Bill Hicks - Salvation [Recorded live; Oxford, UK - 11/11/92] & Sane Man [DVD] (Rykodisc)

"Salvation"

Jesus, 1994 was a real bummer of a year for me you know? I mean, like, totally fucked up. In no particular order...

...I got dumped by the girl I thought I’d marry. OK, pretty rough...

...Kurt Cobain, a hero, finally blew his head off after a number of close calls (all the signs were there; he was in and out of rehab/hospital - some idiots were daring him to go all the way) – and I felt empty and stupid for not interpreting “All Apologies” the right way...

...I’d stared in disbelief as I watched another hero, Ayrton Senna, crash in splinters of carbon fibre, twisted suspension links, sand, gravel and grass at Imola. Along with the other 200 million people watching it worldwide, I saw his wrecked car come to a halt and his head slump after the impact. A track marshal ran to his aid, but slow and then back away from Senna’s car. I knew that he’d gone...

...And then I heard about the big one. I mean, knew he wasn’t well... but uhm... I didn’t know he was like dying you know?...

...And there it was, one day (in the NME, I recall) where I saw a small, shoe horned-in ‘Stop Press’ piece on an early page, simply titled “BILL HICKS”. I knew instantly what this small article was. And in that few number of words I realised 1994 was going to go down as disastrous as any a year for me.

My ultimate hero, Bill Hicks, had lost his fight against pancreatic cancer - and died peacefully at his parents’ home on 26 February 1994. He was 33 years old.

Dear God. Please help me. I am so alone.

Here had been a man who, through incisive, daring and hilarious monologues had not just contrived to make me properly laugh (not once, but every time I heard a routine; I’d memorised it all) – but who had engaged my thought processes and defined the way in which I saw the world.

And who knows, maybe he would have cracked the USA eventually and engaged mass public consciousness and re-defined everyone’s way in which they saw the world... and who knows what would have happened then! Maybe we’d have realised Bill’s vision to ‘explore the universe as one’?

Years on he is still remembered, thank heavens, in those regions where he was most popular - thanks to the internet, the occasional publication – and the occasional unearthing and publishing of a publishable recording.

The problem with recordings of Bill’s routines is that good ones of a worthy length are scarce (outside of the few under this label). Primarily because it was only his successful, early 90s routines that had been commercially recorded and published anyway... and so little material had been properly committed to tape.

So in fact, apart from the albums ‘Dangerous’ (1990), ‘Relentless’ (1991), ‘Arizona Bay’ and ‘Rant in E Minor’ (both released posthumously in 1997) – much of the commercially available Bill Hicks material (audio or video) is duplication or re-hash...albeit with a different delivery.

Would Bill have approved of a relatively modest array of routines be spread so thinly across so many CDs and videos/dvds? Would Bill have approved of the ‘Bed’ music linking topics which couldn’t be mixed properly on Arizona Bay and Rant??

And what of ‘Salvation’? A two-CD affair, which worryingly states on the reverse of the sleeve “Portions of this recording were previously released as Live at the Oxford Playhouse 11.11.1992 – also known as ‘Shock and Awe’ “.

Here we go again?

Ah but no. This is a ‘complete and unedited performance’ according to the publishers. So let’s take a listen....


By this point in his career, Bill was an absolute master of the stage and of his material - and he opens with a level of confidence which sets the tone for the rest of his performance.

Throughout this recording you can visualise him with his trademark pacing around the stage, firing out material to the audience... who never question him. They have come to hear the preacher man. He’s angry - and they love it.

So by 1992 he was celebrating the fact that George Bush Snr had lost to Clinton and there’s plenty to say about the matter.

Still hung up on the Iraq ‘conflict’ (“Wasn’t really a war, because for a war there has to be TWO armies fighting........so you see, right there, the argument fails. Wan’t really a war.”) he picks on John Major and Britain’s ‘partnership’ with the USA. The audience roar with approval.

Amazingly, another ‘Persian Gulf Distraction’ happened years after Bill’s death and his material is STILL valid. Just change the names and the shit’s the same. In ’92 – he’s astonished about our bombing of Iraq saying we’re “Arming these little brown countries, then going and bombing the shit out of them” .... “What did these guys have before we armed them? They had fucking ROCKS, man... I don’t get it.”.

He’s perplexed at the rate we produce Stealth Bombers “The invisible bomber – probably to go and bomb the shit out of all these invisible countries that are threatening us”.

More familiar material follows for Hicks fans. The Army (‘Puppet People’), The Media, Los Angeles, Kennedy, Smoking etc.

It’s 1992 by the time Bill is playing Oxford and some of this is 2 years old even then. Do we, Bill’s disciples, want new material? Well yes and no. Nevermind, let’s carry on.


Flip on to disc 2 and we get more familiar material. Now well into his stride, with the audience right beside him – Bill identifies the ironies with Christianity, good times on drugs, celebrates the movies (well actually, the old one about terminally ill people as stunt men in pictures) and berates children... particularly the story with the kid hassling him on the aeroplane - possibly one of the most brutal, well-timed, hilarious, timeless pieces of comedy you’ll hear anywhere (on the kid pulling at the exit handle on the plane) “Shh.... wait.... we’re all about to learn something important”.

Bill tells us we shouldn’t “Boil pizza” and our fascination with chips (“You have fries with everything man”) bothers him “You’re over your spud quota guys, I heard a hooker shouting out last ‘Head and Chips’ “.

The final ‘medley’, if you want to call it that, ends with his familiar message to the audience and then in three gun shots the lights go out and it’s over.


As a die-hard Hicks fan I may view the material slightly differently than a newcomer. First, every time I see a ‘new’ recording I hold on to the (now vain) hope that this is all new, never before heard, fresh Bill material. Sadly it never is. Second, whatever – as a disciple it’s fantastic to re-live the man’s comedy during this relatively short number of years in the spotlight.

And do you buy it?

Simply, ‘Salvation’ benefits from being a routine published in full - and you totally get to appreciate Bill’s mastery of the stage, his delivery, his subject matter – and all this during his vintage years.

I think that makes it a no-brainer. It’s a must-have for hardened fans and curious newcomers alike.

10/10

For our Bill Hicks

"Sane Man"

"Sane Man" is the first-ever complete show filmed live and one that Bill pulled out all the stops for the cameras. This performance preceeds that of "Dangerous" and it was said is a turning point in this comedy geniuses career. Including the original 60 minute version of the "Sane Man" performance, plus the expanded version. It also features a wealth of extras, including Outtakes, Hick's in full Elvis Las Vegas suit, the story of this "Sane Man", Biography and Discography. Not enough, well check out this superb product for the full low down.

Our very own Bill Hicks tribute continues with our 'Hicks Disography' - Click here

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