Search - Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks :: Last Train to Hicksville

Dan and the crew ride the mellow train to yesterday

06/16/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"" A voice keeps calling to me, so loud and so clear....I'll just pretend I'm not here" Classic Dan Hicks lyrics with toe tapping post-hippie mountian swing. The group was able to steer clear of pre-disco rumblings, mainstream "western" twangy, and lost rock taint. It's a musical picture of Hogie Carmicheal with a roachclip. Hey, Skylark."

You know it's good, it's good to be back.

10/05/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I (just to be really self-indulgent about this) first heard this group on the old Tonight Show when George Carlin was "filling in for Johnny." Not long afterward they appeared on The Flip Wilson Show. I was hooked. I bought this album on LP way back when, listened to it a lot for a while, then for some reason put it away. I'll crank it up these days, and you know what happens next - the rush of memories is almost overwhelming.Dan's voice was never all that great, but the Lickettes make up for that. His songwriting can't be faulted, though. There's a little more variety here than on their previous albums. I'm not a big fan of country music (let's face it, I can't stand it), but "Payday Blues," a real crying-in-your-beer number, is tolerable: I hear it as a parody. Everything else is even better -- an eclectic mix of jazz, swing, nostalgia, even a little bluegrass. "Sure Beats Me" is straightahead jazz, reminiscent of QHCF. Sid and John are superb instrumental soloists.Each of the Lickettes gets her own well-deserved solo spot. Naomi sings and plays some violin. Maryann has, for me, a more appealing voice. Compare her version of "Sweetheart" with Maria Muldaur's.The missing star is for the skimpy information in the CD packaging - you get a list of the songs and the personnel, and that's it. With the original LP you also got composer credits (they're not all by Dan), photos of each of the band members, and, on the inner sleeve, all the lyrics! The latter might come in handy with something like "`Long Come A Viper." This band could do so much, and probably should have been even more popular than they were. "In dreams I can make you my own." Ahh...the memories..."

Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys meet Manhattan Transfer

Vacation Boy | Princeton, NJ USA | 10/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Or Spike Jones meets Asleep at the Wheel? Cowboy music for city slickers? Dan's band was a revolving door with many permutations and pretty tough to classify. The one thing you can tell is that they sure did have fun making this music. 'Last Train to Hicksville' has always been my personal favorite. It's their tightest (all things being relative--these were pretty loose folks) sounding effort with an eclectic mix of songs for all ages and the best corp of Lickettes."