John Hiatt

HolyCoatAndHat · Post by **HolyCoatAndHat** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:28 pm

I recently started replacing my John Hiatt LPs with CDs, and discovered that he has a lot of material out there that I am not familiar with. I don’t think that I have heard any of his stuff before Riding with the King, Warming up to the Ice Age, or Crossing Muddy Watters. I don’t own The Tiki Bar is Open, but it is on the top of my list of CDs to buy right now.

I am trying to decide whether I want to buy all 5 of his earlier albums that I am not familiar with, or if I should buy Living a Little, Laughing a Little, which has a bunch of the songs that are on those albums, with the bonus of having the EC duet on the title cut, which is also on Ice Age. Will some of you John Hiatt fans out there help steer me in the right direction on my future John Hiatt purchases?

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:54 pm

You need to have 'Bring The Family', whatever else you buy or don't. Many consider it his big breakthrough, and the band are Nick Lowe, Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner.

I also really like 'Slow Turning'. There isn't a bad song on either album (though there are some lyrics that grate on me momentarily on Georgia Rae on 'Slow Turning').

Edited to add: 'Perfectly Good Guitar' hasn't held up for me as well as the others, but worth having for Buffalo River Home and Blue Telescope.

HolyCoatAndHat · Post by **HolyCoatAndHat** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 2:08 pm

I have Slow Turning on LP & CD. I love Sonny Landreth's guitar on that CD. Bring the family I have on LP, but not on CD yet.

Goody, didn't I read that you just got Crossing Muddy Watters? How do you like that one?

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 2:43 pm

Oh, dear, I see that my sleep-deprived self didn't read carefully enough to realize that you were asking about pre-Riding With The King. Sorry.

I'm not very familiar with those before RWTK, and nothing before Two Bit Monster--I think there were one or two before that one? I think that Living a Little, Laughing a Little might be a good bet, as you suggest, as a lot of his stuff prior to RWTK is inconsistent at best, and some just not very good at all, unless you are interested in studying his development into a top-notch songwriter.

Yep, I recently acquired Crossing Muddy Waters. I like it lots, especially God's Golden Eyes and the title track, but truthfully, I haven't listened to it enough to really 'know' it yet, if you know what I mean. I like the 'stripped down' sound.

I think that El Vez has also mentioned that he is a CMW fan.

migdd · Post by **migdd** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 1:15 pm

JH is fantastic! Here are my top 5 recommendations:

Bring the Family
Beneath This Gruff Exterior
Slow Turning
Crossing Muddy Waters
Tiki Bar is Open

Please notice that all albums with the Goners get a mention. Crossing Muddy Waters is a great group of some of his best songs but you have to be in the mood to listen to an entire album of the stripped-down delta blues sound. Bring the Family requires no explanation - it is the best! IMHO, BTGE is his strongest album with the Goners - this is a true band effort and their playing is top-notch on this one.

Hiatt's next album will be a solo effort that is already at least partially recorded and is due out in the Fall. He's currently touring solo and playing a lot of new material. We've got tickets to see him on 5/1 in Greenville, SC and on 5/6 in Charlotte, NC. I'm even taking my 6 and 7 year-olds to the Charlotte show. They are both EC and JH fans!

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 5:09 pm

Goody2Shoes wrote: and the band are Nick Lowe, Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner.

Well we've beenj through this topic before I think, but I may as well repeat my plug for the self-titled record LITTLE VILLAGE, which consists of JH plus the above three (I think? or is Keltner replaced by someone else?).

Available in a bargain bin near you.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 5:13 pm

Track down one of the Little Village bootlegs, live they were much better than on record.

migdd · Post by **migdd** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 7:10 pm

Little Village made history by recording Bring the Family but their eponymous album was less than the sum of its' parts. I'd like to hear some of the live material, though. For me, the Goners will always be the ultimate Hiatt backing band.

clairequilty · Post by **clairequilty** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 8:47 pm

Hiatt is a pretty interesting character. His alt/new wave records like Riding With the King are, to coin a phrase, Brilliant Mistakes.

Like a supergroup with Elvis, Joe Jackson, and Graham Parker, the slick blender sound of that record represents a whole that is significantly less than the sum of it's parts.

But I love it anyway.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 9:10 pm

Call me weird, but I actually started to lose interest in Hiatt with "Bring the Family"...

I'll admit that the albums from his L.A. days may seem, well, like he was L.A. answer to Elvis C. and Graham P., but how can they be a bad thing.

My favorite is (was...don't know if it's even out on DVD and it was lost in my great LP debacle of 1985) are...shoot, I can't remember the name, but it had a green cover and some great tunes like "Getting Excited" (which is a song to lyrics to which probably every guy here could relate to) and some silly stuff like "Doll Hospital". Produced by Tony Visconti.

JH used to put on some pretty great shows in L.A. nightspots...I'll never forget the night I randomly stopped in and saw him play at Madame Wong's West on Wilshire. He also used to play UCLA a lot and had a reputation for being a real gentlemen. (Impressive, as he says he was alcoholic at the time.)

clairequilty · Post by **clairequilty** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 10:14 pm

bobster wrote:Call me weird, but I actually started to lose interest in Hiatt with "Bring the Family"...

I'll admit that the albums from his L.A. days may seem, well, like he was L.A. answer to Elvis C. and Graham P., but how can they be a bad thing.

My favorite is (was...don't know if it's even out on DVD and it was lost in my great LP debacle of 1985) are...shoot, I can't remember the name, but it had a green cover and some great tunes like "Getting Excited" (which is a song to lyrics to which probably every guy here could relate to) and some silly stuff like "Doll Hospital". Produced by Tony Visconti.

JH used to put on some pretty great shows in L.A. nightspots...I'll never forget the night I randomly stopped in and saw him play at Madame Wong's West on Wilshire. He also used to play UCLA a lot and had a reputation for being a real gentlemen. (Impressive, as he says he was alcoholic at the time.)

I'm not dissing those albums bobster, by any means. As Elvis so elegantly put it about his own early work; Hiatt was a young artist "trying to find his voice". It's just interesting that this new wave voice was coming from an "Indiana boy".

HolyCoatAndHat · Post by **HolyCoatAndHat** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:12 am

What got me curious about Hiatt's earlier music was the fact that I didn't even know about his first 5 albums and the fact that he wrote the Three Dog Night classic Sure as I'm Sittin' Here. Quite often, a musicians early work is there best.

I think I will Start off with Living a Little, Laughing a Little and see if I want to fill in all of the older stuff from there.

I just found out today that John is playing in Madison, WI on July 8th. So I am planning on getting tickets for the show. Should be a fun week. John Hiatt on the 8th and Jimmy Buffett on the 10th at Alpine Valley!

HolyCoatAndHat · Post by **HolyCoatAndHat** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:17 am

...as far as the supergroups go, the only one that really worked for me was the Travelin' Willburys.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:02 am

My favorite is (was...don't know if it's even out on DVD and it was lost in my great LP debacle of 1985) are...shoot, I can't remember the name, but it had a green cover and some great tunes like "Getting Excited" (which is a song to lyrics to which probably every guy here could relate to) and some silly stuff like "Doll Hospital". Produced by Tony Visconti.

I got a copy of the first cd version of this album, All of a Sudden, and was appalled by the sound. Now the good guys at Lemon have remastered it, I hope to re-asess it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... ce&s=music

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 5:17 am

An interesting 1982 show from John is available here
http://bt.easytree.org/torrents-details.php?id=2938

Pretty decent audience recording, grab it while you can.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 3:14 pm

An even older boot is available here
http://www.easytree.org/torrents-details.php?id=19581

John Hiatt
Crazy Al's Pizzeria
Broadripple, IN

December 1976
"Perfectly Good Pizza"

1. Train To Birmingham
2. Crazy Girl Is Hard To Find
3. It's Alright With Me
4. Conquer Me, Conquer You
5. Let's Sing Another One
6. Sure As I'm Sitting Here
7. Arm And A Leg For A Little Romance
8. One For Me
9. Leave Your Shoes With The Shoeshine Boy
10. Full Moon
11. Get It While You Can
12. I Killed An Ant With My Guitar
I3. If This World Didn't Spin
14. Overcoats