John Hiatt - Same Old Man Review
Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 05.23.2008
But does he bring the same old songs?
Release Date: April 27, 2008
Label: New West Records
Producer: John Hiatt
Recorded: Highway 61 Recordings
Main Personnel
John Hiatt: Vocal and guitar
Kenneth Blevins: Drums
Patrick O’Hearn: Bass
Luther Dickinson: Guitar, mandolin and national resonator
Lilly Hiatt: Backing vocals on “Love You Again” and “What Love Can Do”
John Hiatt has achieved moderate success as a singer/songwriter over the years. He’s been more successful with critics than with the radio. He is mostly known for having his songs be big hits for others, such as “Angel Eyes” for Jeff Healy, “Thing Called Love” for Bonnie Raitt, “The Way We Make a Broken Heart” by Roseanne Cash and “Sure as I’m Sitting Here” by Three Dog Night among others.
TRACK LISTING
1. Old Days: This blues shuffle with a kick makes a nice opening track. It has a whimsical old style blues sound that fits the material. Hiatt sounds like a cross between Tom Waits and Bob Dylan. Oddly, that doesn’t sound as bad as one would think. The verses are more talking than singing and Hiatt’s rhythm with that is a bit off. Still, it’s a really fun song. “They were smoking something in the audience that smelled like cat pee.” That’s a hall of fame songwriter right there.
2. Love You Again: This is a really great song up there with some of Hiatt’s best. I would love to hear Raitt do a cover of this. Lilly sounds pretty good on backing vocals as her sweet, higher tones mixes well with her father’s gruff growl. The arrangement fits the tune with acoustic guitar on the verses and a fuller sound with the rest of the instruments on the chorus. It’s not quite country or pop, but somewhere really good in the middle.
3. On With You: Hiatt seems to have trouble finding his rhythm with the up tempo stuff. He’s also channeling Dylan again. He needs just a hair bit more wail to push this into blues. The repetition of “I just want to go on with you,” as well as some of Hiatt’s vocal flourishes is a bit annoying. The drums give a nice back beat and contrast with the more country guitar picking.
4. Hurt My Baby: This is another ballad and a bit languid. The musical concept of the album is really clear here as you have simple three cord guitar playing set off by pronounced drumming on the down beats. It works for rock, but it’s a tad formulaic. Hiatt gives a good vocal performance as he puts real pain in his voice as he agonizes over “someone in this mean old world” hurting his baby.
5. What Love Can Do: Hiatt has distinct pronunciation to get over the story of a couple who can do anything and find anything because they have love with some really interesting imagery. Lilly returns for backing vocals and she doesn’t mesh as well as she did on the earlier track. It’s kind of a sing-song tune in a quaint early sixties style. It’s like a late era Doris Day hit.
6. Ride My Pony: The mandolin comes into play here with the guitar and drums getting a sort of locomotive sound in the background. I think they were going for a horse clip-clop though. It’s sort of a silly filler song about a man who just wants to ride his pony. Sometimes there’s no reading between the lines.
7. Cherry Red: The title refers to the Corvette and lipstick of the speaker’s lost love and his heart burns cherry red when he thinks of her. Sometimes just a color can stir up old memories and Hiatt captures that with the imagery and his vocal performance that has a certain longing. This might be too quaint for modern audiences, but it’s cute and there are some nice turns of phrases. The chorus is really catchy.
8. Our Time: How can you go wrong with lines like “it looked like the crime scene of an angel ghost.” This song is filled with unique metaphors and little nuggets of imagery. It’s another whimsical look at days gone by and realizing that the good old days were pretty good after all. It’s the little things that matter like eating Chinese food in bed. In fact the song makes an odd correlation between eating out and a romance. I’m not putting quotes on eating out. A very well written song.
9. Two Hearts: This is a pretty generic love song. I’m far away from you. I love you. I need you. Hiatt’s better than this.
10. Same Old Man: The title track is another really well written song with a blues tinge. Hiatt waxes on time and aging again. Despite the ravages of time and age he’s still the same old man his wife married back then. There isn’t any changing him now, but not changing is how they stayed together. It’s a mature love song that’s really nice to hear when we have teenagers trying to relate what they think love is. It’s a good anniversary song.
11. Let’s Give This Love a Try: “I’d rather be in a barrel of salt and pickle brine with a 1000 paper cuts.” Again, how can you beat that? This is Dylan-esque too, but in a good way. The song is about the man being one way and the woman the other and they’ve both been through a lot, so why don’t they try to love each other. This could work as a cover for someone too. It’s a sweet song with a bit of a dark side and tongue in cheek humor.
The 411: Hiatt puts in another solid studio album, that sorrowfully won’t get much airplay, but a couple tracks have the potential to be hits as covers, such as “Love You Again.” The album is a bit formulaic as it goes back and forth between whimsical love ballads and bluesy recitations on age and life. The arrangements on all the songs are a bit simple and repetitious as well. However, Hiatt’s main strength is as a songwriter and many tracks shine through on that strength.
