Live From Hell New Mexico

Live From Hell

Sam Kinison

Priority Records, 1994

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 03/22/1998

Love him or hate him, the comedy world has yet to recover fromthe death of Sam Kinison.

When Kinison was killed in a car crash in 1992, the scene lostone of its most vocal satirists. His abrasive, caustic style oftencalled our attention to subjects other comics didn't want to treadon. (Ironically, Kinison ripped world hunger organizations on hisdebut album Louder Than Hell; over the past two weeks, the Chicago Tribune has run investigative reports on theseagencies. Too bad Kinison scooped them by a decade.)

After his death, Live From Hell was more than a scream beyond the grave - itwas a fitting memorial to the comedian. And it's an album Iconstantly find myself drawn back to, even though I've listened toit over 50 times over the last five years.

Recorded in Houston, Kinison is captured in non-stop rare form.If there were any golden calves left that Kinison hadn't defrocked,he found them on this album. No one - from Captain Kangaroo toJeffrey Dahmer - was safe from his often biting, oftenobscenity-laden tirade. (Obviously, this one ain't for the kids -though the adults should find this incredibly funny.)