Conventional wisdom at the time was that MCA Records had signed
John Hiatt (who had languished without a record contract for four years) with the idea that he would be their
Elvis Costello -- a singer/songwriter in the fashionable punk/new wave style. Certainly,
Hiatt has stripped down and roughed up from his Epic records here, fronting a straight-ahead guitar rock band (that was capable, of course, of playing the obligatory reggae number), eschewing the stylistic diversity he reveled in before, and throwing out snappy, aphoristic lyrics in a highly processed voice. None of this quite turns him into
Elvis Costello, although the mean streak he reveals would serve him well later. ~ William Ruhlmann