Start here - then begin to collect everything Mr. Hiatt s put out. - Until recently, I was aware only that John Hiatt is a song writer who crafted songs covered by others. Last month I saw him in solo performance and the next day I purchased this anthology. This collection is jaw-dropping in scope - from early Nashville days, to much more contemporary writing and performing. This is a great beginning point, in fact, I ve already added The Tiki Bar Is Open and Master of Disaster to my collection. I appreciate wry wit in songwriting, from Richard Thompson to Albert Collins, and John Hiatt ranks right up there. This investment investment pays great dividends.
Great John Hiatt Anthology - Wonderful overview of one of the great witers and performers of the last 30 years.One senses the development in terms of craft and subject matter as John Hiatt matures over the years. By the second cd,(it is in chronological order), he has hit his stride and everything comes together.An excellent collection.
Terrific! Get this! - One of the greats, John Hiatt is a writer s writer and singer s singer. If you re just starting to get to know his music, you re in luck, since this 2-CD set is the cream of the crop, 40 delicious slices of warm, wry, sunny, sad Americana. I ve been into Hiatt for years and bought many of his individual releases, all of which I recommend, but this pulls together his greatest, most essential recordings. For heaven s sake, don t buy a single greatest hits CD when you can get so much more. I promise you will want more than just one CD of John s songs.
Making a case for brilliance: John Hiatt - This is as superb a collection of John Hiatt s rocky career as you ll ever find short of a box set. This double disc, 40 song multi-lable endeavor shows Hiatt as he develops from an in-house writer to unique American songwriting voice, which, given the current climate of hit-now-or-die record company mentality, is an amazing thing to listen to. His first two LPs for CBS saw him struggling to write hit material before getting dropped from there.Hiatt moved to LA and became an Angry Young Man before getting signed to MCA (songs 4 through 9). As songs like Pink Bedroom (eventually a hit for Rosanne Cash) and Slug Line begin to show, Hiatt s focus is becoming clearer. His affections for the likes of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe not withstanding, Hiatt still sounds like a man in search of his voice. MCA kicked him after two albums, and the fledgling Geffen records company brought him on board in an effort to show that they were going to be the artists artist label. The resulting All Of A Sudden may have confused his earlier fans, but also found Hiatt in his strongest voice yet. Doll Hospital not only rocked, but it actually sounded like he wasn t trying to be someone other than who he was. My Edge of The Razor found Hiatt at the top of his form, a bittersweet ballad that used lyrical economy and stunning metaphors to an amazing affect.But it was Riding With The King that probably gave folks the Hiatt we pretty much see today. Brilliant production highlights the title track, and She Loves The Jerk ranks up there with the best of Elvis Costello. The next album, the overdone Warming Up to the Ice Age still had Hiatt penning great material (Bob Dylan took a swing at The Usual), but Geffen dropped him after this album went the same route commercially as the previous two.Amazingly enough, Hiatt found a new home with a fourth label when A&M released the sparse but incredible Bring The Family. Hiatt came away from a painful period in his life to write his most personal and intimate batch of songs, recorded them with longtime associate Ry Cooder and had Nick Lowe at the production board to keep it simple. It became not only his most commercially successful album to that time, but also a watershed record for songs (including Thing Called Love, which Bonnie Raitt wisely plucked for her Nick Of Time comeback).Hiatt s streak with A&M is probably his strongest, and it dominates disc two. His affinity for southern characteristics (Memphis In The Meantime, Drive South) and his solid wordplay (Buffalo River Home) personify his finest qualities as a singer/songwriter, and Perfectly Good Guitar offered proof that Hiatt hadn t lost his edge as a rocker. The problem remained that Hiatt, brilliant as his albums remained, wasn t selling in the mass quantities of, say, Janet Jackson. So he parted ways with A&M, left them with a contract filler live album (represented here with Angel Eyes, which had been a big hit for the Jeff Healy Band) and forged a new deal with Capitol Records.The next two albums were spotty, as witnessed by a mere three songs on the collection. An attempt at forming a supergroup out of the Bring The Family alumni sank with the lackluster Little Village, but Hiatt is still not to be counted out. His current albums are rootsy, near folk efforts with pared down lyrics (Crossing Muddy Waters) and show that Hiatt is still a viable artist with plenty to say. One of the fortunate aspects of John Hiatt s career is that most of his CD s remain in print. Kudos to Hip-O for gathering all this material into one packed double set, for anyone who hasn t experienced John Hiatt in any of his previous incarnations, this anthology is the best place to start. Lucky for us, he has managed to build a successful career the old fashioned way, through time and talent.The albums The Tiki Bar Is Open and Beneath This Gruff Exterior were released after this anthology. Both are worth your eartime.
Give us the box set...... - This is a very good and quite thorough overview of John Hiatt s career, and it certainly gets the nod over Greatest Hits: The A&M Years 87- 94 and Capitol s The Best Of John Hiatt, as it is much more comprehensive, featuring some forty songs as opposed to less than twenty on the other two major compilations. And the third John Hiatt best-of, Living A Little, Laughing A Little, which focuses on his lesser-known tracks, only includes tracks recorded before 1986.It is not perfect...very few anthologies are, actually. And Anthology misses out on a handful of Hiatt s best songs: The groovy, soulful R&B of Don t Know Much About Love isn t here, and neither is the excellent roots-rocker You May Already Be A Winner, or the sorrowful ballads Love In Flames or Tip Of My Tongue.But what IS here then? Well, precious few clunkers, that s for sure. John Hiatt is one of the most underrated American composers and lyricists. He draws from both blues, folk, soul, country and R&B, creating a unique, rootsy rock n roll sound, and these two 78-minute discs are filled with songs ranging from good to great: Here you ll find the beautiful duet with Roseanne Cash, The Way We Make A Broken Heart, the poetic and exquisitely melodic Buffalo River Home (one of Hiatt s best ever), the wry Perfectly Good Guitar, the bluesy Thank You Girl and Riding With The King, the superb melodic roots-rocker She Loves The Jerk, the acoustic ballad Lipstick Sunset, the tough, straight-ahead rock songs Child Of The Wild Blue Yonder, Memphis In The Meantime, Cry Love and Slow Turning, and too many more to mention.If you re looking for just one comprehensive overview of John Hiatt s 25-year career, I m afraid you won t find it anywhere (until they give us the box set). But for now, this is the next best thing. And it s pretty darn good, too.