to do with the travails of teenage girls, but I'm not exactly sure what. (The line about the girl mixing Coca Cola with valium in "Pink Bedroom" always jumps out, though.) Might just take 10 or 20 more listens for me to figure it all out. (By the way, I'm pretty sure Trouser Press voted either this one or 1979's Slug Line their album of the year when it came out.)

And "I Spy (For The FBI)" shouldn't be confused with "Spy Boy," his song from 1980's Crusing that reminded me of AC/DC when I saw the movie (I mention it way upthread). Don't think that's on any of his LPs; need to keep hunting around for the soundtrack.

i would probably rather listen to later richard thompson albums that i would never listen to.

don't hiatt albums come with lyric sheets? i would think they would.

he's no tonio k. that's all i know.

i own 11 jj cale albums. and i listen to all of them. and he never bores me! even when it sounds like he's singing in his sleep.

i own 10 jackie deshannon albums. ditto.

jackie deshannon shits on john hiatt from a great height. (alex in nyc memorial post)

I was actually going to say that Two Bit Monsters is just about the only album I've heard lately that I wish came with a lyric sheet! (Usually I don't have much use for those things. Of the other two Hiatt albums I own, Riding With The King has one, and Warming Up To The Ice doesn't. But I bought all these used, so maybe they disappeared somewhere along the line.)

Also: Cruising I meant, duh.

Just checked The New Trouser Press Record Guide, and Ira Robbins definitely prefered Slug Line (Hiatt's "rawest and most powerful" album) to Two Bit Monsters ("repeats Slug Line's style, but with less bite"), so I'm guessing the former is the one T.P. named Album of the Year. (Also, the latter would've had to beat London Calling, which is unlikely.)

Should probably also mention that the Hiatt stuff I've heard is never really as catchy as Costello or Joe Jackson were on their first couple LPs. (But those were real catchy records, obviously. And he's as catchy as the first two Graham Parkers.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTiDJd62y-A

I have no real Jackie DeShannon opinion, strangely enough. But Scott and I definitely see eye-to-eye on the great Tonio K.

JJ Cale always bores me. (Or always has, whenever I've tried.)

someone finally put arlyn gale on youtube! not the best song on the album though. he's searching for his inner lynott on this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXywW_nBTdg

i hate to call someone's music "comfort food" for some reason. mostly cuz i hate that term? most food is pretty comforting to me. but anyway jj is like that for me. and i love his songs. and i love his miniaturist sensibility. oh i like lots of things about him.

jackie deshannon is married to soft pop dweeb turned film and t.v. score titan randy edelman. he doesn't deserve her.

http://www.recordsale.org/cdpix/r/randy_edelman-if_love_is_real.jpg

Edelman looks like Andy Samberg on SNL!

still have heard none of his '70s stuff

I've liked "Hanging Around The Observatory" since it was new in '74, but his singing is VERY affected and marble-mouthed; he sounds like he's aping Randy Newman. Still have never heard "Overcoats," and then there's a four year gap until "Slug Line."

and fyi: ry cooder was in jackie's band when she toured with and supported the beatles on their first u.s. tour.

(and she used to date elvis presley AND jimmy page!)

anyway, this thread isn't about her.

jackie deshannon used to write songs with randy newman. okay, i''ll stop...

btw, xhuxk, Rosanne Cash's version of "Pink Bedroom" should help you see what Hiatt was aiming for.

i don't know Hiatt's work but i keep listening to his daughter Lilly's 2017 album Trinity Lane and it's really good imo. I included it in my 2017 country albums mix and whenever one of the tracks comes up, it really grabs my attention.

She's rad.

I like her pop's turn of the 80s album string where he was in a very Costello/Graham Parker mold.

He just cancelled the rest of his shows this year after taking a bad fall off a hiking trail. He's expected to make a full recovery though.

He had to smash a perfectly good guitar to break his fall though.

Emmylou Harris is useless, always has been!

This board seems to have been populated in its early days by people who took contrarian opinions just because.

lol that's xhuxk. Must have been having a grumpy day.