Warren Zevon Album Reviews

Warren Zevon was born in Chicago, the son of a Ukrainian-born bookie who worked for mobster Mickey Cohen. Zevon briefly studied with Igor Stravinsky, composer of ‘The Rite of Spring’. In his teens, he moved to L.A. to pursue a career as a folk singer. An early recording appeared on the Nuggets compilation with Lyme & Cybelle, while he wrote songs for The Turtles.

Warren Zevon was an industry veteran when he made his major-label debut in 1976. He’d toured with the Everly Brothers as their band leader. He roomed with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1975. Jackson Browne championed Zevon and produced his first major solo album. He followed a similar musical palette to his California contemporaries, but his lyrics were filled with dark humour.

He saw things with a jaundiced eye that still got the humanity of things.

David Crosby

Zevon’s first two major-label albums laid the foundation for a successful career – 1978’s Excitable Boy made the US top ten, and ‘Werewolves of London’ was a hit. But Zevon struggled with addictions, and his career was erratic thereafter.

Zevon passed away at 56 from mesothelioma. He admitted, “I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years.” During this broadcast, when asked by Letterman if he knew something more about life and death now, he famously responded, “enjoy every sandwich.”

Warren Zevon Album Reviews

Wanted Dead or Alive

1970, 4/10
Zevon’s debut was initiated by impresario Kim Fowley. Fowley and Zevon butted heads and Fowley quit midway through the album. Fowley claimed that Zevon “didn’t listen to anyone about anything.” Meanwhile, Zevon claimed a “sudden attack of taste”.

Wanted Dead or Alive remained out of print for years, but is now widely available. If Zevon hadn’t later achieved fame, it probably wouldn’t have languished in obscurity. It’s unremarkable, with Zevon’s songwriting not yet matured. Zevon handles most of the instruments himself – his piano playing is the record’s most entertaining aspect, but his guitar makes the generic blues songs even more monotonous. The Byrds’ Skip Battin plays bass.

‘She Quit Me’ also featured in the film Midnight Cowboy, but it’s a boring blues song, like most of the rest of the album. Zevon’s cover of ‘Iko-Iko’ is the best showcase of his piano playing. The closing instrumental ‘Fiery Emblems’ is arguably Zevon’s most memorable original song.

Attempts at a second album, Leaf in the Wind, were abandoned, and Zevon spent years languishing in obscurity. Wanted Dead or Alive remains an unconvincing curio.,

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Warren Zevon

1976, 9/10
It took Zevon six years to make his second album. He was regarded as a wastrel, and it took Jackson Browne’s support to persuade labels to give him another chance. Browne produced 1976’s Warren Zevon. With a six-year gap between albums, Zevon built up an impressive stockpile of songs. ‘Join Me in L.A.’ veers too close to the mainstream, but the rest is terrific.

It features perhaps the most star-studded cast of backing vocals ever assembled. Browne, Phil Everly, Buckingham and Nicks, Carl Wilson, Henley and Frey, J.D. Souther, and Bonnie Raitt appear.

Zevon’s strength is injecting unexpectedly nasty sentiments into sweet-sounding country rock. The chorus of ‘Carmelita’ starts sweetly, before Zevon drops the line “And I’m all strung out on heroin/on the outskirts of town.” His debut often reflects his struggles with addiction in L.A. in the 1970s – ‘Desperados Under the Eaves’ is another example.

Warren Zevon is arguably his most country-flavoured album, opening with the western-themed ‘Frank and Jesse James’. Zevon’s amazingly sophisticated on ‘The French Inhaler’. It dispenses with verse/chorus structures and winds through a series of jabs at ex-partner Tule Livingston. Even the wistful ‘Hasten Down the Wind’ is about a breakup. It’s often based around Zevon’s piano, but Buckingham and Nicks take ‘Mohammed’s Radio’ to surprising heights.

Warren Zevon is an impressive career reboot.

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Excitable Boy

1978, 9.5/10
Warren Zevon reflected a strung-out life in California, but Excitable Boy has an international scope. After meeting in a Catalonian bar, Zevon wrote ‘Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner’ with mercenary David Lindell. ‘Veracruz’ is about the U.S.’s occupation of the Mexican port city in 1914, while ‘Lawyers, Guns and Money’ is set in Latin America.

Musically, Excitable Boy is more muscular than its predecessor. Zevon delivers brash rockers like ‘Lawyers, Guns and Money’, where he’s commanding rather than wistful. He successfully twists disco to his purposes on ‘Nighttime in the Switching Yard’, with Jeff Porcaro on drums. Frequent Zevon collaborator Jorge Calderón co-writes two songs, while Browne again produced and co-wrote ‘Tenderness on the Block’.

‘Werewolves of London’ was the breakthrough hit, with Fleetwood Mac’s rhythm section. But by my reckoning, it’s only the fourth-best song here. My favourite is ‘Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner’, a macabre folk song with three contrasting choruses – the harmonised second chorus is much busier than the other two. ‘Accidentally Like a Martyr’ is pretty and Dylan-like. The brash ‘Lawyers, Guns and Money’ starts with the immortal lines:

I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians too?

‘Lawyers, Guns and Money’ runs out of original ideas halfway through – the second half is mostly Zevon bellowing, “send lawyers, guns and money”. But it’s a blast, and its ferocious delivery illustrates Zevon’s artistic growth.

There isn’t a weak song on Excitable Boy, and it’s Zevon’s most substantial record.

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Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School

1980, 7.5/10
After two terrific albums on Asylum, Zevon dropped back into the pack with Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. It’s enjoyable, but the S-Tier songwriting that marked his two previous records is largely absent. He’s still accomplished, delivering brash rockers like ‘Jungle Work’ and pretty ballads like ‘Empty-Handed Heart’. The record was dedicated to mystery writer Ross Macdonald (real name Ken Millar), who helped Zevon through his addictions.

It’s a stronger record than it seems at first glance, but it’s weak in crucial places. The opening title track is a sluggish rocker that never quite ignites. The cover of Allen Toussaint’s ‘A Certain Girl’ is an odd choice as lead single, a perfunctory 1950s-style rocker.

My favourite song is ‘Jeannie Needs a Shooter’, a folk-tinged rocker co-written by Springsteen, with Joe Walsh on lead guitar. Walsh also plays on ‘Jungle Work’, while Frey and Henley sing backing vocals on ‘The Wild Age’. ‘Play It All Night Long’ and the quirky ‘Gorilla, You’re A Desperado’ are other strong deep cuts.

Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School is mildly disappointing after two classics, but there’s plenty to enjoy.

10 Best Warren Zevon Songs

The French Inhaler
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Accidentally Like A Martyr
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Hasten Down the Wind
Jeannie Needs a Shooter
Mutineer
Mohammed’s Radio