Customer Reviews

Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan

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

 

 

This CD is terrific. The live version of Memphis in the Meantime is much better than the original (So much more fire). All of the songs on the CD take me back to the concert. It is incredible how well the CD is engineered. I usually shy away from live CDs because they just don't sound very good. This has to be the best live recording I have ever heard. Oh, and if you are new to John Hiatt, this is a great first CD.

I've been listening to this album for 10 years now and I never get tired of it. For me, this is John Hiatt at the peak of his songwriting skills, and those skills are first rate. Not all of the songs are deep, but they all have melodies and phrases that stick. The sound here has that emotional feel you only get from live performances. Sure there's a bad guitar note here and there, but I don't mind one bit. The mix is fabulous, raw and better than some of the mixes on the studio CDs. As a performing musician, I've learned a lot about playing live from this album. My favorite John Hiatt album and that's saying a lot.

John is at his best in this CD recorded at concerts around the United States (not Tokyo). John strays a bit here from traditional down home country driven songs and adds loud electric guitar and extremely emotional vocals. The result...a perfect CD for the guitar lover and for someone who wants to know how to write songs. John is best known for writing songs with which other artists have major hits. His backup band here, "The Guilty Dogs," has a lot of volume and sounds very good! The best selection of John's songs on any CD he has out. You will not be dissapointed with this CD. I have only a handful of CDs which I feel are worthy of this 5 star rating.

I admit I'm a John Hiatt fan. The first time I saw him, I was awestruck as he and his band backed Ry Cooder, no musical slouch himself. Almost 20 years later, Hiatt has gotten better and better, and has even scored some significant airplay with *Slow Turning* and *Walk On*.

You get some of his best songs from the last ten years or so. *Real Fine Love* is done even better with his expressive 'in-concert' vocal style. *Icy Blue Heart* slays me, with a sexy, snakey Davey Faragher bass line to match the sexual tension of the lyric.

*Your Dad Did*, one of my favorite Hiatt 'family' songs, cracks me up when he sings, " the two year old says grace. She says 'help the starving children to get well, but let my brother's hamster burn in Hell."

This disk is full of Hiatt 'car songs'-*Drive South*, *Tennessee Plates*, *Slow Turning*, You can't beat JH for cruising music.

His live version of *Perfectly Good Guitar* is an Air Guitar song of the first magnitude..

Why is this disc so good?

' It's the absolute best live rock recording I have ever heard ---not at all spacey and inconsistent or fraught with feedback.

' All the songs are quite different than their studio versions, and every bit as good if not better.

' The songs are well-picked if you want a good sampling of Hiatt music.

' John's live performance voice is really a lot different than his recording voice, so that even makes them sound like 'new' songs.

The band is what makes this record smoke. They are so tight you can hear their eyelids squeak. Hiatt mainstays Faragher and Michael Urbano on drums forge a solid rhythm section, while Michael Ward whips it out on lead guitar and John plays steady rhythm the way he does so well. They never step on each other's licks, they start and stop on precisely the same note, and Hiatt uses his wide-ranging, raspy voice like another instrument.

Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan (it actually was recorded in 1994 at various US gigs) is the perfect disc to put on the stereo on a hot summer day , move the speakers out to the driveway, and boogie to while you wash the car

The title is a joke, obviously...it seemed at one time like everybody had to go to the Budokan Arena in Tokyo in order to record a live abum, but these tracks were recorded at various American venues during John Hiatt's 1994 tour in support of "Perfectly Good Guitar".

If you are familiar with John Hiatt you'll know pretty much what to expect. Muscular, well-written roots-rock and clever lyrics.
The sound is good, and the musicians are, too, and if you are new to the music Mr Hiatt, this album provides a pretty good sample of his work.

Among the highlights are a tough "Real Fine Love" with some superb rhythm guitar playing, the sublime ballads "Angel Eyes" and "Icy Blue Heart", the Stonesy rocker "Paper Thin", the ironic epos "Perfectly Good Guitar", and the classic "Slow Turning". But there are really no weak tracks here.

Several of the songs ("Memphis In The Meantime", "Real Fine Love", "Your Dad Did" etc.) are given a somewhat rougher treatment than the original studio versions or various cover versions, mainly due to the arrangements (no banjo or mandolins here, just two guitars, a bass guitar and a set of drums, and Hiatt occationally at the piano).

The mixing is very good, with both guitars in particular clearly audible. Hiatt had a great sideman in lead guitarist Michael Ward, and the two complement each other very well, playing some really juicy rhythm n' blues. Ward, especially, is responsible for some excellent solos and fills.

The rhythm section of drummer Michael Urbano and the versatile Davey Faragher on bass also works very well, and "Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan(?!)" is a very enjoyable live album from a great professional.

If there is one thing to say about John Hiatt is his ability to write good songs. Even if you've never heard Hiatt before, you will recognize quite a few of his songs. Everyone seems to cover Hiatt. It's hard not to. His lyrics are almost poetical and the music complements well. The Guilty Dogs put on a great live show, and are brimming with raw energy. Good rock with a twang of the South to it.

If this is your first listening of Hiatt, it will take a little while to get used to his voice. His voice is a cross between grating, gravely and whiny. If you can get passed his voice, you are in for a treat (plus, his voice will eventually grow on you). The rest of the Guilty Dogs are Michael Ward, who plays some pretty amazing licks throughout this album complementing Hiatt's acoustical rhythm playing, Davey Faragher on bass and a solid Michael Urbano on the skins.

This 1994 tour provides a wide sampling of Hiatt's All-American music. "Drive South" is a rocking tune that will get your feet a'tapin', and has a flashy intro from Ward. Hiatt quiets it down with only piano on the tear-jerkin' "Have a Little Faith In Me". Check out the upbeat "Memphis in the Meantime" and the slower "Lipstick Sunset". There are so many great tunes on this album, all of them in fact.

This live CD presents the best versions of his previously released songs. Most versions are very true to the original recordings but with a more upbeat tempo, which is common with live versions. What is uncommon is the great engineering of the live version. A must have for John Hiatt fans.

This CD is marvelous! Having been a Haitt fan for years, I possess several of his recordings and this is my favorite. The variety and diversity of the tracks provide a full scope of his talent. It is raw and ROCKS...just the way you should experience his music. A true MUST for the Haitt afficionado!!

Hiatt does some different things with one or two songs here, just to keep us on our toes, and the album is all the better for it. John is in fine voice too, and although he doesn't say much between songs, there's still humour and a fantastic atmosphere. For me, Feels Like Rain is the standout track, but there's a great mixture, and all impeccably recorded. Turn the volume up, the lights down, lie back and just pretend you're there...

OH YEAH ! It don't get any better than this.
I know it is a big ask of our AMERICAN friends to give up John for a tour down under (he last toured in the early 90's), I suppose this will have to do, being a big fan of live recordings this collection of songs are about as energy filled and tight as it can get, I own all his CD's since "Warming Up To The Ice Age" and prefer this to his greatest hits CD's due to the fine selection and thoughtfull extensions to many of my favourite songs eg. "Your Dad Did", "Drive South", "Real Fine Love" and "Thing called love".
If you have just discovered this exceptional performer this has to be the first CD to add to your selection.
Gee I hope he tours before I wear it out !! we miss ya "JOHN" .