i picked up one of his old LP's "Slug Line"

it sounds like low rent Nick Lowe/Elvis Costello

it has its moments, but not much reason to listen again.
is his other stuff better?

Not sure what to say to that.

I like Hiatt, and I like his writing, but i think of him more as an esoteric professor/medicine man from the University of Roots Rock with distinguished alums such as Petty, Springsteen, etc...

If you don't dig it, don't dig in.

I can appreciate his craft.
And he is definitely talented.
But I just don't feel him.

His guitar player (Sonny Landreth), on the other hand...

doesn't he have like 20+ albums?
i'm sure there is something i like in there.

i'm a fan of songwriters. maybe this album is just a dud.

I think John Hiatt went to my mom's high school. I could be thinking of some other artist from the 70s/80s though.

Is Hiatt really respected or something? I've always sort of lumped him in with the Michael McDonalds and Don Henleys of the world. "That's just the way it is, Somethings will never change" is about all I know of his music.

I wouldn't form an opinion until you hear "Bring the Family".

I also have "Slow Turning" and "Walk On" and think they're both very good.

I've heard some of his songs on the "Americana" channel on Comcast (I'm a fan) that I really like.

That being said, I thought he was creepy when he hosted the second season of that "Sessions at West 57th" show on PBS. More creepy than David Byrne.

His interview with Jeff Tweedy still gives me nightmares.

He does have some good tunes, though.

haha, i'd love to see that.

This is pretty much my take, too....& it applies to a LOT of the stuff you hear on AAA radio. It's just so damn tasteful . Feh.

Then you should probably move on to something he wrote or performed, such as the pretty-damn-good album "The Tiki Bar is Open"

edit - Forgot to mention that that was Bruce Hornby that did the other song.

Oh yeah. I'm an idiot.

Yeh, both Slug Line and Two-Bit Monsters can be described as low-rent Costello/Lowe. Monsters is probably the better of the two, but his high-pitched whine can get tiring real fast.

It wasn't until Riding With The King that Hiatt started singing in a lower register, and the results are a big improvement. This is the album that bridges his early jittery Costello apery with his later transformation into dull roots rock journeyman. RWTK is the only album of his that's stood the test of time for me - and I'd suggest it as a good starter point.

Both Slow Turning and Bring The Family (and even the Little Village disappointment) refined the direction he took on RWTK, which made it simultaneously more popular and less interesting. I saw him live on the tour for Slow Turning and he played the songs in the same order as the album tracklist - and everything, right down to the guitar solos, were note-for-note copies of the studio versions. That pretty much sums up latterday John Hiatt for me: he's learned the craft of songwriting to the point where there's no room for personality or surprise. So he's good at what he does, but what he does ain't that great.

You have to hear "Have a Little Faith in Me" before deciding. I love that song, even love his choked-by-coughing-fit voice in that song, but I don't really know much else. That one song is enough to make me give the guy some respect. Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell did a gorgeous cover of this in the early 90s (which is what turned me on to the original.) Check both out.

Slug Line is early Hiatt- he was still looking for his muse in the mid-to-late 70's. Along with the previously mentioned Bring The Family, Slow Turning, and Tiki Bar, Stolen Moments and Perfectly Good Guitar are also excellent. More recently, Crossing Muddy Waters is a more acoustic turn that works very well. Just my opinion, but I put him in a pretty small group of artists that made the music they wanted to make, regardless of the flavor of the month. And, yeh, to write him off based on a Bruce Hornsby song is.........less than warranted, at best.

Hmm, very interesting. I don't think Hiatt would withstand a conversation on this board.

At one point, he was one of the several "new Dylans." Although I am not that much a fan of his 70's work. His middle-period releases, as several said here, were his strongest IMHO. He had turned himself in to 12-Step programs, and his lyrics were full of recovery in the best sense.... finding the center, rigorous honesty, newly felt emotions, a sense of hope. RWTK was great, but it was in Bring On the Family that he broke through to another level.

He was respected, appreciated, listened to by "alt.music" types in those years. There are still songs from that period that slay me. His rich, crackly baritone and the reverb loveliness of the band, the lugubrious cleverness of lyrics... don't hold for today's ears.

His county music prepared me to like Uncle Tupelo. But today, I don't even like Steve Earle (to whom Hiatt might be compared).

But rest assured, at one time he was very well respected by people who could have been you, had you lived at that time.

Good post, Harry. Fascinating that Warren Zevon retains most of his cachet but Hiatt doesn't.

I can't believe you only have 38 posts pops.....Good shit. Post more.