The fact that I haven’t selected from it tells its own story. The next one, Bad Luck Street In Dancing School, is an album that you expected so much from after Excitable Boy. It’s probably his most perfect album and if you’re just arriving here, you’ve got a huge treat in store. There are so many great songs on here that to list them would be pointless. Then came, Excitable Boy, and the world woke up to this new songwriting kid. I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill.įrank And Jesse James, Hasten Down The Wind, The French Inhaler and the common Zevon theme of I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead are also Warren Zevon near misses, if you can have five near-misses. Like the mystics and statistics say it will I was thinking that the gypsy wasn’t lyin’ I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian hotel I guess you could refer to it as the 11th on this list of 10, and if I hadn’t been trying to spread the load across the body of work, it would have climbed higher because it’s an old friend and lyrically unbeatable. Both exceptional and essential.ĭesperados Under The Eaves from Warren Zevon is my first near miss. The real Warren deal kicked in with his two 70s albums some years after Wanted Dead Or Alive, namely, Warren Zevon (1976) and Excitable Boy (1978). And, to be honest, even though I’d like to have a listen sometime, I don’t know the songs. You can also get hold of even earlier Warren as part of the folk duo, lyme and cybelle (lower case!), on The First Sessions CD but, luckily, that one’s not in my remit. It’s been rubbished but it’s a really interesting listen and speaks of things to come. Even a not-very-good Zevon song is good enough for me, and Werewolves is a very good Zevon song.įeel a bit guilty leapfrogging over Warren’s first album, Wanted Dead Or Alive (1969). Like a lot of listeners I suspect, my first encounter was with his signature song, Werewolves Of London. And while the songs could be about all kinds of doom there was a gentler side to this great writer and I hope that this impossible listing reflects that:
The artwork on the inner sleeves and back covers of the early LPs contained mixed-imagery of everyday life with revolvers and submachine guns thrown in. The threat of violence is apparent in many of the songs but Zevon could also do funny the personification of gallows humour.
#Warren zevon mister bad example professional#
His father was a professional gambler with gangster connections. Warren Zevon sure had the right background to inspire his mini-movies of cut-throats and ne’er-do-wells and people you should cross the street to avoid. His timeless masterpieces – often aided and abetted by the musical precision of David Lindley, Waddy Wachtel, Leland Sklar and Jorge Calderón. The reason: the charm of the man and the resonance of his songs. There had to be a reason why everyone wanted to record with him, a reason why he was the best connected man in rock – Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Garcia, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young and many more all came on board. The same man who stared death in the face and didn’t flinch. The man whose songs were often about the brevity of life and inevitability of death. The master practitioner distinctive singer, electrifying writer. Bad Example, on Giant Records.Warren Zevon. Bad Example," Zevon was an artist's artist, one whom Mountain Stage was fortunate to welcome to the program twice before his death in 2003 at the age of 56.Īt the time of this 1991 performance, Warren Zevon had just released his eighth studio album, Mr. His stoic vocals and gallows songwriting led to critical acclaim and popular success, eventually leading to his 1978 hit "Werewolves Of London." Although he could certainly be "Mr. Born in Chicago but raised on the West Coast, he began his music career as a classical piano student before broadening his admiration of Stravinsky to The Everly Brothers, folk and pop. Zevon was a beloved cult hero in the world of rock music. 17, 1991, at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, W.Va. From Mountain Stage's archives, the original tape of Warren Zevon's 1991 performance.įrom the Mountain Stage archives: a little-heard performance from gifted singer-songwriter-rocker Warren Zevon, recorded live Nov.
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