#223
1980 Housekeeping
John Hiatt
Two Bit Monster
Genre: Is that Morton Downey Jr. on the cover??
3.5 out of 5
Highlights:
Pink Bedroom
Requisite 80s cover: A lackluster and plodding “I Spy (for the F.B.I.)”. It feels like it should have been recorded by Huey Lewis and the News and they would have made it more dopey fun.
Seriously. Who stole who’s look? Even the dangling cigarette. And the scornful accusing gaze.
And yet, inside, the songs are…well, ugly Elvis Costello. Not ugly as in the way he looks, cuz, let’s face it, Elvis was no looker, but the songs. Hiatt is playing in the ever increasingly popular Costello sandbox but his songs are just not…fun. “Pink Bedroom” should be and in Elvis’ hands it would be. It’s still a good song. As is “Good Girl, Bad World”, I just wish it was Graham Parker instead of Hiatt. Hiatt sounds more like Martin Briley. But Briley makes up for his terrible voice with clever songs like “Salt in My Tears”.
“Face the Nation” had the chance to be great, referencing “60 Minutes” and “Time” and “Newsweek” but, leaving out Meet the Press and any other news magazine show just suggests that he wrote it while watching CBS and there were a couple magazines lying around. Lazy!
Still, Hiatt’s collection isn’t terrible. It’s just nothing that would make me rush out to buy his next one. Or the previous one.
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