Greatest Hits: The A&M Years '87 - '94

by John Hiatt

Overview

Two months after Capitol's The Best of John Hiatt 1973-1998 hit the stores, A&M released Greatest Hits: The A&M Years '87-'94. It's hard to surmise what weird licensing agreements led to this release pattern, since the similarities will cause confusion even among dedicated fans, but there are notable differences between the two discs. Since Hiatt's albums for A&M in the late '80s were his creative peak, it's not surprising that Greatest Hits, which concentrates his A&M work, is a more consistent album than The Best of John Hiatt, which balances classic A&M cuts with two re-recorded songs, highlights from his two Capitol albums, and two new songs. Aside from the inexplicable omission of "Slow Turning" and one of his best rockers, Greatest Hits contains all the A&M songs that are on The Best of John Hiatt ("Thing Called Love," "Memphis in the Meantime," "Child of the Wild Blue Yonder," "Drive South," "Buffalo River Home," "Feels Like Rain," "Perfectly Good Guitar," "Tennessee Plates"), plus the original versions of "Drive South" and "Have a Little Faith in Me" (only available in butchered remakes on the Capitol disc), a live take of "Angel Eyes," and several fine numbers, such as "Thank You Girl," "Real Fine Love," "Paper Thin," "Lipstick Sunset," and "Through Your Hands." There are some excellent songs from Bring the Family and Slow Turning missing, but Greatest Hits remains the compilation to get for casual fans. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/02/1999
Label:	A&M / Polygram / Universal
UPC:	0731454092920
Rank:	7225

Tracks

1. Memphis in the Meantime
2. Perfectly Good Guitar
3. Thing Called Love
4. Slow Turning
5. Real Fine Love
6. Through Your Hands
7. Buffalo River Home
8. Feels Like Rain
9. Tennessee Plates
10. Thank You Girl
11. Drive South
12. Lipstick Sunset
13. Child of the Wild Blue Yonder
14. Paper Thin
15. The Rest of the Dream
16. Have a Little Faith in Me
17. Something Wild
18. Angel Eyes [Live]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

John Hiatt   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Sonny Landreth   Guest Artist,Guitar
Nick Lowe   Guest Artist,Bass
Ry Cooder   Guest Artist,Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Ethan Johns   Drums,Guitar
Davey Faragher   Vocals (Background),Bass
David Ranson   Bass
Pat Donaldson   Bass
Jim Keltner   Drums
Ashley Cleveland   Vocals (Background)
Brian Macleod   Drums
David Kemper   Drums
Mac Gayden   Guitar
John Pierce   Bass
Russ Taff   Vocals (Background)
Karen Peris   Vocals
Michael Urbano   Drums
Michael Landau   Guitar
Michael Ward   Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Mike Henderson   Guitar
Kenneth Blevins   Drums
Matt Wallace   Guitar

Technical Credits

Larry Hirsch   Mixing,Engineer
Jack Joseph Puig   Mixing,Engineer
Clif Norrell   Mixing,Engineer
Bill Levenson   Compilation Producer
Joe Schiff   Second Engineer,Mixing Assistant
John Chelew   Producer
John Hiatt   Arranger,Composer
Liz Sroka   Assistant Engineer
Matt Wallace   Mixing,Producer
Jeff Dean   Liner Notes,Project Coordinator
Mike Porter   Composer
Glyn Johns   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Steven M. Martin   Photography
Beth Stempel   Project Coordinator
Margaret Goldfarb   Project Coordinator
Jeffrey Scornavacca   Engineer
Fred Koller   Composer
Joe Pirrera   Assistant Engineer
Michael Porter   Composer
Michael Urbano   Associate Producer
Mike Ragogna   Project Coordinator
Keith Odle   Assistant Engineer
Robert Frank   Photography