Stolen Moments

by

John Hiatt

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This is an album that would be in my 5 top list to bring on an island ...and I own 500+ CDs. I have all of JH's albums and this continues to be my absolute favorite and the only one of his on my top-5-island-choices. That's how much this has affected me. The album is a very reflective and spiritual body of work and I feel profoundly moved by this album.

I would say that if you like your JH as a southern folk rocker best, than this album may come off as a bit off-kilter, or even soft, new-ageish (it's not!) or pretentious.

I would say that you almost have to have an appreciation of Native American spiritual/religious beliefs/concepts to appreciate the spiritual insights of the writing in this work.

JH makes references to time, spirits, nature, in the Native American sensibilty of how each are intertwined and affect our reality of things.

This album first and foremost in my opinion is about the writing. The music is like icing on the cake, which on some songs are softly Native American-feeling in tempo (Seven Little Indians, Thirty Years of Tears, Listening to Old Voices).

There are few "rocker" pieces here but it's again the terrific writing here that simply really blows my mind. All the songs are incredibly poetic in the imagery that gets painted.

I cried the first time I heard Listening to Old Voices -- a very beautiful piece about the realization of how beautiful life is both in the real and spiritual world. There is a very Zen-like quality that JH draws in this song. 13 years later the song (and the album) still affects me profoundly with each listen.

The title track also makes references to time and how we and the spirits weave in and out of it together.

The song The Rest of the Dream on the outset is about bringing a new life physically into space but the title is a really a reference to the Native American concept of the continuity of life like a dream and that lives weave in and out of it, just as in how dreams operate.

To be more honest, this album really changed my life and came into my life at one of the lowest points of my life. This album is not particularly "depressing" or even "uplifting" but rather it is a life affirming, written by a person who probably has had his fair share of ups and downs and this album is a chronicle of his life and his reflections and self-examination of why things are the way they are.

What I am saying in this review is not so much to try to persuade anyone but rather how a particular work of music can greatly affected and enriched your life. If you do give this CD a whirl I hope it has the same positive afect on you as it had on me. Thanks Mr. Hiatt!

This album, which became John Hiatt's highest-charting at the time, came right after his two masterpieces "Bring The Family" and "Slow Turning".

And it does feature its share of fine songs, especially "Child Of The Wild Blue Yonder", "Back Of My Mind", and the lovely ballad "Bring Back Your Love To Me".

The title track is okay, too, although it does feel a little bit monotonous after a while. But too many of these twelve songs lack that little extra something that would have made them truly memorable...the hook, that special "groove". One really misses the superb, muscular rhythm section of Hiatt's best-ever backing band, Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and veteran drummer Jim Keltner.

Not that "Stolen Moments" is a bad album, far from it. It may not be consistent or accessible enough to rank among Hiatt's best, and it is not a good place to start if you're new to John Hiatt's music (that would be "Bring The Family" or one of his compilation albums). But it is certainly not one to be avoided, either.