Customer Reviews

Riding With the King

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The sound of a drowning man. Hiatt's life took a turn for the worse as he slipped into an alcholic haze and his wife commited suicide. These two traumatic events had a major impact both personally and professionally. The title of this album is a great metaphor for the downward spiral Hiatt's life had taken. Riding with the King towards oblivion could be the actual title of this great, classic album.

Made under trying circumstances with two different producers (Ron Nagle & Scott Matthews of the Durocs and long time Elvis Costello producer Nick Lowe), Riding With The King has some of Hiatt's most direct, acerbic and witty songwriting. The hooks from the resigned I Don't Even Try to the powerful Death By Misadventure are original and the lyrics make you laugh as often as they provoke thought.

Hiatt's last album (Little Head) was a fairly weak effort demonstrating his weakest attributes as a songwriter. This collection along with Bring The Family, Walk On and Slow Turning belong in any serious music fan's collection. Before Bonnie Raitt covered Hiatt's Thing Called Love, he was writing songs that had depth, emotion and sharp observations. Hiatt at his best is an American treasure and is our rootsy John Lennon & Ray Davies.

I remember hearing this album described soon after its release as two great half albums and thinking that was pretty much on the mark. "Riding With The King" was a step away from the extremely slick sound of "All Of A Sudden," but still found Hiatt being interpreted by his producers instead of having his own voice. The most important thing about "Riding With The King" is that Ron Nagle and Scott Matthews (known collectively as The Durocs) and Nick Lowe probably had the best understanding of any of Hiatt's producers to this point.

Of course, Nick Lowe was there when it came time to record Hiatt's masterpiece, "Bring The Family." That makes it an easy leap to think Lowe had an easy time grasping the folksy "Love Like Blood" or the great title song (which became better known after Eric Clapton and BB King recorded it). Lowe also had the benefit of the band format (Paul Carrack, Martin Belmont and himself, along with Hiatt on guitar and Bobby Irwin on drums). The first half of the disc is Nagle on everything but guitars (Hiatt), and sounds a bit stiffer. The Nagle and Matthews half doesn't fare quite as well because of this, but they got the better songs to work with. "She Loves The Jerk" has since made the rounds with everyone from Rodney Crowell to Elvis Costello taking a crack at it. "I Don't Even Try" mixes humor and bitterness with an even handedness that few songwriters can match.

Along with those songs, "Lover's Will" and "Book Lovers" remain songs in search of artists to make them into hits. Of the three albums Hiatt recorded for Geffen, "Riding With The King" is probably the closest to what fans of John would recognize as a John Hiatt album. Consider that the best recommendation possible.

For twenty-five years, John Hiatt has been held in high esteem by colleagues and critics alike, yet his sales figures have never really matched his talent.

This 1983 album is one of his finest (in spite of the slightly mean editorial review); a pleasant slice of what I suppose is called "heartland rock".
The title song, "Riding With The King", is not a cover, by the way, it is indeed written and composed by John Hiatt himself. And it is one of the strongest selections on the album, which consists mainly of mid-tempo rock songs, not unlike Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love", although with fewer anthemic shout-along choruses than the average Springsteen-record.

John Hiatt is a relative low-key rocker, but fully capable of turning out memorable, melodic songs such as "She Loves The Jerk" and "You May Already Be A Winner".
There may not be too many obvious hits on this album, but there are no bad songs either. Everything is worth a listen, and how many 80s rock records can you say that about?

"Riding With The King" is a very enjoyable rock record with some fine lyrics and some memorable tunes. Great handiwork from a real professional who hasn't gotten the recognition he deserves.

John Hiatt is indeed an hidden treasure. Like any artist his body of work has some uneven patches; this however, is my personal favorite album (of his). It has a rolling rock quality that makes it great for windows down road rockin' and lyrics that stand up to liner note reading home listening.

His gravelly voice has a unique quality and his lyrics have both a sense of humor and an underlying darkness. I'd imagine anyone could relate to "Girl on a String" and especially "She Loves the Jerk". They and other tracks create a vivid image and feeling that's hard to ignore, all the while giving off a beat to let you bang the steering wheel!

This was John Hiatt's peak as a Rock'n'Roller. Turn this one up loud, sit back, hang on. Highlights from this one are, Book Lovers, She Loves The Jerk (My girl's favorite song for some reason), Lover's Will and the classic title track most recently covered by Eric Clapton & B.B. King (Hiatt's version is still superior).

This is perhaps the best John Hiatt album ever, my family and i have listened to it for as long as i remember, you have to buy this cd, you will not regret it.

This is John Hiatt at his peak. Not that it's been downhill since, but this one is his best, consistant disc with no klunkers. Songwriting, musician- ship and mood all excell.

There are five or six songs on this album that will blow your socks off. These songs are real gems, really well put together as if written in five mintues but crafted for fifty years. Not only are the lyrics some of the finest from one of the great American songwriters of the 20th century but more than that they rock! Songs like I Don't Even Try has an infectious beat and groove that would not go astray on a Queens of the Stone Age record. She Loves the Jerk is a classic lament for the other guy's girl and as is Hyatt's trademark he manages to inject just enough humour into a song to make you smile and feel the story come alive but no so much as to stray into novelty song territory. In Your Love is Like Blood Hyatt pens another perfect love song. If you are new to Hyatt this is a great place to start.

Not the most cohesive product because there were two production teams but the songs are very fine, clever, witty, and soulful, too. That Lowe/Carrack ensemble is a perfect foil for Hiatt. Probably my favorite Hiatt song ever is "You may already be a winner"...if you can really pick a Hiatt favorite.

All but one song on the album is written by John. But no matter becaues his rendition of "Death By Misadventure" is fantastic. Not to metion the other great hits like "Say it With Flowers", "I Dont Even Try", "Riding With The King" and the rest of the album is just great. Not a song to skip on this album.