Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon was a ten-year music industry veteran who had written songs for the Turtles, backed up Phil Everly, done years of session work, and been befriended by Jackson Browne by the time he cut his self-titled album in 1976 (which wasn't his debut, though the less said about 1969's misbegotten Wanted Dead or Alive the better). Even though Warren Zevon was on good terms with L.A.'s Mellow Mafia, he sure didn't think (or write) like any of his pals in the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac; Zevon's music was full of blood, bile, and mean-spirited irony, and the glossy surfaces of Jackson Browne's production failed to disguise the bitter heart of the songs on Warren Zevon. The album opened with a jaunty celebration of a pair of Old West thieves and gunfighters ("Frank and Jesse James"), and went on to tell remarkable, slightly unnerving tales of ambitious pimps ("The French Inhaler"), lonesome junkies ("Carmelita"), wired, hard-living lunatics ("I'll Sleep When I'm Dead"), and truly dastardly womanizers ("Poor Poor Pitiful Me"), and even Zevon's celebrations of life in Los Angeles, long a staple of the soft rock genre, had both a menace and an epic sweep his contemporaries could never match ("Join Me in L.A." and "Desperados Under the Eaves"). But for all their darkness, Zevon's songs also possessed a steely intelligence, a winning wit, and an unusually sophisticated melodic sense, and he certainly made the most of the high-priced help who backed him on the album. Warren Zevon may not have been the songwriter's debut, but it was the album that confirmed he was a major talent, and it remains a black-hearted pop delight. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Name Credits Billy Hinsche Vocal Harmony Bob Glaub Bass Bobby Keys Saxophone Bonnie Raitt Vocals, Vocal Harmony Carl Wilson Vocals, Vocal Arrangement, Vocal Harmony David Lindley Banjo, Fiddle, Violin Don Henley Vocal Harmony, Vocals Fritz Richmond Engineer Gary Mallaber Drums Gentlemen Boys Vocal Harmony, Vocals Glenn Frey Vocal Harmony, Guitar, Vocals, Guitar (Rhythm) J.D. Souther Vocals, Vocal Harmony Jackson Browne Slide Guitar, Vocal Harmony, Vocals, Guitar, Producer Jai Winding Piano, Keyboards, Vocals John Haeny Mixing Jorge Calderon Vocals, Vocal Harmony Kent Nebergall Engineer Larry Zack Drums Lindsey Buckingham Vocals, Vocal Harmony, Guitar Marty David Bass Ned Doheny Guitar Phil Everly Vocal Harmony, Vocals Richard Wachtel Vocals, Producer, Guitar Rosemary Butler Vocals, Vocal Harmony Roy Marinell Bass Sid Sharp ?, Strings Stephanie Nicks Vocal Harmony Stevie Nicks Vocals Waddy Wachtel Guitar Warren Zevon Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocal Harmony, Producer, Bass, Piano, Arranger