Customer Reviews

Alive & Lickin'

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dan Hicks always gives you a good time. He's relaxed, smooth and having a good time on this great live set. The set opens with a scratchy intro like an old phonograph record that tells us the flavor is retro. The songs smoothly sway. "Where's the Money" is great jazz swing. "I Got Mine" blows soft and breezy. "Shootin' Straight" is a sweet samba. Hicks punctuates the set with his wry brand of humor. For "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away" he tells us, "This is the four billionth time I've done this one." -- And practice makes perfect! He handles a heckler with a little bathroom humor describing the cleanup that will make you chuckle when you brush your teeth! :) He has great live banter for Tom Waits' gem "The Piano Has Been Drinking." "My Cello" is Dan Hicks meets surf music. His version of "Wild About My Lovin'" polishes the beautiful melody and is a great update from Jim Kweskin's or the Lovin' Spoonful's version. Scat singing fuels "I Feel Like Singing." "Comes Love" is a great silly blues song for manic depressives. Dan has some country/western fun on "Payday Blues." "Caravan" and "Four Bathers" are jumping little tunes. "Four or Five Times" has some way silly singing. The CD ends with a jazzy bit of whimsy, "The Buzzard Was Their Friend." Susan Rabin and Annabelle Cruz add great backing vocals. My only complaint is directed to Surfdog that tracks the CD so each song introduction is with the preceding track which makes shuffle play mode irritating. But Hicks is in fine form and sure to put a smile on your face and set your toe to tapping with this fine live set. Enjoy with tongue in cheek!

Dan takes a licking and keeps on ticking. This fun CD is a worthy companion to the lost 1971 classic "Where's the Money," chronicling Hick's live shows just after the release of "Beatin' the Heat." Hicks' deadpan commentary is hip and humorous, and the songs enjoy first-rate musical backing. The ladies don't quite have the sass and swing of the original Lickettes, but they get the job done. Hicks, shooting straight these days, is in fine voice. Aside from the usual highlights, check out the band's swinging take on "Caravan" and Hick's downhome version of "Wild About My Loving."

The first time I heard Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks happened back in the early seventies. From that point on, I was totally hooked, playing the life right out of his albums. Hoping that someday I'd get a chance to see them in concert. Well, here it is the twenty-first century, and I finally got the next best thing, the newly released album by Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks called, "Alive & Lickin'"(2001 Surfdog). A live performance that was recorded earlier this year, while on his 2001 U.S. Tour. This is the first live album recorded by Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks, since his "Where's The Money" album released back in 1971. I'm not a big fan of "live" recordings, there's usually too much background noise, or the artist goes off on these long drawn tangents, either way, it takes away from the music. You won't find any of that here with "Alive & Lickin'", the sound quality is sharp and clear, as if your sitting at a front table close to the stage. Any buzz from the crowd, is part of the banter and audience participation that make a Hicks concert so special. This new album is laced throughout with witty observations and the driest of humor that Hicks is so well known. The music itself, is a mix of the old favorites, "How Can I Miss You, When You Won't Go Away?"(yodel along), "I Feel Like Singin'", and new tunes like, "Wild About My Lovin'". The strength of this new album is the unique style of the music itself, which you can hear on every track. A blending of jazz with country, ragtime with doo-wop, swing with honky-tonk, and folk with blues, resulting in a smoothly delicious, toe-tapping good time. For those of you who have recently discovered Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks, I highly recommend "Alive & Lickin'", it has the best of both past and present. To all his long-time fans, this album is a "must have" for adding to your collection. This new release is so well mixed, you feel as if your right there. Until that time when do I see them live, I'm sure to wear the life out of this album too.

I've been listening to Dan Hicks for 30 some years. There is a major difference between his studio-produced albums and his live albums. Whereas Hicks and his Hot Licks have great lyrics, melodies, and musicianship on every studio album, none of the studio works come close to matching the energy they bring to the stage. The other advantage to live recordings is that you get to skip the weaker songs given try-outs in the studio. I love this album and it gets heavy airplay in my various music players.

Excellent record. The whole record has what I can only call a "happy bounce". Groovy versions of 'My Cello' and 'The Piano has Been Drinking (not me)' bring a smile to my face. I dare you to listen to this record and not snap your fingers, tap your toes, or move your whole body. I got this record three days ago and can't stop singing to myself. I love it! Also, I highly recommend his recent album Beatin' the Heat, which I picked up on a whim, and has become my favorite record(and many of my friends and family's also!).

This guy is one mellow, cool cat.

I could be wrong, but this disc seems like a hasty effort to follow up on the surprise success of Beatin' the Heat. Taken from one show, the tunes are a little uneven. Low points are How Can I Miss You (When You Won't Go Away?); Dan sounds like he's sick of doing this one, and he adds an annoying country drawl to the tune (this happens elsewhere on the album). Fans of the original recording will not be happy. Four or Five Times is done as a sing-along with some sloppy scatting, and The Buzzard Was Their Friend sounds hurried. On the plus side, the band is sweetly melodic on Cello, The Piano Has Been Drinking, and Wild About my Loving. Wild About My Loving and the Duke Ellington instrumental Caravan are the two most pleasant surprises on the album. I Feel Like Singin' and Where's the Money retain their freshness after 30 years, and Comes Love has a lovely subdued, bittersweet feel reminiscent of songs like News From Up the Street.

It's hard to be objective about this release, since it comes hard on the heels of the very excellent Beatin' the Heat. Hardcore fans will buy it, of course, for the previously unrecorded tunes, but first-timers and casual fans would do better to arm themselves with Beatin' the Heat, or a classic like Where's the Money?, Last Train to Hicksville, or Strikin' It Rich.

Dan is absolutely one of the last true sixties icons still playing and recording and making jokes. The Alive And Lickin'CD is just one crown of his records. Alive and Lickin' again. He can swing through decades as hot as possible.

Boring is a compliment. Dan is an accomplished musician but this isnot one of his finest collections. 'Nuff said. Go with his earlier stuff and forgt the live performance.