rev_m_hiattmoments

JOHN HIATT
Stolen Moments

as reviewed by Jack Crompton at Amazon.com, May 1, 2008

Smart, witty and in-your-gut!

John Hiatt is an original. No one sounds like him, and he doesn’t mimic anyone else. His appeal lies in this authentic delivery, and his intelligent, witty songwriting. A songwriter of the highest caliber, John’s songs have been recorded by other popular artists, such as Bonnie Raitt, who have featured several of John’s compositions on her records. And, he’s been prodigious in his creative output for over 25 years.

‘Stolen Moments’, coming out around 1990, is my pick as John’s best, although I consider Set One of a remarkable triplet of albums that came out in the late 80’s - early 90’s beginning with ‘Slow Turning’. ‘Walk On’ which followed this one a little later is equally strong.

This set here is a wonderful collection of divergent songs with different flavors, stories and feel. It starts out with an infectious rocker, ‘Real Fine Love’ that has a great opening build-up to a great guitar-riff based intro. I used to play this tune in a band live and it was always a big hit. He follow that opening upbeat mood with a story of the ‘Seven Little Indians’, most captivating tale told in a real folk tradition, Hiatt style. Back to high energy next with ‘Child of the Wild Blue Yonder’ and the clever title track, ‘Stolen Moments’ which is built on one of the greatest hooks I’ve heard. In tradtitional Hiatt style, the lyrics are great and are laden with his trademark wit: “These days the only bars I see have lettuce and tomatoes.”

On through the rest of the album Hiatt continues to weave a couple of great ballads in with high energy rocking tunes. I also particularly like ‘The Rest of the Dream’, a song about embracing family life, ‘Rock Back Billy’ a great rocking tale of an aging guitarist, and ‘Through Your Hands’ in which an angel decrees ‘In time you will move mountains, and it will come through your hands’. It’s a rather inspirational piece which reminds us the necessity of our own physical engagement with life to manifest our dreams.

Hiatt’s music is unique and this collection is among his best work, which is saying a lot. Highly recommended.

WORDS
REVIEWS

MUSIC