two bit monsters

   

1980 MCA

LP. MCA 5123
  CD. MCAD 31359
  CAS. MCAC 741

1993 BGO records

(together with "slug line" on 1 CD)

CD. BGO CD 176
       
1 Back to normal 3:18 30 seconds preview
2 Down in front 3:22 30 seconds preview
3 I spy 2:41 30 seconds preview
4 Pink bedroom 2:53 30 seconds preview
5 Good girl, bad world 3:14 30 seconds preview
6 Face the nation 3:07 30 seconds preview
7 Cop party 2:54 30 seconds preview
8 Back to the war 3:28 30 seconds preview
9 It hasn't happened yet 3:22 30 seconds preview
10 String pull job 4:02 30 seconds preview
11 New numbers 3:02 30 seconds preview

Total running time:

34:43
 

Musicians

John Hiatt:

Guitar

Vocals

Howard Epstein: Bass

Background Vocals

Shana Keister: Piano

Organ

Daryl Verdusco: Drums

Background Vocals

   

Credits

Produced:

Denny Bruce

John Hiatt

Recorded and Mixed: Mark Howlett
Mastered: Jeff Sanders

 

 

Note

  • All songs written by John Hiatt except "I Spy (For The F.B.I.)" Written by: Richard Wylie and Herman Kelley

  • Recorded at I.A.M. Studios, Kitchen Sync Studio, Crystal Studios

  • Mastered At Crystal Studios

  • photography and original design by john van hamersveld

 

allmusic.com

At the time of its release, Two Bit Monsters was perceived by critics who had caught up with John Hiatt on Slug Line as a less impressive follow-up to that record. In retrospect, it may be the better of the two albums, boasting an even more simplified musical approach and such notable songs (and future Rosanne Cash covers) as "Pink Bedroom" and "It Hasn't Happened Yet." Hiatt here was starting to emerge from the "new Elvis Costello" tag that had been affixed to him with Slug Line, but his reviewers, however well-meaning, seemed determined to keep him in that category. (In any case, record buyers were paying little attention — Slug Line was Hiatt's fourth straight album to miss the charts, and MCA dropped him as Epic had before.)