Terms of My Surrender
by John Hiatt
  • Record Label: New West
  • Release Date: Jul 15, 2014
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
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  1. Classic Rock Magazine
    Dec 18, 2014
    80
    It's lush, grown-up, thoughtful, funny and very good. [Sep 2014, p.93]
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  2. The New York Times
    Jul 14, 2014
    80
    Produced by Doug Lancio, the lead guitarist in the Combo, Mr. Hiatt’s fine backing band, Terms of My Surrender has a relaxed and rawboned sound, credibly rooted in live performance.
  3. American Songwriter
    Jul 14, 2014
    80
    The result is a warm, generally introspective but far from musty set that revels in predominantly acoustic material sung with Hiatt’s increasingly gruff, whiskeyed voice.
  5. PopMatters
    Jul 14, 2014
    80
    He sings most of the songs in a lower register than usual, and does so well. This record does not lack authenticity.
  6. Mojo
    Jul 3, 2014
    80
    Hiatt sounds throughout as if gargling a box of frogs in some eternal late-night New Orleans backroom. And it's glorious. [Aug 2014, p.90]
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  7. Uncut
    Jul 3, 2014
    80
    This is one old timer who's still in his prime. [Aug 2014, p.72]
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  8. Q Magazine
    Jul 3, 2014
    80
    All compensate in quality for what they lack in originality. [Aug 2014, p.107]
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  9. Record Collector
    Jul 3, 2014
    80
    The results are very pleasing indeed, from the mean faith-bating blues of Face Of God to the howling prairie wisdom of Wind Don’t Have To Hurry, the nononsense declaration of love, Marlene, to the hobo jazz of the title track.
  10. AllMusic
    Jul 3, 2014
    70
    On Terms of my Surrender, Hiatt has the blues, and he's got the goods, and this is another solid chapter in a recording career that's drifted into an unexpected but pleasing renaissance.
  11. The Observer (UK)
    Jul 21, 2014
    60
    The playing crackles with live-in-studio spontaneity and Hiatt emerges a hard-travellin' hero.
  12. Blurt Magazine
    Jul 15, 2014
    60
    If, after four decades, Terms of My Surrender appears to take a change of tune, in Hiatt’s hands it’s a winning formula regardless.
  13. Consequence
    Jul 18, 2014
    58
    A couple of the blues songs (“Here to Stay”, for instance) blend into the scenery and are soon forgotten, but the only real clunkers are the lighter fare, “Marlene” and “Old People”, which feel forced and unable to balance out the album’s darker moments.

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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. castala
    Jul 21, 2014
    8
    Tempus fugit
    As time goes by, so John Hiatt is feeling older. As it seems in many songs he wrote for this album, he speaks of time, age,    Tempus fugit
    As time goes by, so John Hiatt is feeling older. As it seems in many songs he wrote for this album, he speaks of time, age, suffering, good and bad, God and Devil, tough losses, broken love, etc. In most of them he uses his lower tone, and sings in a slow mood. It could be painful with music on a country mood, but the rhythm here is as smooth as it can be.
    I prefer this latest release from the previous ones, « Mystic Pinball » (2012), « Dirty Jeans & Mudslide hymns » (2011), « The open road » (2010) and « Same old man » (2008). In all of these, there were three or four really songs in every of them, but as much others which were forgettable. Here, like in « Master of disaster » (2005), there is no song that could make an enormous hit on the charts, if anybody cares about this anymore, but the quality of all the album is at a higher level in general.
    And I really love when Hiatt is showing us his tongue-in-cheek humour, like in « Old people » here, his most funniest song since « Back on the corner » nine years ago.
    This artist still has a lot to give us. We should enjoy his skills while he’s still alive. If you’re sticking to the lyrics, he seems close to the end. But the melodies are still great. And it’s rather good.    … Full Review »
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