Alive With Pleasure

Editorial Reviews
Nashville Scene
"Hicks is that rare smart-ass pop songwriter who's as clever as he thinks he is"

Colin Helms, CMJ New Music Report
"[Hicks's] refreshingly simple, smart style never seems to be en vogue, but is always a pleasure to hear"

Alive With Pleasure

Average customer rating:

Complete Secular Songs (3cd)

Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B0000DJENT
Release Date: 2004-01-13

Average customer rating:

What's with the crank review below?
forgotten pretender
Giant Steps
all growed up

Alive With Pleasure
Dylan Hicks
Manufacturer: No Alternative
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005UP3Q
Release Date: 2001-12-04

Tracks:

I'm Fun To Be Around
All The Rock Star Jobs Are Taken
City Lights
All The Friends I Ever Had Are Gone
Pushin' My Car
I Wanna Be Black Sometimes
College Boys
Playing With The Boys in Willie's Band
The Secret of Life
My Best Friend
Some of the Summertime
Emma's Moving to Chicago

Customer Reviews:

What's with the crank review below?.......2005-01-24

Oh Please! What's with the review below? It had been two years since Dylan had even played a gig and some anonymous crank goes online, searches out an out-of-print CD, leaves a review like that? I'd say it's more likely that Senor anonymous is the aspiring artist and Dylan massacred his stuff in a review. Dylan did win the songwriter of the year award from the MN Music Awards, after all. Of course, I'm the first to point out I'm an impartial judge of his music, but I do have very high standards.

forgotten pretender.......2004-06-25

The Twin Cities has one of the more hype-driven local music "scenes" that you'd ever care to see. It's been over twenty years since fate made us the home of notable talents such as the Replacements and Prince. Throughout the 90's, the local arts rags tried to keep the excitement alive by hyping dubious talents as the next big thing. As time has marched on they have one by one been proven to be pretenders. Dylan is one of these. I do agree with his self-assessment of being a "3rd-rate Billy Joel," although 3rd-rate Elvis Costello may be more accurate. Either way, you've heard it all before, but done much much better. Uninteresting, annoying, and above all highly derivative (In addition to the rampant Costello-isms, who on earth has the lameness to take the title of an outrageously funny Lou Reed song and try to pass it off as his own cleverness? You know who.) Disregard the 5-star reviews by his friends (hint: Andy Sullivan didn't used to live in DC) and steer clear. Even at the pennies on the dollar that the multiple used copies are selling for it's not worth it. By the way, Dylan is now a "journalist" at one of the local arts rags that used to hype him, a job much more appropriate for his talent level.

Giant Steps.......2002-02-08

Each Hicks album grows in its songwriting and musicianship and Alive With Pleasure is a giant step in that progression. These songs are equal parts jaded and bittersweet, reflective and funny. This album functions as a character study (or is it a study of characters?) as Hicks weaves through fictional points of views, without being condescending or judgmental. Stand out tracks include "I Wanna be Black Sometimes", "City Lights" and "I'm Fun to be Around". Highly recomended.

all growed up.......2002-01-26

To appropriate another cigarette slogan: You've come a long way baby. Dylan's third album is a real treat, a sign that it's not just Johnny Walker that improves with age.

Many songwriters dread being tagged "clever" just because they mix in a few quips with their couplets, and Dylan's no exception.
"I can hear them bullies calling me a fairy/now they call me Adult Contemporary," he sang on his last record, and on this one he refers to himself as a "third-rate Billy Joel."

But there's a lot more going on here. Dylan's all growed up now, and songs like "Secret of Life" and "All the Rock Star Jobs are Taken" are written from the perspective of a satisfied family man amused with his former anguished-youth pose. While every song is still jam-packed with, um, clever observations, the goofiness quotient is way down.

The music has stepped up a notch as well, especially Dylan's keyboards and Terry Eason's tasty guitar playing, and the bittersweet horns on "Some of the Summertime" will remind the listener of the Band's first two albums.

The result is a terrific record, easily one of the best of 2001...

I'm Alive with Pleasure, Ma'am
Average customer rating:
I'm Alive with Pleasure, Ma'am
Kid O'Malley , The Eugene Swank Atomic Honky Tonk , and Neal bullfiddle
Manufacturer: ES Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000AK2CGA