Customer Reviews

Equal Scary People

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What can I say? I live in the middle of nowhere Nevada and bought this album several years ago, "sound unseen" and strictly based on a description in a music club catalog. I think I have listened to it nearly every month for the last four years. Every track is great and yet there is enough variety in the album to fit many moods. It is the sort of album in your collection that you always come back to.

"Big Rain" and "Song for My Father" are the best tunes. This artist can sing fast and slow songs with great skill and sensitivity. Hickmann is a smart and witty musician, and well worth trying out.

I took a gamble buying this Sara Hickman debut album after reading a favorable review in a Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine. It was a gamble that paid big dividends. From the opening cut, "Simply," a lofty, beautifully fingerpicked love song that lacks the cliches so common to the genre ("We can't be one, but two is fine with me."), to the closer, "Under the Sycamore Tree," the album is highlighted by Sara's strong songwriting, her achingly sweet voice, and deft acoustic guitar work. "Last Night Was a Big Rain," once performed solo by Sara on "The Tonight Show," is a nice throwback to Country music's folk roots. Along the same lines is "500X (The Train Song)," a song that, along with "Last Night" would have fit well on the playlists of country music radio stations (if country music had not become a parody of itself and stubbornly refused to recognize its folk roots). Sara shines on solo acoustic ballads like "Song for my Father" and an unusual but well done acoustic cover of James Brown, "It's a Man's World." She changes tempo on the upbeat, rhythmically adventurous "Equal Scary People," complete with humourous chatter that sounds like it was recorded at a party. "Why Don't You" is a slow ballad driven by Sara's guitar, pedal steel, high hat and aching for a boy who no longer wants her. I rated this album four stars instead of the five because of songs like "I Wish I Were a Princess" (one of only two songs NOT penned by Sara) that, in my opinion, did not work. Overall, an impressive debut from an eclectic artist who doesn't get much deserved radio airplay because she isn't easy to categorize: Is she folk? Is she pop? Is she country? Is she rock?

Sara Hickman amassed a following in her native Texas with an early version of this debut CD. "Equal Scary People" possessed equal parts charm (500 X the Train Song), delicacy ("Simply") and sheer personality ("I Wish I Were A Princess"). The resulting mix of folk and pop suggested Joni Mitchell with a sense of humor, or a country music star without the pretense. ("Simply" could have as easily charted Country as it did Adult Contemporary.)

Another highlight of "Equal Scary People" was Sara's cover of James Brown's "This is a Man's World." She completely transforms the meaning of the song, and made her an artist to watch. Her career followed many of the same paths...mixing styles of music to folk while imprinting her personality on the songs themselves. "Equal Scary People" is just one of many excellent Sara Hickman albums.

I like punk rock music. I like avant garde jazz full of squeals, honks, and atonal blats. The female singer-songwriter genre is not my usual cup of tea. This is a great CD.

She's got a massive hook "Last Night was a Big Rain," a JB tune ("This is a Man's World,"), and uses a plastic hose swung around her head to get a theramin-type sound on one cut. The Art Ensemble of Chicago would be proud.

I have only heard a couple of Sara Hickman's other CDs. I didn't think they were as good as this one: the songwriting was weaker and tended toward cloying earnestness. But this one is great. Take it from an avant punk.

A really great album. Each track has a mind of its own. Tunes such as "Simply" and "Song for my father" are sincere and not overly complicated. I'm sure James Brown would love Sara Hickman's cover of "It's a man's world"! Only one track, "I wish I were a princess" doesn't make the cut. It just grates. Recently purchased the CD to replace the badly worn cassette. All in all, a good buy. No regrets here.

This is the best Sara Hickman ever, in my humble opinion. I'll never tire of singing along with Sara to these songs.

VERY GOOD AUSTIN STYLE COUNTRY MUSIC.

Originally recorded in 1988, this is Sarah Hickman's first album. It is 38 minutes long. It was originally released on an independent label, and then Warner Brothers did a major label release of the ablum. After that is has been reissued a number of times on different labels. I have the Warner Brothers version and the sound quality is very good, especially for an indie. I cannot say how the sound quality is on other versions.

This is your basic late eighties/early nineties Texas Hill Country style of country music. It's country music without a heavy twang and with a little folk and rock mixed. It is nothing like the pop country of today.

The songs and the music on this CD are very interesting and well written. They are a little bit light in parts, especially I Wish I Were a Princess. Overall it is a very pleasant album to listen to throughout. There are not any clunkers on it.

I was debating whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. It is a very a nice CD throughout but one that might deserve only 3 stars (which isn't bad). But, I bumped it up a star because it so much better than the contemporary pop country that is being release today by people who are taking basic overworked pop and providing a twang to it...the music recorded by people in ridiculous cowboy hats and who have never been on a horse before.

Freaky cover, though.

VERY GOOD AUSTIN STYLE COUNTRY MUSIC.

Originally recorded in 1988, this is Sarah Hickman's first album. It is 38 minutes long. It was originally released on an independent label, and then Warner Brothers did a major label release of the ablum. After that is has been reissued a number of times on different labels. I have the Warner Brothers version and the sound quality is very good, especially for an indie. I cannot say how the sound quality is on other versions.

This is your basic late eighties/early nineties Texas Hill Country style of country music. It's country music without a heavy twang and with a little folk and rock mixed. It is nothing like the pop country of today.

The songs and the music on this CD are very interesting and well written. They are a little bit light in parts, especially I Wish I Were a Princess. Overall it is a very pleasant album to listen to throughout. There are not any clunkers on it.

I was debating whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. It is a very a nice CD throughout but one that might deserve only 3 stars (which isn't bad). But, I bumped it up a star because it so much better than the contemporary pop country that is being release today by people who are taking basic overworked pop and providing a twang to it...the music recorded by people in ridiculous cowboy hats and who have never been on a horse before.

Freaky cover, though.

VERY GOOD AUSTIN STYLE COUNTRY MUSIC.

Originally recorded in 1988, this is Sarah Hickman's first album. It is 38 minutes long. It was originally released on an independent label, and then Warner Brothers did a major label release of the ablum. After that is has been reissued a number of times on different labels. I have the Warner Brothers version and the sound quality is very good, especially for an indie. I cannot say how the sound quality is on other versions.

This is your basic late eighties/early nineties Texas Hill Country style of country music. It's country music without a heavy twang and with a little folk and rock mixed. It is nothing like the pop country of today.

The songs and the music on this CD are very interesting and well written. They are a little bit light in parts, especially I Wish I Were a Princess. Overall it is a very pleasant album to listen to throughout. There are not any clunkers on it.

I was debating whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. It is a very a nice CD throughout but one that might deserve only 3 stars (which isn't bad). But, I bumped it up a star because it so much better than the contemporary pop country that is being release today by people who are taking basic overworked pop and providing a twang to it...the music recorded by people in ridiculous cowboy hats and who have never been on a horse before.

Freaky cover, though.