Customer Reviews

Love Laughter & Truth

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

 

 

"LoveLaughterAndTruth" deserves more respect than it has been granted by some of the other customer reviewers. While they are right to criticize its lack of continuity as well as the inconsistency of its sound quality, this has some genuinely brilliant material on it--and for that alone, it is worth the price of admission. It's nice to have some of these bits without having to find them online. Hicks is at it again, railing against non-smokers, anti-drug legislation, children on airplanes, the insipidity of American comedy club audiences and arch-conservative politicians like Jesse Helms and Bob Martinez. "Children on Airplanes," "Australia" and the vividly distasteful "You Can't Get Bitter" are as good as anything in his repetoire. Let's be honest: "LoveLaughterAndTruth" is funnier than "Dangerous" and/or "Relentless" (which drags in the middle). Obviously the must-haves are "Arizona Bay" and "Rant in E-Minor," and this disc, because of its scattershot sequencing, cannot match the power of them. The new "Flying Saucer Tour Vol. 1" disc is also a worthy addition to the Hicks cdiscography. Believe it or not, "LoveLaughterAndTruth" just might be the place for neophytes to start getting acquainted with Hicks.

yes, this release is a collection of random bits, and the sound quality is sketchy in some spots. however, you must realize what you're getting- 45 minutes, of essentially "unheard" Bill Hicks material! owning every bootleg, i had heard alot of these bits before, but there was some stuff on here that was new even to me. i wouldnt recommend this disc before his first 4 albums, or the excellent "Flying Saucer Tour, Vol. 1", but if you own those albums already and enjoy them, you MUST own this.

Bill Hicks was a genius. Period. To Date there are only 8 cds you can buy, thats not alot. If anyone calls themselves a true fan, they MUST own all of his albums. There are other reviews for this cd that complain about the quality. If these twits had gone to school and learnt how to read the enclosed CD booklet, they would have seen that this CD is not 100% because Bill recorded the material himself for his own personal archives!

If you love Bill Hicks, you will love this album. Bills impression of Australia and England, plus his opinions on Heathers two mommys is classic!!!

Buy this cd, It will grow on you, just like Flying Saucer Tour will grow on you!

Here's the track list, since amazon seems not to have it:

01 Intro / Smokers Vs Drinkers
02 Drunk Driving
03 New York Apartment
04 My One Man Show
05 Pot Smoking
06 Drugs Are Bad
07 Children On Airplanes
08 50 Year Smoker
09 Smoking In Heaven
10 Australia
11 Satisfying The American Comedy Audience
12 Dance Club
13 Speaking Of Homosexuality
14 Poe-Naw-Grah-Fee
15 A Question For The Ladies
16 My Favourite New Kid
17 You Can't Get Bitter
18 Closing Bit

Several of these tracks are recognizable bits in the other cds, but for the most part it's a lot of new material, well worth the pain in the side it'll bring.

Two stars for a Bill Hicks album? 'Fraid so, but before I go any further I'll emphasise that all of Hicks' material gets a five star treatment from me, and the routines on this cd are no exception. Even when he's at his laziest he still has more going for him than any other comedian, dead or alive. It gets one star above the lowest mark purely because the material is finally out.

So why two stars? This cd is a compilation of material taken from a number of shows at various points in Hicks' career that wasn't included on any of the available cds released in 1997. As such the sound quality is absolutely all over the place, going from perfect to bootleg quality (the booklet admittedly does emphasise this...but so what? It doesn't work, it just makes for a very haphazard listen); the material is arranged in a way that bears no relation to how Hicks used to fashion his shows; some of the routines are truncated, the most heinious example being the "Speaking Of Homosexuality" piece where the finishing line pointing out the hypocrisy in the attitudes he talks about is missing and completely alters the tone of the routine (I have a tape of the show the routine is originally from); there are glaring omissions that should and could have been on this cd (it is only 47 mins long) - where are the Goatboy, the It's Just A Ride, & Dick Clark pieces, to name a few? And the photographs in the booklet are rubbish - badly reproduced, no dates or locations (which can also be said about the lack of similar info on the material) etc.

Really what it boils down to is that a comedian like Hicks can't be overviewed like this in a mere 3/4 hr, his act evolved tremendously over a number of years from a Sam Kinison alike in the early/mid 80's to finding his own voice in the late 80's/'90's. It would have been a far better option to have released full shows that included the unreleased material with the full production values that raised his last Arizona Bay and his Rant In E Minor cds out of the ordinary. The cd released simoultaneously with this one, "Flying Saucer Tour Vol 1" is a more satisfying release, though even that one is still problematic due to the material on that already being widely available and having no production or editing to speak of.

I imagine that most people looking to buy this cd will already be familiar with the nature of Hicks' comedy, those that aren't should definitely look at buying the first four cds previously released by Ryko. Expectations were high for the first Hicks releases since then (bar last year's absolutely pointless compilation 'Philosophy', to which most of the above criticisms can also be levelled), and in my opinion have not been fulfilled. A missed opportunity - get your act together Ryko.

I honestly could care less about the sound quality or the lack of continuity of this "rarities" release. What is on this CD is well worth hearing and quite funny. That said, this CD is only around 45 minutes long and from the liner notes this CD was cut down from over 3 hours worth of material. I just have a hunch that substantial material was left off this disk for release later down the road. If you buy this CD just know you will not be getting a full 70 minute dose of Bill Hicks. This disc falls under a "collectors only" catagory. This disk has a lot of funny little quirks, antedotes, and slight variations of material released before. If you are looking for introduction to Bill Hicks please select another one of his other releases. Try "Relentless" or "Arizona Bay"

I never thought I'd give Bill anything else than five stars but I'm going to have to here.Every Bill Hicks article on the market is a work of genius and should be savoured but like the compilation CD "Philosophy",this album was devised by
marketing men off to make a quick buck off his death.The routines are spliced together with no continuity,the sound is poor and this means that the gags can't evoke the laughter they should.And it's way too short at 45 minutes.There are some hilarious routines,such as the Australia routine and kids on airplanes but there's nothing as vitrolic or provocative as there is in his other work.Just another reason to listen to Rant In E Minor,Relentless and Arizona Bay over and over again.And it makes you wish Bill was still around to make sense out of all this unsensible [business] that's going on at the moment;Bush,another Gulf War,I'm sure Bill's turning in his grave

R.I.P.

Two stars for a Bill Hicks album? 'Fraid so, but before I go any further I'll emphasise that all of Hicks' material gets a five star treatment from me, and the routines on this cd are no exception. Even when he's at his laziest he still has more going for him than any other comedian, dead or alive. It gets one star above the lowest mark purely because the material is finally out.

So why two stars? This cd is a compilation of material taken from a number of shows at various points in Hicks' career that wasn't included on any of the available cds released in 1997. As such the sound quality is absolutely all over the place, going from perfect to bootleg quality (the booklet admittedly does emphasise this...but so what? It doesn't work, it just makes for a very haphazard listen); the material is arranged in a way that bears no relation to how Hicks used to fashion his shows - he always used to build up to a big finish; some of the routines are truncated, the most heinious example being the "Speaking Of Homosexuality" piece where the finishing line pointing out the hypocrisy in the attitudes he talks about is missing and completely alters the tone of the routine (I have a tape of the show the routine is originally from); there are glaring omissions that should and could have been on this cd (it is only 47 mins long) - where are the Goatboy, the It's Just A Ride, & Dick Clark pieces, to name a few? And the photographs in the booklet are rubbish - badly reproduced, no dates or locations (which can also be said about the lack of similar info on the material) etc.

Really what it boils down to is that a comedian like Hicks can't be overviewed like this in a mere 3/4hr, his act evolved tremendously over a number of years from a Sam Kinison alike in the early/mid 80's to finding his own voice in the late 80's/'90's. It would have been a far better option to have released full shows that included the unreleased material with the full production values that raised his last Arizona Bay and his Rant In E Minor cds out of the ordinary. The cd released simoultaneously with this one, "Flying Saucer Tour Vol 1" is a more satisfying release, though even that one is still problematic due to almost all the material being already widely available and having no editing or production to speak of.

I imagine that most people looking to buy this cd will already be familiar with the nature of Hicks' comedy, those that aren't should definitely look at buying the first four cds previously released by Ryko. Expectations were high for the first Hicks releases since then (bar last year's absolutely pointless compilation 'Philosophy', to which most of the above criticisms can also be levelled), and in my opinion have not been fulfilled. A missed opportunity - get your act together Ryko.

This CD should be called "Cutting Room Floor" or "I'm Dead and Have No Control Over The Release of My Material." Don't believe the reviews that tell you not to believe the reviews that don't like this CD. Rant in E-Minor, Relentless, Arizona Bay and Dangerous are what you are looking for. This one is a compilation of not very good bits in no particular order. If you are just getting into Bill, this will make you wonder what all the fuss is about, and you won't look further (a big mistake).

As for the reviews:
* ""LoveLaughterAndTruth" deserves more respect than it has been granted by some of the other customer reviewers."
No no no...
* If anyone calls themselves a true fan, they MUST own all of his albums.
Spoken like a collector, not a fan.

A compilation from some of Hicks' early performances provides yet another great album showing Bill at his funniest. This has some great material on it, including some old favourites told in a slightly different way. I love it that he can make you laugh and open your eyes wide to the irony in life at the same time. His political jokes are sharp and witty and his life observations are not only true, but hilarious. Not as caustic as Rant in E-Minor, but a great album regardless. This isn't necessarily one to share with your mum, but it is one to share with all your friends, family and colleagues and as many people as possible!!! Once you hear one Hicks album you'll be hooked. Simply brilliant.

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