Bonus Tracks
Fri., March 14, 1997
BILL HICKS
Dangerous (Rykodisc)
Relentless (Rykodisc)
Arizona Bay (Rykodisc)
Rant in E-Minor (Rykodisc)
Who can tell one Bill Cosby album from another? This one might be funnier than
that one, while this other one over here may have "Buck, Buck" as opposed to
"Fat Albert." Whatever the case, they all follow the standard rule: Funny man
tells comic routines in front of an audience while a tape machine rolls.
Comedian Bill Hicks was so far afield of the typical comic -- let's make it
clear that any recording of his material is essential listening -- that
even his four albums, two previously released and two "new" ones, violate that
rule; they're all markedly different in tone and style.
The first, Dangerous, originally released in 1991, follows the comedy
concert format, while the second one, Relentless, issued in 1992, moves
into the classic Shelley Berman/Bob Newhart-pioneered "collected routines"
territory. From there, with the two new albums, Arizona Bay and Rant
in E-Minor, things get really strange.
Hicks was determined to take comedy beyond what the stand-up boom of the
Eighties had watered it down into. Rather than rely on props, low-brow blue
material, or corny jokes, Hicks imbued his routines with a comic's greatest
asset, the truth, verbally attacking hypocrisy and idiocy in its myriad forms,
and forcing his audiences to think -- all the while remaining hysterically
funny.
Hicks fought to rethink the conventions of comedy that had made it irrelevant,
and as such, with Arizona Bay, he tried a new experiment designed to
make that album a whole entity rather than a collection of bits. Hicks bridged
the routines on the album with music, to the extent that in its early
bootlegged versions, many fans said they found it difficult to listen to. With
some restraint taken on the musical portion, however, the new official release
succeeds far more than anyone could have expected, merging the merciless wit
and wisdom of Hicks with the relaxing, spiritual side he displayed in his
bluesy guitar playing. He was no Hendrix, to be sure, but in its secondary
position, the music does give the album a solid, if dual, personality of its
own.
Left to compile the material from the comedian's last days on this planet
(Hicks died in 1994 from pancreatic cancer), friend/producer Kevin Booth
elected to take things even farther out on Rant in E Minor, bringing in
more instrumental cues and effects and occasionally even collaging more-or-less
random chunks of material into a psychedelic soup of ideas. It corresponds well
to the words coming from a man who at this point knew he had only a few months
left to live, and was shooting commentary out like buckshot with no attention
paid to who might be shocked or offended by his words. If this album were to
follow the tradition set by the titles of the first two, it would have been
called Fearless.
Still, taken without warning, Rant is a bit of a shock, and can even be
confusing to the uninitiated. Longtime fans should brace themselves before they
dive in; the inexperienced would be better served by listening to the albums in
the order in which they were recorded. And remember this: While most of those
old Cosby albums have a few funny bits, all four volumes of Hicks' recorded
legacy are positively wicked.
-- Ken Lieck
"Bonus Tracks" reviews all local and Texas-based music commercially available. Send to: "Bonus Tracks," c/o The Austin Chronicle, PO Box 49066, Austin, TX 78751.
