Customer Reviews

Anthology

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm getting a bit annoyed after reading some rather negative or complaining reviews about this wonderful 2cd set. This is as good a John Hiatt compilation ANYONE is ever going to put together, period.

Really good value for your money with 40 crisp remastered tracks and interesting booklet, I can't see how this could be bettered, in terms of song selecion also. I also bought the compilation cd "The best of John Hiatt" and that was a rather dissapointing affair, because John re-recorded some versions of superior original songs like the classic "Have a little faith in me",
also other compilations are too limited in scope (A&M years only etc.). So I'm glad I came across this great compilation. CD2 plays just perfectly, great great music. CD1 is a little more uneven but there are still plenty of highlights like Riding with the King and Lipstick Sunset.

People complaining that there not getting a box set with rarities, outtakes, live versions, demos, etc. ARE TOTALLY MISSING THE POINT OF THIS COMPILATION I'M AFRAID. That is not the meaning of this collection. The goal here is to present a complete overview of Hiatt's carreer, the best songs in their
original versions. Comparable to Chuck Berry's "The Anthology",
Paul McCartney's "Wingspan", Pink Floyd's "Echoes" and BB Kings "Anthology". And as such it is perfect. Box sets: great but not for the casual listener. If you are already a big fan and have all of the original Hiatt albums you can pass this one
up but for the curious music fan this is the one and only compilation of Hiatt's best work up from 1974 until 2000.

I wonder sometimes: artists like Hiatt, Willy Deville, Nick cave, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa etc. who are uniformly respected by the music press and a selected audience (and whom I love) are often criticized when a compilation of their best work is released to the general public. It seems than as if something exclusive has been taken away from the fans of artists like these, because you see them bashing good compilations like this one into the ground, claiming you HAVE to get the original albums. I totally disagree with that, just accept that there are a lot of music lovers who are interested in these artists (like me) but don't want to shelve out for 10+ albums or a 4cd box set to get a decent overview of an artists carreer. No compilation ever will be perfect, but this along with "Strictly Commercial"
(Frank Zappa), "Used Songs" (early Tom waits) and more prove that it is possible to present decent overviews of so-called album artists. Ride on John.

Hip-O finally learned their lesson. After putting out a couple of collections without any of the input of the artist involved, they contacted John Hiatt and asked him what he thought. Overall, he was quite pleased. I have to say so am I. This isn't the definitive collection (we're still waiting for that) with the rarities, one off tracks and outtakes fans are waiting for. It is, however, quite an improvement on the previous two Greatest Hits collections.

The sound quality is very good as are the graphics and booklet. The selections dig deeper than the usual list of singles and songs that received heavy radio play. For the new fan who wants a summary of Hiatt's career this is it. Does it skimp on the extras? Yes but I'm happy that somebody thought enough of Hiatt to finally put many of his best songs in a box set (albeit too short)format.

It would be a wonderful world indeed if Hiatt (and other underappreciated performers) would get the 4 disc set his music really deserves. In an imperfect world this collection manages to redress some of that oversight.

This is a very good and quite thorough overview of John Hiatt's career, and it certainly gets the nod over "Greatest Hits: The A&M Years '87-'94" and Capitol's "The Best Of John Hiatt", as it is much more comprehensive, featuring some forty songs as opposed to less than twenty on the other two major compilations.
And the third John Hiatt best-of, "Living A Little, Laughing A Little", which focuses on his lesser-known tracks, only includes tracks recorded before 1986.

It is not perfect...very few anthologies are, actually. And "Anthology" misses out on a handful of Hiatt's best songs: The groovy, soulful R&B of "Don't Know Much About Love" isn't here, and neither is the excellent roots-rocker "You May Already Be A Winner", or the sorrowful ballads "Love In Flames" or "Tip Of My Tongue".

But what IS here then? Well, precious few clunkers, that's for sure. John Hiatt is one of the most underrated American composers and lyricists. He draws from both blues, folk, soul, country and R&B, creating a unique, rootsy rock n' roll sound, and these two 78-minute discs are filled with songs ranging from good to great:

Here you'll find the beautiful duet with Roseanne Cash, "The Way We Make A Broken Heart", the poetic and exquisitely melodic "Buffalo River Home" (one of Hiatt's best ever), the wry "Perfectly Good Guitar", the bluesy "Thank You Girl" and "Riding With The King", the superb melodic roots-rocker "She Loves The Jerk", the acoustic ballad "Lipstick Sunset", the tough, straight-ahead rock songs "Child Of The Wild Blue Yonder", "Memphis In The Meantime", "Cry Love" and "Slow Turning", and too many more to mention.

If you're looking for just one comprehensive overview of John Hiatt's 25-year career, I'm afraid you won't find it anywhere (until they give us the box set). But for now, this is the next best thing. And it's pretty darn good, too.

I rarely, if ever, recommend a "greatest hits" compliation as a good first purchase of any artist because I think they, as a rule, leave too much out. However, for people only somewhat familiar with John Hiatt, Anthology is the best single purchase I can recommend. It's almost an impossible task to provide an accurate snapshot of a career that has spanned thirty years without a single "hit", but this CD does it. Hiatt is the epitome of a musician's musician. A songwriter first and a performer second, he has mastered the art of writing a good, simple folk rock song. The closest thing my generation has to a Bob Dylan without a doubt. Buy this CD and you'll understand exactly why his songs have been recorded by everybody under the sun.

As I listening to this CD I realize the TRUE Genius John Hiatt posesses! This is a UNI/Hip-O product using 96k/24-Bit Mastering and the sound quality is FANTASTIC!!! This 2-CD 40-track chronologically covers John's career. If your not familiar with this artists output buy this collection and you will surely question why he hasn't attainted the "Superstar" status with the general public.

Message to Hip-O: Give me each and every John Hiatt release in this quality and I'll be a happy man!!!

John Hiatt's catalog has been put through the repackaging machine several times over the years, with some strange results... witness the not-quite-hits collection "Ones That Got Away", or the puzzling "Best of John Hiatt" (released on a label he'd only done one album for). This anthology tries to put things right by covering the whole shebang, but the reality is, Hiatt's work from the late 70's and early 80's is stylistically quite different from his better known, more recent work, and with the exception of Side Two of "Riding With the King", most of it doesn't measure up. So what's to be done? Well, you could start with 1987's "Bring the Family" and work your way forward, since everything he's done since then has been pretty terrific (except maybe "Little Head"). Or, if you really just want two killer discs, I would personally suggest the A&M Greatest Hits set and "Walk On".

One of the greats, John Hiatt is a writer's writer and singer's singer. If you're just starting to get to know his music, you're in luck, since this 2-CD set is the cream of the crop, 40 delicious slices of warm, wry, sunny, sad Americana. I've been into Hiatt for years and bought many of his individual releases, all of which I recommend, but this pulls together his greatest, most essential recordings. For heaven's sake, don't buy a single greatest hits CD when you can get so much more. I promise you will want more than just one CD of John's songs.

This is as superb a collection of John Hiatt's rocky career as you'll ever find short of a box set. This double disc, 40 song multi-lable endeavor shows Hiatt as he develops from an in-house writer to unique American songwriting voice, which, given the current climate of hit-now-or-die record company mentality, is an amazing thing to listen to. His first two LPs for CBS saw him struggling to write "hit" material before getting dropped from there.

Hiatt moved to LA and became an "Angry Young Man" before getting signed to MCA (songs 4 through 9). As songs like "Pink Bedroom" (eventually a hit for Rosanne Cash) and "Slug Line" begin to show, Hiatt's focus is becoming clearer. His affections for the likes of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe not withstanding, Hiatt still sounds like a man in search of his voice. MCA kicked him after two albums, and the fledgling Geffen records company brought him on board in an effort to show that they were going to be the "artists' artist" label. The resulting "All Of A Sudden" may have confused his earlier fans, but also found Hiatt in his strongest voice yet. "Doll Hospital" not only rocked, but it actually sounded like he wasn't trying to be someone other than who he was. "My Edge of The Razor" found Hiatt at the top of his form, a bittersweet ballad that used lyrical economy and stunning metaphors to an amazing affect.

But it was "Riding With The King" that probably gave folks the Hiatt we pretty much see today. Brilliant production highlights the title track, and "She Loves The Jerk" ranks up there with the best of Elvis Costello. The next album, the overdone "Warming Up to the Ice Age" still had Hiatt penning great material (Bob Dylan took a swing at "The Usual"), but Geffen dropped him after this album went the same route commercially as the previous two.

Amazingly enough, Hiatt found a new home with a fourth label when A&M released the sparse but incredible "Bring The Family." Hiatt came away from a painful period in his life to write his most personal and intimate batch of songs, recorded them with longtime associate Ry Cooder and had Nick Lowe at the production board to keep it simple. It became not only his most commercially successful album to that time, but also a watershed record for songs (including "Thing Called Love," which Bonnie Raitt wisely plucked for her "Nick Of Time" comeback).

Hiatt's streak with A&M is probably his strongest, and it dominates disc two. His affinity for southern characteristics ("Memphis In The Meantime," "Drive South") and his solid wordplay ("Buffalo River Home") personify his finest qualities as a singer/songwriter, and "Perfectly Good Guitar" offered proof that Hiatt hadn't lost his edge as a rocker. The problem remained that Hiatt, brilliant as his albums remained, wasn't selling in the mass quantities of, say, Janet Jackson. So he parted ways with A&M, left them with a contract filler live album (represented here with "Angel Eyes," which had been a big hit for the Jeff Healy Band) and forged a new deal with Capitol Records.

The next two albums were spotty, as witnessed by a mere three songs on the collection. An attempt at forming a supergroup out of the "Bring The Family" alumni sank with the lackluster "Little Village," but Hiatt is still not to be counted out. His current albums are rootsy, near folk efforts with pared down lyrics ("Crossing Muddy Waters") and show that Hiatt is still a viable artist with plenty to say.

One of the fortunate aspects of John Hiatt's career is that most of his CD's remain in print. Kudos to Hip-O for gathering all this material into one packed double set; for anyone who hasn't experienced John Hiatt in any of his previous incarnations, this anthology is the best place to start. Lucky for us, he has managed to build a successful career the old fashioned way, through time and talent.

The albums "The Tiki Bar Is Open" and "Beneath This Gruff Exterior" were released after this anthology. Both are worth your eartime.

This set is only a little more expensive than the single-disc best of's available, and less confusing. Personally, I own all the albums since and including "Riding With The King" and I bought this set mainly to have a good, convenient collection to listen to at work and also to support John's career. It features new reamstering which makes the earlier stuff sound terrific.

They really did try to presnt a career overview, but the problem is, the first half or so of the first disc is pretty, well, bad. There. I said it. I'm a great fan of Hiatt's, but really, some of the early stuff sound like a second-rate Elvis Costello or even Huey Lewis. Side two of "Riding With the King" was the big change over to the leaner, more oragnic sound of today's Hiatt, so the tracks from that disc begin the march toward greatness. The song selection is pretty hard to fault, but you could pull practically any song off his post "bring the family" LPs and turn up a winner. I would have like more tracks from "Walk" on", and I didn't see the need to include anything from "Muddy Waters" because it only came out last year, but all in all, it's a good collection. It will definitely make newcomers want more Hiatt CDs, and you can rest assured that any album from "Bring The Family" through "Walk on" has plenty of songs easily as good as those represented on this set.

john hiatt has had more cd releases in the last five years than most artists have in a decade. this is the third compilation of his in the last 3 years, the music is great of course but i am a little tired of the old stuff, the first cd goes from 1974-87. unlike someone such as jackson browne who did his best work in the first five years of his career john got off to a slow start, disc one suffers greatly compared to 2. the few standouts are sure as i'm sittin' here, slug line, and bring the family's have a little faith in me. disc two has virtually all of the songs you would expect on a project like this. the second cd leans heavily on songs from slow turning and bring the family. it's great music but i have these songs on about 2 or 3 different cds now. what i wanted was music i hadn't heard, outtakes, live recordings, none of this music was new. this cd would work best for people new to john's music for the rest of us the tiki bar opened on the fateful, horrible day of september 11. if you don't have it go get it. 'tiki' has all the freshness this one lacked