Easily One Of The Best Albums Of The Seventies
Available super cheap anywhere, so don't pay full price unless you must. If you like The Eagles, singer-songwriters or FM radio greatness then you cannot go wrong with this record.
Darkly hilarious singer-songwriter masterpiece
These sorts of albums don't have buried themes or grand concepts; they've been created as nothing more than a series of stories that deserve retelling. Zevon's unmistakable masterwork is little more than a series of spectacular songs with an outcast mentality and blackly humorous bent that added edge to the flooding of mellowness and over-sentimentality that ruined the notion of singer-songwriters for the slightly more cynical population of the world.
This album contains his greatest song (the off-the-rails title track), a hysterically twisted take on a helpless psychotic, as well as his biggest hit ("Werewolves of London") which did a lot for circulating his name and a lot more for pigeonholing him as a novelty act and a one-hit wonder to the pop radio flock. The songs are written with flair and wry observations, and the very strangeness of this method of imbuing his music with a dark prince mentality keeps even that over-played hit sounding fresh and exciting after all these years.
"Boy" has a tracklist of nearly perfect songs start to finish, excepting only the odd disco-funk of "Nighttime in the Switching Yard," which feels out of place and sadly lacking. Replace (or skip/ignore) that one, and you have one of the best albums of the entire decade.
Best cuts: "Excitable Boy," "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner," "Werewolves of London," "Lawyers, Guns and Money," "Accidentally Like a Martyr," "Johnny Strikes Up the Band," "Tenderness on the Block," "Veracruz".
zevon exitable boy
This album I think is also is his best because the whole album really flows well from beginning to end. This was the firat album I ever heard on Warren Zevon, I have been hooked
since.
It has on it some of the most unforgettable songs such as "excitable boy" and "Roland the Thompson gunner".
One thing you will say about Mr Zevon he was original, which in my
humble opinion is the highst praise one can get in the "pre packaged"
music industry. . . . . .
.
A veritable "greatest hits"
That gives you an idea that this is an epochal moment for Zevon and you'd be right. If you look at his Rhino Anthology, you'll see that roughly half this album made the cut.
HIGHLIGHTS:
"Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" is a modern day transplanting of the old George Washington Irving Halloween evergreen with the headless man being made a soldier of fortune this time AND the protagonist. The strong male "drunken" chorus makes this sound almost like a long lost folk ballad. The title track could be a lost 50s rocker from a ghoulish parallel universe. . Linda Ronstadt blissfully chirping "Excitable boy" behind Zevon's tale of a man who assaults and kills a prom date and then nonchalantly drops her off at her house. Halloween perennial "Werewolves. . " is Zevon's signature tune. Travel misadventure "Lawyers, Guns and Money" is another standout. (I was gambling in Havana/I took a little risk/Send lawyers, guns and money/Dad, get me out of this. . ")
LOWS:
"Veracruz" is probably the weakest tune here, not bad but ho-hum compared to the stronger fare surrounding it.
BOTTOM LINE:
Worth getting excited about.
Zevon Deep in Singer-Songwriter Groove
Randy and Warren have similar histories--songwriters from California, writing and singing their own odd (in Warren's case macabre), but perceptive songs about life and the world. My love for this record matches what I have for Randy Newman's "Good Old Boys"--I bought the LP, recorded it onto cassette for the car, and bought the CD when that format took over.
"Excitable Boy" is remarkable in that its most popular track, "Werewolves of London", is one of the CD's weaker tracks (a relative status, as every track is plenty good). "Johnny Strikes Up the Band" gets the show off to a roaring start with its '50ish lyrics ("Freddy getting ready, to rock steady"), but anything-but vocals and arrangement. The '50s and '60s get an even stranger look with "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"--Norwegian mercenaries fighting in Biafra being unusual subject matter--but somehow Warren brings it off. By the time we get to the cover track "Excitable Boy", we're ready for whatever comes, even if it's when the title character has "dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones. " Warren included a doo-wah chorus featuring his friend Linda Ronstadt to lighten the mood. I always think of McCartney's "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" when I hear this song, but Warren again has pushed the envelope. "Werewolves" seems downright cheery (well not quite--"little old lady got mutilated late last night") at this time, as "doo-wah" morphs into "aah-oo, werewolves of London".
The rest of the CD is a less grisly, but a treat of a different kind. We get a history less of sorts from "Veracruz", a poignant "Accidentally Like a Martyr", a jazzy "Nighttime in the Switching Yard" (my least favorite track, it turns out, but still good), and two great closers - the wise "Tenderness of the Block" (my favorite of all listening-wise) and the sarcastic and raucous "Lawyers, Guns and Money" (my favorite for a good onstage singalong. )
With my favorable reviews in here of Randy Newman, John Hiatt, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and others, you can tell where my musical groove lies--with great perceptive and ironic songs performed in a rough-edged style by their authors. If this is near your groove, jump all over Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy" (although you probably already own it)--one of the very best recordings of its type. If you're looking to branch out in new directions, Warren will take you on a strangely satisfying trip to the possible.
You can see a complete list of all Warren Zevon discography, or go back to the Warren Zevon tabs
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