John Hiatt - Same Old Man

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 24 / 5 / 2008

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Review

So what number is this ? It must be well over 20 albums that John Hiatt has made in a career that has seen his songs covered by the likes of Roseanne Cash (who took his ‘The Way We Make A Broken Heart’ and made it a highlight of her ‘Kings Record Shop’ album), as well as Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Eric Clapton. That would be enough for many songwriters but Hiatt has also had varying degrees of success with his own albums as well as established artists covering his songs. Every now and again Hiatt makes an album that revitalises his career and although for the most part his albums are critically acclaimed they don’t always sell as well as they should. Hiatt is one of those musician’s musicians. Respected and covered by other artists and gaining rave reviews but not always appreciated by the record buying public. I’m as guilty as the next guy. I don’t own any where near half of Hiatt’s recorded works but occasionally I’ll have to buy his then latest work. After his minor breakthrough in 1987 with ‘Bring The Family’, even though his previous couple of albums had been just as good, he gained a wider audience. Since then his albums have met with varying degrees of success with ‘Crossing Muddy Waters’ ‘The Tiki Bar Is Open’ and his last album ‘Master Of Disaster’ being particular favourites. This latest set, once again on New West Records, didn’t start too well. Opening cut ‘Old Days’ was just that, a return to the Hiatt of old, a Hiatt-by-numbers melody, and run of the mill lyrics with recollections of past times, even recalling fellow performers. But when the second song, ‘Love You Again’ started it all came flooding back as to why John Hiatt is held in such high regard by his fellow musicians. With some soulful female backing vocals this is classic Hiatt pouring his heart out over being given a second chance by a former lover over one of those catchy melodies that he is so adept at writing. He then puts his blues hat on for the following ‘On With You’ and it’s at this point that we wonder if Hiatt hasn’t just released his strongest album for many a year. By the time we reach the fourth song, ‘Hurt My Baby’, it’s obvious that this is, without a doubt, the best album Hiatt has produced in recent times. For all his rootsy, blues leanings there has always been a soul side to Hiatt and ‘Hurt My Baby’ is a contender for one of the most soulful songs he has committed to tape. Hiatt’s vocals are superb, and this song is just crying out to be covered by any number of soul singers but they are going to have to go some to beat the writer’s vocals. In fact Hiatt, although never just a passable singer, seems to be turning out some of his best vocal performances throughout his entire career on this album. With the jaunty ‘What Love Can Do’ Hiatt again turns in an excellent vocal performance. A grittier Hiatt is featured on ‘Ride My Pony’ which should be Willie Nelson’s next Hiatt cover and the following ‘Cherry Red’ once again proves he has lost none of his talent for writing memorable melodies. There must be times as with all artists, especially when they have released as many albums as John Hiatt has, that looking back they feel that certain albums are not as good as others, but in years to come I am sure that Hiatt will feel that ‘Same Old Man’ was a career highlight. After a shaky start he doesn’t put a foot or note wrong. The touching title song to a long-standing partner is classic Hiatt, looking over his shoulder at his past once again but this time it works so much better than the opening song. Classic lines like “a few less brain cells, a lot less hair, honey tell me do you still care ?" will hit home with much of his audience. The 56 year-old Hiatt has just turned in what could arguably be the strongest set of songs he has recorded in his long career, it seems Hiatt’s well of superbly crafted songs will not run dry for many years to come.

Track Listing:-

1 Old Days
2 Love You Again
3 On with You
4 Hurt My Baby
5 What Love Can Do
6 Ride My Pony
7 Cherry Red
8 Our Time
9 Two Hearts
10 Same Old Man
11 Let's Give This Love a Try

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/JohnHiatt/
http://www.johnhiatt.com/
https://twitter.com/johnhiattmusic
https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnHiatt

Label Links:-

http://newwestrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/newwestrecord
https://plus.google.com/+NewWestRecord
https://twitter.com/newwestrecords
http://newwestrecords.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/NewWestRe