John Hiatt – Master Of Disaster

If John Hiatt was once America’s answer to Elvis Costello and the other angry young men of the British new wave, then he, like them, is approaching middle age jagged and subdued. Don’t be fooled by the Mexican wrestler on the album cover — at no time are these songs ready to rumble.

Which is remarkable, considering the ace backup band producer Jim Dickinson supplies him with — sons and North Mississippi Allstars Cody and Luther Dickinson plus Muscle Shoals bass heavyweight David Hood. Unlike other star players Hiatt assembled on previous outings, they offer no breakout moments on these songs, and in lieu of pouncing, there are only folk-rock ballads and country-blues stylistics.

These gentle songs take a soft focus, forecast by the opening title song, the story of a guitar vet coming to terms with his Telecaster: “He can’t play it any faster when he plays the blues,” Hiatt sings. Jim Dickinson enlists his horn players, who take their cue from the Salvation Army, sighing with ratty fatigue.

The prime asset is the lyrics, which can be epic: “When my love crosses over, I am coming over too/To cross that mighty river that’s before us/To the new western world, mountains high and plain unfurled/Desert stretching out to touch the California.”

There’s also the startling revelation of “Ain’t Ever Goin’ Back”, pure swamp blues as Hiatt twists his voice to sound both twice his age and ugly. “We made love and we made hate/Never could seem to get it straight,” he snarls, the bittersweet regret caked in grime.