All Of A Sudden Music Cd

John Hiatt - All Of A Sudden

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All of a Sudden      Artist : John Hiatt      List Price : $6.98 USD        ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 1997-10-21      Studio : Geffen Gold Line Sp.      Label : Geffen Gold Line Sp.      Avg. Customer Rating : (7 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for All Of A Sudden      A massively underrated album.      Rating:      As much as this record gets slagged by fans of John Hiatt, I hold my ground on gracing it with a five star rating. I have my reasons, one of the main ones being that I think this was the first album where Hiatt found his voice as a singer. The two excellent albums prior to this ("Two Bit Monsters" and "Slug Line") were certainly nervy affairs, and that rough kind of vocal drew some of the "American Elvis Costello" comparisons. If that was the case, then "All Of A Sudden" was Geffen records' attempt to unleash an Americanized "Armed Forces." The wordplay was certainly as wickedly funny and acidically ironic as Costello's or Graham Parker's, and the CD bookends with a pair of stone classics in "I Look For Love" and "My Edge of the Razor." The problem was, Elvis was up to "Imperial Bedroom" the year "All Of A Sudden" came out and Tony Visconti's "use every synth in the room" production didn't do much to enhance a stellar batch of songs. It did, however, bring out the rocker in Hiatt. With the exception of his latter work on A&M, Hiatt had never played this hard. More to the point, his singing suddenly took on a less affected quality. While it may have taken him another three albums to find his musical voice with "Bring The Family," it's my humble opinion that this was the album where Hiatt took his first major leap from songwriter to a performer, and the also commercially ignored follow-up, "Riding With The King," were the records that set up his crowning achievements.     Customer Reviews for All Of A Sudden Cd      Not for the "Roots Music" lovers out there, but good!      Rating:      My husband and I have nearly all of John Hiatt's albums and this one ranks right up there. Of course, we started listening to John Hiatt with the release of this album (had heard the buzz about JH being the "American Elvis Costllo"). If you love EC's early sound (Trust, Get Happy!, Armed Forces), then you will like this collection of wacky, word-smithy songs. It also helps if you listen to this album with a "They Might Be Giants" sort of outlook toward the lyrics and a fond nostalgia for the production values of the '80's. Everyone who is disappointed in this album because it isn't folksy enough or gritty enough for you needs to thank their lucky stars that JH is an artist who can GROW UP and EVOLVE, unlike so many STEVEN TYLERS out there! Listen to this one, and all others in succession someday, to see how this man has matured, while rarely making a mis-step along the way.