I know that I have seen his name mentioned here as a good singer/songwriter. While searching on NPR for a band's name who they interviewed yesterday (if anyone was listening help me out-it was a band that had critical acclaim but not much commerical success and they talked about the cons of accepting money from a record label) I ran across a link to an interview of his. It has four songs that you can listen to and says they he has 21 albums out now. Where should I start? I really like the four songs that I have heard. Thanks. link for the page: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4723790
1. Stolen Moments 2. Bring The Family 3. Ya'll Caught (best of package from the presober years...) 4. Slow Turning 5. Little Village (semi supergroup including Hiatt) 6. Perfectly Good Guitar #s 1 and 2 would rate as "essential," 3 & 4 "desirable" 5. is in there for "Do You Want My Job" and "Dont Think About Her When You're Trying to Drive" and 6. for "Buffalo River Home"
If you like acoustic, folky type music, get Crossing Muddy Waters. The whole album is just Hiatt and a guitar. Hiatt Comes Alive at Bukokan is worth getting, too. I'd also highly recommend 1, 2, and 4 from the previous list.
Pick up "The Best of John Hiatt...The A&M Years" and you're covered. I just saw him last week with The North Missisippi AllStars and he rocked it out. His new album sounds pretty good, I'll pick it up this weekend and report back.
Well-- its a superb collection and no arguing; but I can put together another as good or almost of songs from those albums which are not on it, so I'd argue that "you're covered" not so good. You'd miss "Stolen Moments," "Icy Blue Heart," "Have a Little Faith In Me," "Your Dad Did," "The Rest of the Dream," "Listening to Old Voices,""Sometime Other than Now," just a whole bunch of good stuff. I generally hate collections though-- seems like you always wind up having to buy the whole albums later... I do endorse the "Y'All Caught" one because it seems to me to have done an exceptional job of pulling the intelligible stuff out of a very murky early career...
I agree, I've seen him twice in the last year and a half and when I saw him at this small club in Alexandria, VA he was selling a dual CD compilation set with over 60 songs on it. You can't buy it in the stores (although I haven't checked out his website) and it was about $30 but worth every penny. I've said it before on this forum, John Hiatt has got to be one of the greatest songwriters in American history.
Don't suppose you could post the stack on it? I know, sixty songs is a lot, but you could shorthand'em... I don't think Hiatt's a threat to Hank Williams or anything, but he's got to be in the top twenty...
Good to see Hiatt get props,,,,I have a couple of his CD's, perfectly good guitar i think should be further up on the list. the title song is great and mocks the so called Rockers,,,buffalo river home, blue telescope great songs the Budokon CD is very good too
Hiatt is talent, for sure. I like the whole catalogue, especially some of the rougher older stuff, before he smoothed out his voice, and was more akin to Springsteen and Mellencamp, though certainly a better writer than Mellencamp and a more interesting lyricist, IMO, than The Boss.
Sorry, it was 40 not 60. The John Hiatt Anthology Here goes..... DISC 1 Sure As I'm Sittin Here Hangin' Around The Observatory Down Home Washable Ink Slug Line Radio Girl Pink Bedroom It Hasn't Happened Yet Spy Boy Doll Hospital My Edge of The Razor Riding With The King She Loves The Jerk I Didn't Even Try The Love That Harms The Way we Make a Broken Heart When We Ran The Usual She Said The Same Things To Me Lipstick Sunset Thank You Girl Have A little Faith in Me DISC 2 Memphis In The Meantime Thing Called Love Tennessee Plates Slow Turning Drive South Feels Like Rain Paper Thin A Child of The Wild Blue Yonder Real Fine Love Perfectly Good Guitar Buffalo River Home Angel Eyes Cry Love Shredding The Document Don't Think About Her (While Trying To Drive) Pirate Radio Crossing Muddy Waters Take It Down
That's awfully good but still has major omissions-- "Stolen Moments," "Old Voices,""Icy Blue Heart," "Your Dad Did" and "Do You Want My Job" off the top of my head. He's really too big to anthologise... needs a collection of "the best of the worst" plus the best albums...
So true. FYI, for anyone in the Bay Area, Hiatt is playing free THIS THURSDAY, 7/14/05, at Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose at 5:30 PM. See ya there.
I concur. Just saw him with the North Mississippi All-Stars last night, and it was the best I've seen Hiatt. NMAS was a great backup band, and they turned several Hiatt classics into long improv, jam-band style tunes (Cry Love, most notably). We were surprised that they only played about half the new CD, given the backup band. Tons of regular Hiatt classics instead, including killer versions of Perfectly Good Guitar and Memphis in the Meantine, and an encore of Thing Called Love. If you get a chance to see them on this tour, go!
North Mississippi All Stars are one of the best bands out there today. They put on a phenomenal show. Buy their live album Hill Country Revue: Live at Bonnaroo.. Fantastic stuff. I've seen them play 4.5 hour shows. They play their asses off. Also, they're in a band with Jon Medeski & Robert Randolph called THE WORD, and they do funked up, rocked out instrumental versions of hymns and spirituals. Sounds bizarrre, but it's amazing. I just can't say enough good about NMAS. I might have to drive to Tampa next week to take that show in.
Bumped to say that the new album "Master of Disaster" got a rave review from a fairly reliable reviewer in this mornings Santa Fe paper...
What, nobody else likes "Crossing Muddy Waters"? It's a little anomalous, given the rest of his work, but it's very very good (except maybe Mr Stanley).