New John Hiatt Album - Open Road

John Hiatt just released a new album yesterday. I bought it on iTunes the very same day, and I've been listening to it today.

I have been a fan of John Hiatt for a long time now. He is a tremendous song writer, and it's always fun to check out a new album by him.

It is probably too early to give a good review after listening through to the album just once, but my first thoughts are the album could have had stronger tunes. The opening track Open Road is awesome, I really like it. After that, there's quite a few non-memorable tunes. In fact, I felt the same way after his previous album Same Old Man, which also seemed a bit weaker than most of his work during the last 2 decades.

The production sounds sloppy too. I mean, I like dirty, down to earth, rough recordings, but there are some tracks on this album which sound almost too unpolished, if you know what I mean. A bit more strong vocal harmonies would have helped too, to make the tunes more catchy and melodic.

Lyrics are great though. Hiatt has an amazing ability to write interesting lyrics about every day life. Hiatt has his own style, and I find him quite unique as a songwriter and singer. If you haven't heard him ever, you need to go check out the albums Perfectly Good Guitar, Bring The Family and Slow Turning. That's Hiatt at his best, in my opinion.

However, I will give the new album Open Road more chances. You know how sometimes an album gets stronger the more you listen to it? Always give yourself enough time to really listen to new material.

You can have a listen on John's Myspace page, and see what you think. I'd love to hear how you like the album.

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

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Posted by Robert Renman on March 03, 2010

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Lance Blackshaw said...

I have to agree with you that it is not a good production. Several songs have terrible distortion in the vocals, especially "Go Down Swingin'." I noticed that John produced and engineered the album himself, which probably means he had to finance it, too. The songs are good, but he just seems too comfortable with where he is musically right now, and it's not helping to bring the most out of those songs. He needs a good producer to kick him in the rear.

I don't think that this CD will stand the test of time with me.

Comment added on March 13, 2010

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March 03, 2010

New John Hiatt Album - Open Road

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