Rollin' into Memphis: Songs of John Hiatt

Artist: John Hiatt
Label: Telarc
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 089408350528
EAN: 0089408350528
ASIN: B00004WFM4

Release Date: 2000-08-22

Rollin' into Memphis: Songs of John Hiatt

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Contemporary Blues

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Tracks:

Falling Up - C.J. Chenier
It Hasn't Happened Yet - Terrance Simien
Old Habits Are Hard To Break - Irma Thomas
Listening To Old Voices - Odetta
Love Like Blood - Kenny Neal
Wrote It Down - James Cotton
The River Knows Your Name - Colin Linden
Feels Like Rain - Raful Neal
Thirty Years Of Tears - Andrea Re
Real Fine Love - Chris Smither
Back Of My Mind - Cliff Eberhardt
Have A Little Faith In Me - Patty Larkin

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It'll Come To You: The Songs of John Hiatt
Love Gets Strange: The Songs of John Hiatt
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Customer Reviews:

50/50.......2007-05-21

My first introduction to John Hiatt's songwriting was the best one: 1987's "Bring the Family." Working WITH Ry Cooder's non-pareil band, and working THROUGH some tough personal issues, Hiatt turned up a masterpiece - evidence of some sort of grace suffusing his art.

BTF led me to other Hiatt recordings ------ and the reluctant realization that this was likely to remain his best for a long time. The other albums didn't fully crystallize musically, although they never failed to have a number of outstanding songs on them, and rarely any "bad ones." I pulled back from buying Hiatt albums for awhile, but after occasionally returning to the ones I owned and giving them a deeper listen, I made peace with the understanding that the nature of his work seemed to entail a mixed output. Hiatt is a truly singular musician and songwriter, and expecting talents of this sort to make every composition a gem is unrealistic. His subject matter takes risks, exploring lyrical areas that are virgin territory, e.g. "Warming Up to the Ice Age." And this means he is more like a home-run hitter: for every ball blasted into the bleachers, there are more line drives just inches inside the foul ball pole, long flies caught on the warning track, and towering infield pop-ups. In other words, they may not be hits (pun intended), but they do induce our admiration, pointing to those other works that "clear the fences." Anyway, I know look for and pick up Hiatt's work whenever I can.

His unusual song-writing range, however, does leave some interesting material available to other artists to interpret, borrowing from him to give the song another rendition from a different perspective. This may be at least half the value of Hiatt's output, placing intriguing material in the hands of other singers.

Tribute albums - and Hiatt has no less than 3 - have become a good means to test a song's viability beyond its composer. ROLLIN' INTO MEMPHIS has some solid, emotionally-compelling moments that flicker into life by track 4, Odetta's plaintive-owl stylization of "Listening to Old Voices." This is followed by Kenny Neal's powerful version of "Love Like Blood," a more nuanced vocalization than Hiatt gave. "The River Knows Your Name," by Colin Linden reaches anthem status with its hand-in-glove vocal and guitar delivery. "Feels Like Rain" is energized by a fine New Orleans-style arrangements, though the vocals of Benoit and Neal fall a tad short. Not so with Andrea Re's firm and sensitive delivery on "Thirty Years of Tears" - a sold work.

Chris Smither's "Real Fine Love" has a pleasantly relaxed conviction informing the song's sentiments.

Less successful - but earning a gentleman's grade - are the efforts of Irma Thomas's "Old Habits Are Hard to Break." Terrence Simien's "It Hasn't happened Yet" doesn't quite, well, happen. And it was a mistake to lead the recording with CJ Chenier's "Falling Up," a zydeco missfire interpretation. Both Cliff Eberhardt and Patty Larkin (whose own work I much admire) stray off the mark by being either too plaintive or too restrained.

Fitting Tribute.......2005-11-24

Seems some people don't get the idea behind tributes. It's not about trying to outdo the original but to give an interpretation in your own style. For this reason it is a great album, not as strong as the first tribute "Love Gets Strange" (a must have) but an enjoyable collection of songs none the less and on a par with the later "It'll Come To You". In my opinion all are worth having.

Hiatt in name only.......2001-05-03

I'm sorry, but this is not Hiatt. If you are interested in John Hiatt, buy the real thing and skip this one. There is nothing special on this disc. It seems to me that there are some artits without a large audience that want to capitalize on some well written material, but only deliver obscure interpretations. I regret buying this CD.

allstar tribute.......2000-09-10

allstar tribute to the great american songwriter john haitt himself. collection of very talented artist from kenny neals version of "love like blood" to my favorite cut by irma thomas "old habits are hard to break". cd also includes guest' tab benoit and chris smithers

Music Album:

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