Bootleg Review: John Hiatt's Hiattology (1999)

John Hiatt
Hiattology
(Tendolar #TDR-116, 71:42)

SOURCE: Tracks 1 – 10, unnamed venue, Ottawa Canada, January 4, 1989; tracks 11 – 14, unnamed venue, Hamburg Germany Listed as December 1989 but probably from

SOUND QUALITY: Tracks 1 – 10, very good soundboard (8-9) offering crisp vocals and instrumentation with volume dropping a bit across tracks nine and ten. Tracks 11 – 12 are very good audience (7-8) with a slight bit of hollowness, overly bright vocals and editing dropouts between songs.

COVER: Front offers single-sided color portrait of Hiatt copped from an old album cover while the back offers another nicked photo and track information. Silver disc just shows the Tendolar name and the Hiattology title. Amusingly enough, the title is spelled correctly on the disc but misspelled on the front cover.

TRACKLIST: Memphis In The Meantime/ Drive South/ Thank You Girl/ Tip Of My Tongue/ Tennessee Plates/ Alone In The Dark/ Ride Along/ Is Anybody There?/ Paper Thin/ Thing Called Love/ I Don’t Even Try/ Love That Harms/ Love Like Blood/ Falling Up

COMMENTS: John Hiatt definitely falls into the category of “one of the best artists that you’ve never heard.” The consummate songwriter and a perennial critic’s favorite, Hiatt’s checkered career has seen him jump from label to label in search of some degree of security and commercial success. Along the way, he’s made over a dozen albums for almost half a dozen labels, created some great music, some music that was good but not great, and excelled musically in genres ranging from folk-oriented singer/songwriter material to angry “new wave” rave-ups to soulful, blues-infused rock.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with Hiatt as an artist, chances are that you’ve heard some of his work nonetheless – performers as stylistically diverse as Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, the Neville Brothers, Iggy Pop, and a slew of country types have recorded Hiatt songs, some with great chart success. Nevertheless, Hiatt remains somewhat of an obscurity, a talented and charismatic artist whose best efforts tend to bubble just under the mainstream. As such, Hiattology is a one of a rare breed – a John Hiatt bootleg – of which only a handful are known to exist. The disc features a performance from what is generally considered to be the commercial and critical peak of Hiatt’s career, the three-year period circa 1987-1989 that surrounds the release of his Bring the Family and Slow Turning albums.  

A fine soundboard recording from a January 1989 performance in Ottawa, Canada, the entire set showcased by Hiattology is drawn from the two aforementioned albums. Hiatt’s faithful legions of fans know this material like the back of their hands and it does, indeed, represent some of his best songs. Hiatt toured with a pick-up band dubbed the Goners during this period, this performance featuring the wonderful slide guitar of Sonny Landreth. All the material here is solid, but some songs stand out: “Memphis In the Meantime” is given a soulful, extended rendition while “Tennessee Plates” offers some particularly tasty riffage courtesy of Mr. Landreth. “Drive South” is pretty lively and “Thing Called Love,” a breakthrough hit for Bonnie Raitt, is performed here with heart, though less sass than Raitt’s version. Whoever edited this disc left in Hiatt’s between-song comments and intro, which definitely adds to the listening experience.

The final four songs on Hiattology are listed as from a December 1989 performance in Germany and feature guest stars Nick Lowe and Paul Carrack. Provided Hiatt’s onstage comments and given that the material is taken entirely from an earlier Hiatt album, Riding With the King, that was made with Lowe and Carrack, these songs are probably taken instead from a 1984 or ’85 performance. The four songs are good, but the true appeal of Hiattology lies in the Ottawa material. For those unfamiliar with Hiatt, this collection is a good way to discover the talents of this underappreciated performer and songwriter.

Review originally published by Live! Music Review zine, 1999

 

Vintage Review: John Hiatt's Beneath This Gruff Exterior (2003)

As a recording artist, John Hiatt has never achieved much more than cult status. He has never sold a lot of records; certainly not as many as other artists have recording Hiatt’s songs. Over the course of almost thirty years, however, Hiatt has forged a career of quiet excellence, creating nearly twenty consistently solid albums and writing hundreds of remarkable songs that lesser talents will be recording for decades to come. Entering his fourth decade of writing and performing, Hiatt epitomizes the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll, and if he never makes the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, it will be that institution’s loss.

Hiatt’s Beneath This Gruff Exterior is another fine effort on the part of the underrated songwriter and his top-notch band the Goners. For those unfamiliar with Hiatt’s creative “modus operandi,” he pens literate songs that are peopled with brilliant characters – losers and lovers, the lost and the redeemed. Hiatt’s rough, soulful vocals are kind of like a frayed blanket, scratchy and worn but warm and familiar. The music is a mix of roots rock, Memphis soul, Delta blues, country, and folk, which is why Hiatt’s material lends itself so well to various interpretations.

Beneath This Gruff Exterior showcases both Hiatt’s songwriting skills and the road-worn chemistry of the Goners. Hiatt is not a bad guitarist, but he smartly steps aside and lets maestro Sonny Landreth fill his songs with whiplash slide work and a hint of bayou swamp-rock instrumental gumbo. The seasoned rhythm section of bassist Dave Ranson and drummer Kenneth Bevins keep an admirable beat beneath the festivities so that the magician Hiatt can weave his lyrical tales. The radio-ready "The Nagging Dark” rolls along like the runaway hearts of the song’s characters while “Circle Back” remembers the fleeting nature of friendships and family and the passage of time.

“Almost Fed Up With The Blues,” fueled by Landreth’s red-hot picking, is a brilliant anti-blues blues song, the protagonist sick and tired of being sick and tired. Hiatt’s imagery on “The Most Unoriginal Sin” is nearly the equal of vintage Dylan, Landreth’s shimmering fretwork creating an eerie atmosphere behind Hiatt’s somber vocals, the song’s star-crossed lover doomed before the first chorus strikes. Beneath This Gruff Exterior may not be the hall-of-fame caliber talent’s best album, but it doesn’t fall far from the top. (New West Records, released May 6th, 2003)

Review originally published by the View From The Hill community newspaper, Signal Hill CA

Vintage Review: John Hiatt's Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan? (1995)

John Hiatt has created a lengthy and prosperous career out of outliving other people's expectations. Originally labeled as a young punk in the vein of Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson, way back in the mid-‘70s, Hiatt outlived that albatross only to be pigeonholed as a singer/songwriter. Several country hits penned for other artists threatened to stereotype this talented artist as a Music Row songmeister; a trio of brilliant albums in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s served to revitalize Hiatt's career and send him along the road to stardom. Unsatisfied, Hiatt threw critics another curve, recording an uncompromising rock ‘n’ roll record  – Perfectly Good Guitar – with a bunch of young alternative types. When will they get it into their heads that Hiatt is one of those rare originals that can't be categorized. Hiatt loves the music, genres be damned.

Having more fun that he probably ever has, Hiatt now kicks out this set of fifteen cuts, Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan?, softly spoofing a trend towards live albums with the Budokan label on them that were hot shit when he first hit the scene. Recorded at a series of dates last spring (none of them in Japan), this collection is a fine representation of Hiatt's dynamic live performances. Culled from shows performed at venues as diverse and different as clubs, theaters, racetracks and auditoriums, Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan? showcases Hiatt's extraordinary songwriting skills on tracks like “Icy Blue Heart,” “Angel Eyes,” “Have A Little Faith In Me,” “Tennessee Plates,” and my personal fave, the rocking “Perfectly Good Guitar.”

Hiatt is a soulful vocalist, pouring his heart into each cut, wrapping each song with great emotion and electricity. Regardless of the size of the forum, Hiatt's delivery is warm and personal; the backing band, The Guilty Dogs, a solid set of professionals following Hiatt's lead. Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan? is not a "big sound" live disc like so many bands offer, instead it is a more subtle experience, one that plays to your heart and your mind rather than bludgeoning one into unconsciousness. In the marketplace of trends, this set may be overlooked; Hiatt transcends time, however, and cannot be refused his due. (A&M Records, released November 22nd, 1994)

Review originally published by R.A.D! Review and Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll zine, 1995