SACD is incredible! - Most reviews here have focused on the CD version but where this recording shines is on a SACD player. Jim Dickenson (JH s co-producer) mentioned in an interview that they recorded MofD using the new Sonoma DSD recorder and said if it catches on it will revolutionize the recording industry. He went on to say that the Sonoma system is like being in the room with 1st generation audio. That being said, the sonic quality of this recording is awesome...I listened to the SACD then listened to Bring the Family SACD (an excellent recording in its own right) and the difference was amazing. The new SACD had subtle sounds that are simply not on the BtF disk. An example - On the track Back On The Corner after the 1st verse, a dobro cuts in (it sounds like a door creaking open) and you can only hear it in the left front channel. On the CD, the sound is no where to be found but in 5.1 it s clear as a bell. If ou close your eyes and listen to this SACD you ll think they are playing in your living room...A quantum leap forward in recording quality.
Just a wonderful bit of American music - Hiatt has a delightful capacity for capturing the beauty of Americana, MASTER OF DISASTER provides a sampler of a variety of music that s truly American. Beautiful folk, like the wistful Howlin Down The Cumberland is balanced with rockers like the title cut and the anguished Love s Not Where We Thought We Left It, as good an example of the stripped down sound of rock in its purest form as you ll find. By the time you get to pure country cuts like Ain t Ever Goin and Old School that wouldn t be out of place at the Grand Ole Opry find there place next to a hard edged story like Cold River with it tales of a hard life on the road, you ll realize this is special record. Closing with Back on the Corner and its up beat rhythm that belies its lyrics, it s a song that you ll just want to play again and again. A fine work by one of music s under appreciated artists, it just doesn t get much better than this.
Master of the music. - Great CD for a change from the usual mass market stuff. Always good when a songwriter sings their own songs. Very fun!
Undiscovered Master - A close friend recommended this CD to me as his new all-time favorite. My wife bought it for me for Easter. In the intervening 10 days I ve listened to it many times and wondered, how did I miss the last 30 years of this guy s career, as Hiatt s mix of folk, rock and blues almost exactly matches my primary groove in the world of recorded music.The CD starts with the title track, Master of Disaster, the story of a failed musician and lover (tangled in his Telecaster), which Hiatt is anything but (I don t know about the lover part). The other songs explore home, love, seasons, and other timeless subjects in a personal way. I ll leave you to enjoy them from your own perspective.On Master of Disaster, John Hiatt is edgier than John Prine s Fair and Square, the CD that it s paired with in Amazon s 2-for-1 price promotion, and more melodic than Tom Waits, another artist who explores some of the same territory. I ve enjoyed Ry Cooder s CD, Jazz, for almost 20 years. His sound and sense of humor on that record come closest to what Hiatt provides on Master. I own almost all of John Prine s CD s and will work on expanding my collection of another John, John Hiatt.
Master of Disaster - John Hiatt belongs in the class of artists that transcends genre-Nancy Griffith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ryan Adams, Suzy Bogguss, etc. These artists know how to write a song, and how to sing it as well. They have heart, soul, and brains. This is a fabulous album-none of the tracks require the skip button. If you listen closely to Cold River, you may agree that there is not a more tragic and sad song out there. In fact, when I first realized what the subject matter was about-a vagabond couple that abandons a baby by the river-frankly I felt quite angry and was deeply saddened. Now, I realize that this song is a masterpiece and it concerns the human condition at its very core.