Beatin' the Heat

Dan Hicks, Dan Hicks And the Hot Licks | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 29, 2000)
• Original Release Date: August 29, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Surfdog Records
• ASIN: B00004WJ8B
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,719 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #61 in Music > Country > Western Swing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the Walkin' One and Only, September 6, 2000

By 

Kevin Moriarty (Trenton, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beatin' the Heat (Audio CD)

As of this morning (Wednesday September 6), this album is Number 97 on Amazon's Top 100, right behind the self-titled "Christina Aguilera."

In case you were trying to decide between the two, buy the Dan Hicks. Christina doesn't have the totally unique, jumping California-swing sound of the Hot Licks, the wry humor of Mr. Hicks lyrics and vocals, or the contributions of such stellar guests as Rickie Lee Jones, Elvis Costello Brian Setzer, Bette Midler or Tom Waits. Of course, Aguilera is probably getting more air play on MTV lately. Or is that Britney?

There can be no confusing Dan Hicks with anyone else. His batch of albums in the early 70's established his highly personal sound and unique lyrical perspective. Each of those albums remains timeless, highly listenable and a lot of fun.

For the last several years, though, about the only places you could hear Dan was on stage in small clubs with his Acoustic Warriors, and on cable in reruns of the movie "Class Action" with Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (in the party scene at Beach Chalet early in the movie, playing "Up"). Definitely only for the most devoted of fans.

Now those devoted fans (who am I kidding, WE devoted fans) and whole bunches of new audiences have a chance to listen to a new Hot Licks CD. As the song says, "Hey, that's pretty good. Turn it up."

Enjoy

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hicks is timeless, December 15, 2000

By 

Joshua W Berk (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beatin' the Heat (Audio CD)

I had never heard of Dan Hicks until I saw him play on the Conan O'Brian show. The next day I bought the CD. It wasn't even the song that made me want to own the disc so badly, though it was good ("I Don't Want Love" - a comic jazz number about a man "who loves to eat" that features lines like "If love makes you give up onion rings/ I don't want love"). What really hooked me in was the absurd dance routine he did with his female back-up singers. He was so deadpanned and the music was so cool and then this absolutely ridiculous dance? I loved it.

So I got the disc, and it was no disappointment. Hick's deadpan delivery and humor carries it for sure, but the guy has chops too. He played drums on the show, but plays a mean guitar on most of "Beatin' the Heat." The sound borrows heavily from old jazz but feels somehow out of time altogether. Interesting arrangements and instrumentation abound - and so do guests appearances. Tom Waits, Brian Setzer, Elvis Costello and Bette Midler all show up.

But it is Hicks that rules. OK, his voice is a little off-key sometimes, but when you have lines like "you're standing on the corner/ looking like a stupid loner/ waiting for the bus" does it really matter? Plus he does have a unique vocal ability to hold a note forever and to make it sound a little like a horn. It's strange and cool -- just like everything on this disc.

Personal favorites are the plaintive "Driftin'" which is actually rather serious and touching, a goofy cover of Waits' "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not me)" which is hysterical and the whacked out "Hell I'd Go" which features Martians on back-up vocals.

A final interesting note: the liner notes have a brief story by Dave Kaplan of Surfdog Records, who put out the CD, about how he has been a Dan Hick's fan ever since a certain bizarre performance on a late night talk show. It was Johnny Carson -- 1973. An almost exact experience to mine twenty-seven years later. Like I said, Hicks is timeless.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back at it again!, January 24, 2001

By 

G Tate (Cookeville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beatin' the Heat (Audio CD)

I was a HUGE fan of Dan Hicks back in the '70's. I even was in a band or two which did some of his great material, which always provided us with the most fun we ever had on stage. Over the years I would occasionally pull out my well-worn albums and get a Hicks-fix every once in a while. Then, my brother, who is as big a fan as myself, gave me his newest CD, "Beatin' the Heat" for Christmas. And I am happy to say that I am back in Hicksville once again, listening to the absolute most original, funky, jazz-tinged folk-rock swing music I have ever known! And his sly, clever, sometimes corny, but always smile-inducing lyrics have only improved with age. THIS IS A GREAT CD!!! If you like quality, long-lived material, you MUST introduce yourself to the master. I played him for my husband who was totally unfamiliar, and even my 10-yr-old, and they are now converts.

Dan, we missed you! Give us another one soon!!