Customer Reviews

Tangled Tales

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

 

 

Having just interviewed Dan on my radio show, I feel that I am uniquely qualified to grace this amazingly fun release with the the almighty Amazon five star rating. I have spent the past month immersing myself in this CD and it has been a delight. It took about 3-4 spins for the music to sync with my nervous system and then I was hooked and wanting for more...You must pay attention or you miss the wonderful detail that has been crafted into this meticulous package of magic. Dan is riding with head-held-high in the creativity department. Sure, there are remakes, but they are way different than earlier versions and those songs have seasoned like fine wine. This is great entertainment and well worth the price that is being asked for it. Dan is a magician. Don't deprive yourself.

Keep on Truckin'

DJ Famous Jonny Mambo (Mojo Ballroom on WCOM)

Once upon a time in the time-space continuum...the San Francisco Bay Area in the 60s [1965-1974]....Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks made some fun and funny recordings of countrylike swing. Over the years his albums were fine but did not have that peculiar spirit of yesteryear. With Tangled Tales, Dan and the Hot Licks (don't short shrift the Hot Licks, whose contrasting voices and accentuations contribute much to the swing) have channeled the epoch with a truly excellent album. And this time he has the help of some great country rock and blues musicians: David Grisman, Charlie Musselwhite, Roy Rogers, and Bruce Forman, among others. The album includes some covers, but the songs are well chosen, from Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues to jazz master Horace Silvers' Song for My Father. Chris Goldsmith, the producer, did a fine job in getting it all together. I think that I struck it rich again!

This album is exactly what I had hoped. It's Dan! I love the guest instrumentalists on this as well. My immediate favorite is The Diplomat. I also enjoy his cover of Dylan's Subterranean Homsick Blues. Great job Dan!

After a long hiatus I was able to return to listen to Dan in his only Australian concert in Brisbane Australia through pure serendipidy. After listening to his first work from the early 70's for much of my life I found out the very day he was to give his only Australian concerts that he was playing in the city I was in. I attended and bought this CD and commend it to any who read this. It is something you have to return to and accustom yourself to, but it grows on you. Much like his earlier work (I scare myself, Milk Shaking Momma, etc)you have to give a bit of your time to appreciate Dan, but this is a thinking musician and somebody who has spent his life perfecting his trade. Excellent listening.

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
"Twisted Tales"
(Surfdog Records, 2009)
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Another intoxicating album from this hippie-string/swing veteran... Dan Hicks has been playing his unique mix of old-fashioned swing, blues and country for several decades now, goosing the tunes with kooky, goofball lyrics and plenty of retro savvy. This sizzling set features contributions from a wide circle of friends, people that he's jammed with for years and who are completely on his wavelength. They seem to share a group musical telepathy, as well as a love of the lore of old-timey tunes, so when the band zips its way through some groovy riffs, it's as if some lost old 78 by Milton Brown or Cliff Carlisle has been mashed up with a modern lo-fi indiepop album... It's just like, well... like a classic old Dan Hicks record. Indeed, some of these songs are reworkings of tunes he'd recorded a few years back, while others include well-chosen covers from Bob Dylan and Horace Silver, and a nice update of "Ragtime Cowboy Joe." Along for the ride are acoustic music heavyweights such as Richard Greene and David Grisman, as well as bluesmen Charlie Musselwhite and Roy Rogers. It's Marin County musicmaking at its finest: nice to see the old coot still making great music. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Guide To Hick Music)

If you liked Dan Hicks then, you will like him now. If you have never tried out his music, you will be in for a treat. A unique vision, well produced and completely enjoyable.

Material, execution, players, humor, this man never disappoints.
Album-cover-art-wise, sorry, but it didn't work for me.
Mike Z

He's back and kickin' as hard as ever! Pristine sound with fun tunes that make me want to dance!

I 'm an old Dan Hicks fan and I was looking forward to the release of this new album.
When it finally arrived eight months late I noticed that these eight new songs from Dan Hicks were not new at alla. In fact, five of them were included on the excellent live-album "Shooting straight" released around 1995. These studioversions are about almost the same. The title track is not really a song. So you end up with two new songs, the other ones are covers.
You can't treat old fans like that so that's why I give the album two stars. Don't buy it. Go to a concert instead!

I first heard Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks on Margaritaville radio a couple of years ago. I'm a big fan of "Selected Shorts" and "Beatin the Heat." I bought "Tangled Tales" without hearing any of the songs. I've listened to the CD several times thinking it would grow on me....so far, it hasn't.