REVIEW: John Hiatt, The Best Of John Hiatt (Capitol)
- Reto Koradi
With a career that has been spanning 25 years, John Hiatt never really got out of the twilight zone between stardom and well-kept secret. His music always had the potential to appeal to a wide audience, and he is arguably one of the most gifted singer/songwriters in business. The latest attempt comes in the form of this compilation covering mostly his work from the 80s and 90s, his earlier output having been collected before on albums including Y'All Caught? and Living A Little, Laughing A Little.
Not surprisingly, The Best Of has a heavy focus on Hiatt's most successful phase during the second half of the 80s and his career with Capitol. His masterpiece album Bring The Family from '87 is represented by 3 songs: the groovy "Memphis In The Meantime", probably his strongest upbeat song, the essential ballad "Have A Little Faith In Me", and "Thing Called Love". Slow Turning from '88 makes 4 appearances with the title track, "Drive South", "Tennessee Plates" and "Feels Like Rain". A number of other albums are represented with mostly one song only, starting with "Take Off Your Uniform" from the '79 release Slug Line up to "Cry Love" from the '95 album Walk On.
The previously available material is completed with two new songs, the ballad "Love In Flames" and the catchy midtempo number "Don't Know Much About Love". Both of these neither stand out or fall off compared to the older songs. The only real disappointment is that some songs are presented in re-recorded versions; "Have A Little Faith In Me" was pretty much slaughtered in this process, adding drum machines and unnecessary background vocals.
Alternative track selections would certainly have been possible in some cases, but the choice of 17 songs from such a wealth of material must always leave some gaps. If you missed out on John Hiatt so far, this CD is a good opportunity to change that. People with a dislike for compilations and a preference for original version of all songs may instead consider picking up Bring The Family and Slow Turning from the mid-price section of their favorite record store.
