| | John Hiatt Tiki Bar Is Open CD John Hiatt Discography of CDs
 (3 Customer Reviews)
It's hard to imagine how singer-songwriter par excellence John Hiatt manages to keep churning out album after album of carefully wrought, emotionally loaded material. It must be that Nashville-derived work ethic tempered by a touch of mad genius. Whatever Hiatt's secret, we can all rejoice in the fact that THE TIKI BAR IS OPEN offers another batch of fine songs, sung in that patented sandpaper-soul voice.
Hiatt's crack band, including guitar ace Sonny Landreth, chugs along spiritedly, supporting an amalgam of rock, country, blues, and R&B distinguished by Hiatt's plainspoken-but-trenchant lyrics. From the bluesy, violent scenarios presented in "I Know a Place" to the existential drinking song that is the title track, Hiatt is in fine form. To his credit, his inspiration doesn't flag towards the end of the album either. The last two songs are possibly the most impressive; "Come Home to You" is a touching troubled-relationship ballad that contains the sage line "there's no man so wicked he cannot come home, nor so good he passes each test." The closer "Farther Stars" is a genre-hopping affair that trails off with a long and surprisingly effective neo-psychedelic (!) jam on the order of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows." Just goes to show that you never know what to expect from a professional expectation-tweaker like Hiatt.
W/ The Goners. All New
John Hiatt & The Goners: John Hiatt (vocals, acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, mandolin, harmonica, piano, harmonium); Sonny Landreth (acoustic, electric, 12-string & slide guitars, E-bow, background vocals); Dave Ranson (acoustic & electric basses); Kenneth Blevins (drums, percussion).
Personnel: John Hiatt (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, mandolin, harmonica, piano, harmonium); Jay Joyce (guitar, keyboards, loops); Sonny Landreth (electric guitar, slide guitar, E-bow, background vocals); David Bianco (piano); Kenneth Blevins (drums, percussion); Julie Miller (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: David Bianco; Richard Dodd.
Recording information: New Reflections Studio; Woodland Studio.
Photographer: Senor McGuire.
Additional personnel: Jay Joyce (guitar, keyboards, loops); Dave Bianco (piano); Julie Miller, New Reflections Men's Choir (background vocals).Entertainment Weekly (9/28/01, p.74) - "...While the Goners are consummate roots-rock pros, this reencounter is mere Hiatt Lite albeit highly listenable..." - Rating: B-
Q (10/01, p.122) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A rollicking bar band set that blends characteristicly picaresque rockers with tender ballads..."
No Depression (9-10/01, pp.132-3) - "...A greasy, swampy roadhouse party..." John Hiatt Tiki Bar Is Open Songs | 1. | Everybody Went Low |
| 2. | Hangin' Round Here |
| 3. | All the Lilacs in Ohio |
| 4. | My Old Friend |
| 5. | I Know a Place |
| 6. | Something Broken |
| 7. | Rock of Your Love |
| 8. | I'll Never Get Over You |
| 9. | Tiki Bar Is Open, The |
| 10. | Come Home to You |
| 11. | Farther Stars |
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Tiki Bar Is Open Music Review Purchase Tiki Bar Is Open CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Zac Brown Foundation CD (2008)
Tiki Bar Is Open
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| | Morrissey Live At Earls Court CD (2005)
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Morrissey has no qualms about catering to Smiths fans, opening the set with a faithful rendition of "How Soon Is Now?" Backed by a top-notch five-piece band that includes his longtime guitarist Boz Boorer, Moz runs through numerous album tracks and B-sides ...
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| | Vince Taylor Jet Black Leather Machine CD (2009)
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Vince Taylor is a legend of early British rock & roll. He wrote and recorded one of the few pre-Beatles U.K. rock songs that can be hailed as a legitimate classic ("Brand New Cadillac"), and also led a madly colorful life that saw him eventually gain stature as one of rock's earliest demented burnouts. For all his legend, however, there's never been a compilation that effectively gathered the best of his recorded output onto one disc -- until this one. Jet Black Leather Machine, finally, manages to cross-license the best and hardest-rocking of both his late-'50s British recordings and the early- to mid-'60s tracks he cut in France, all but one of these 21 tracks originating from 1958-1965. Does it live up to the legend of this manically energetic singer who tried to come off as a cross between Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent, as well as TO claim not quite genuine American origins (he did live there for a few years in the 1950s, but was born and raised in Britain)?
Yes and no, though any disappointment is negated by the surprising force and sheer enjoyability of most of this set. In all honesty, Taylor wasn't that great a singer, and though he did write "Jet Black Machine," most of his recorded repertoire was limited to American rock & roll covers that the original artists did better. Yet his lack of innate talent was compensated for by both an idiosyncratic, over the top enthusiasm -- a faint precursor, perhaps, to the many punk and post-punk singers who similarly didn't let a shortage of standard vocal chops stand in their way -- and some genuinely ripping backup musicians, even when he's accompanied by British ones in the late '50s. The menacing "Brand New Cadillac" alone would solidify his place in history, but he did manage a few other good sides that weren't American rock covers, most notably "Jet Black Machine." And even those covers of American rockers -- which do comprise well over half of this set -- usually pummeled along pretty hard, whether it be his 1958 debut single "I Like ...
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