Customer Reviews

Beneath This Gruff Exterior

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Whenever a new Hiatt album comes out, I have to remind myself that even a musician of his caliber can't always live up to the expectation that he has created for himself with classics such as Bring the Family and Slow Turning... However, I was pleasantly surprised by Beneath this Gruff Exterior. This disc exceeded all my expectations, and keeps getting better with each listen.
Having the Goners (including slide genius Sonny Landreth) makes these new songs shine, and lyrically the songs are catchier and smarter than anything John has come out with since Walk On.
If you're a Hiatt fan than this is naturally a must have, but I also recommend it highly as a first introduction to his music!

I've read most of the reviews and am puzzled by the venom directed at this album by some of the reviewers. I am not a John Hiatt expert by any stretch, but after listening to the Beneath This Gruff Exterior at least a dozen times, its hard to find much fault with it. Listening for the defects others describe, I am at a loss. Maybe it was a rush job, and maybe a remaster is in order by popular vote, but it sounds just fine to me!
I find humor in Uncommon Connection and How Bad's the Coffee, tenderness in My Baby Blue and Window On the World, a wistful recognition of time flying by in Circle Back, and a poignant view of life with a pet in My Dog and Me. And throughout, I hear a lot of good ol' rock and roll. Though the aforementioned are favorites, I don't dislike any of the others.
I listen to a lot of music and write a lot of reviews. Hiatt is so prolific that I haven't heard much of what he's done. But much of what I have heard I like, including Beneath This Gruff Exterior. So take the naysayers with a grain of salt and try to really listen to this CD before you dismiss it.

It takes a true artist to turn personal anguish into something total strangers can dance to. John Hiatt ROUTINELY does this two or three times per album. I know most reviewers are talking about The Goners and how they share equal billing here (and no doubt they deserve to--guitarist Sonny Landreth is a mad scientist in the best sense of the term), but "Beneath This Gruff Exterior" is a revelation to me because Hiatt is really pouring his emotions into this songs these days. He's just about my favorite touring artist because of incredible slices of life like "My Dog and Me" and the amazing "The Nagging Dark," where he openly admits to the world that every move he makes is shrouded because of his battles with depression. It's a shame we are living in a world where the most insipid and dumb stuff gets all the airplay, but this is rocking, expert, brilliant work by four total artists. Run, don't walk....push that buy button. John Hiatt, a Hall of Famer if there ever was one. Caveat: The recording job on this one is barely better than the one on "Tiki Bar"; it's all muddy and midrange. What gives?

John Hiatt's swagger has always been one of his most endearing qualities. I may be the only Hiatt fan who still listens to "Slug Line" like it was a religious ceremony. On Gruff Exterior, John rocks bigtime with Sonny Landreth's searing guitar sharing the spotlight. John's opener may take a bit getting used to with the 4-letter word chorus, but stuff happens and John wails. Sonny's slide greases "How Bad's the Coffee," laced with more 4-letter vocals. "The Nagging Dark" is a great catchy Hiatt tune, "Once shame & guilt have made their mark, you can't run away from the nagging dark." "My Baby Blue" has pop hooks galore. My favorite track is the rugged "Almost Fed Up With the Blues" with Sonny's searing guitar struggling with John's snarling vocal. "Circle Back" is a catchy midtempo rocker, "You spend your life leaning into a hard wind; I guess you're less like to take a bow." "Missing Pieces" is a stunning melody with John's lost love melancholy in the lyric. Another favorite of mine is "The Last Time" with its sultry blues that snakes along with Sonny's pulsing guitar, "That's the last time I turn my back on you." The CD concludes with one of John's sweet slower songs spiced with bittersweet regret. This CD rocks so hard and sounds so good that it seems to be happy; but as you listen closer we hear a man grappling with the heaviest of emotions. Don't miss out on this excellent set! Enjoy!

I have purchased every Hiatt record since Riding With the King and loved them all in varying degrees. Beneath This Gruff Exterior is destined to be one of his all time greats. It is so alive and funky and fun and it has more cohesion that the previous effort Tiki Bar. It appears that John and the guys let it all out and played these songs like a live show. Best of all the songs are strong and emotive, as is his signature. Rock on John.

John Hiatt's "Beneath This Gruff Exterior" could very well be one of his three best albums ever. The songs are well written and most of them have a pleasant mix of rawness and melodic hooks. As usual, there's a fair amount of roots rock, blues, and country. You can hear references to Creedence Clearwater Revival in "How bad's the coffee", while "The nagging dark" have a slight feel of Steve Earle - especially on the verse. The opening "Uncommon connection" is built around the kind of "fast-and-sloppy" (in a good sense) approach similar to "Everybody went low" or "All the lilacs in Ohio" from "The Tiki Bar Is Open" (2001). The slower "My dog and me" reminds a bit of songs like "Lipstick sunset" from "Bring The Family" (1987), and the very catchy "Circle back" could easily make you think of "Buffalo river home" from "Perfectly Good Guitar" (1993). As you probably understand by now, John Hiatt hasn't recorded any ground breaking album regarding creativity and originality, but on "Beneath This Gruff Exterior" he does what he knows best.

I can promise you, if you like John Hiatt, you can't go wrong buying this album! It's a relief to see that there's a bit of honest and real music around in these superficial times!

I had sort of lost track of John Hiatt until a recent live acoustic show (with Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, and a few others), where he stole the show lock stock and perfectly good guitar. Low and behold: a new JH album came out soon thereafter and I had to get it. If you get a chance to see him in concert---go go GO. It's worth it.

Hiatt still writes outstanding songs and this collection is no exception. Some of his recent work has veered into the predictable or less inspired, but I've found this disc in the player time and again. I can't say for sure why: I remember late 80's and early 90's albums more reverently, and these songs don't have quite the spice that earlier work did... but this is still tasty and hummable and well pretty darned good.

Most of John Hiatt's albums fit into one of two categories; great or very good. While Gruff isn't the best album Hiatt has made, it has a number of songs that can hold their own with his best stuff. What's important, though, is that even the lesser material grabs your attention. Why? Because it's clear that 30 years on John's still having fun. Gruff isn't Slugline, Riding with the King, Bring the Family or Walk On but it also doesn't stumble into the blind alley represented by Little Head or Little Village (two of Hiatt's worst albums).

Uncommon Connection does threaten to veer into the court occupied by Little Head but the rollicking arrangement and the 180 degree turn in the lyrics allow Hiatt to pull a U turn and create a great little opening number. How Bad's the Coffee and a couple of other numbers capture the average man's (or woman's)difficult days with humor. That's the album's saving grace; the bad moments are few and far between and off set by Hiatt's sense of humor.

Missing Pieces, The Most Unoriginal Sin and The Nagging Dark could duke it out with anything from Slow Turning or Bring the Family. Each one has just the right amount of social observation, humor and compassion. They also all rock pretty darn hard. This isn't 12 slices of heaven more like 12 slices of heaven, purgatory, life on Earth and hell. All mixed in with a generous helping of Sonny Landreth's stunning guitar work (always a highlight on any of John's records with The Goners).

For fans that are interested there is a limited edition of Gruff with a 3 track bonus CD featuring demos of three of the songs here. It's just Hiatt and guitar commenting on his little corner of the world.

John Hiatt is probably one of the dozen best songwriters around and he continues to prove it. This album enforces that statement. Like most of Hiatt's work this CD will sneak up on you and you'll find yourself thinking or singing, "S**t flyin' in my head from every direction; I'm just thinkin'about an uncommon connection" and have no idea where it came from. The songs are solid and Hiatt's nod to depresion, "The Nagging Dark" and his attitude toward it, "Some call it the blues, I call it a song" remind you he's dealt with it.

Musically, the album rocks with a few exceptions, such as the melodic "My Dog and Me." If you've never listened to John Hiatt, I'd recommend starting with the album, "Slow Turning" or "Perfectly Good Guitar" but this is worth several listens.

Reading some of these reviews, I feel like Popeye when he says "that's all I can stands 'cause I can't stands no more!"
John Hiatt is a unique talent, and this is clearly one of his best albums. Period. Circle Back is a wonderful song both musically and lyrically (despite the fact that it's one of the songs on George Bush's IPod-- how'd that happen??) Fly Back Home, Uncommon Connection and Missing Pieces are almost as good. There are several other cuts right up there, too.
So being totally familiar with this album, some of the other reviews here are bizarre, to say the least. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the sound. The guy who says the backup music is all synthesizers is either deaf or hasn't listened to it. This is tight, pulsing, rock music around a core of wisdom and intelligence (yes, beneath this gruff exterior-- get it?) Sonny Landreth's slide guitar is amazing throughout, and some of his leads are worth the price of the record alone.