Arizona Bay Review

07/13/2005 6:41 AM, AMG


Bill Hicks envisioned a big earthquake sending California into the ocean, leaving a place called Arizona Bay. When you hear how Hicks ridicules Los Angeles, you will think that Woody Allen's comments about Los Angeles in Annie Hall were compliments. Hicks extends his "comedy of hate" to Republicans ("The Elephant Is Dead") and fundamentalist Christians ("Dinosaurs in the Bible"). In "Marketing & Advertising," he urges everybody in his audience who is in marketing and advertising to "kill themselves." The punchline of the joke has Hicks talking as a marketer claiming, "he's going for that anti-marketing dollar, huge market." When Hicks isn't talking about politics or philosophical matters, he is telling the audience candid details about his private life. In "Clam Lappers & Sonic the Hedgehog," he talks about his emotional "arrested development," renting only pornos and video games from his local video store. This posthomous release culls material from 1992 performances as well as music he recorded, and even though from time to time the music is intrusive, it often works well with the jokes (especially on "The Elephant is Dead"). Arizona Bay does not contain the fiery intensity of Rant in E-Minor, but it is his most consistently funny CD. ~ Brian Flota, All Music Guide