Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

Warren Zevon hits his early peak!

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 04/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"More than anyone else in the whole El Lay songwriter movement of the late seventies, Warren Zevon had absolutely no problem with getting a good laugh at the expense of the insularity of it all. And on his second proper album, he took the whole scene and turned it properly on its backside. "Excitable Boy" threw in a mix of werewolves, mercenaries, drug abusers and paranoid spoiled brats, yet while frequently offering exceptional tenderness and insight. It was easy to see why Jackson Browne was his mentor and Linda Ronstadt his patron angel.

A song as reckless as the album's title track could come from nothing less than genius. The chirpy sweet background vocals and sugary melody buoy the dark tale of a murderous high school student who kills on the night of his junior prom. "Hotel California" this most certainly wasn't. At the same time, "Accidentally Like a Martyr," with its stately piano line, encompasses the horror of a sunken love affair in barely three and a half minutes. These juxtapositions carry all the way through "Excitable Boy," with only one misstep in the CD's nine songs (the forced funk of "Nighttime In The Switching Yard").

Warren Zevon made several other great albums, but "Excitable Boy" was the moment that his youthful exuberance and a mind uncluttered by too many foreign substances produced a stunner. As a document of the California Sound that Elektra/Asylum records was known for in the seventies, this is indispensable.

The remaster is stunning. The piano to "Accidentally Like A Martyr" just leaps out of the mix (where before it seemed kind of flat). The same can be said for "Nighttime In The Switching Yard." What originally sounded compressed now sounds so much livelier. The bonus tracks are only so-so, with the alternate take of "Werewolves" being somewhat interesting and "I Need A Truck' humorous but unnecessary. What you really want here is the original album, and "Excitable Boy" is worth the remastered wait.

"

Learned this album through a wall

mashny | New York | 01/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I was a college freshman in 1984, my next-door neighbor was a sophomore who would blast this album almost every day, and scream the lyrics to every song along with Warren Zevon. Within a few weeks I was singing out loud along with both Warren and my neighbor (I knew the words by heart already). When Christmas vacation came, and I had time to do something other than study, this album was my first purchase. I loved it the first time I heard it (in chorus...), and I love it today. It's irony, humor, politics, lyrics, melodies... make it just as brilliant and worthwhile today as it was more than twenty years ago.

I love all the songs, but agree with the reviewer who said that "Night Time in the Switching Yard" is the only weak song on the CD. In "Excitable Boy," I always laugh at the juxtaposition of the line "and he raped her and killed her, then he took her home" and the "sing songy" way in which the line is sung.

I would recommend this CD to anyone, especially those who appreciate great lyrics and the macabre.

Thanks, Jim, wherever you are, for introducing me to this album."

Remastered and Expanded 'Excitable Boy'

John Nobbs | Norwich, UK. | 11/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent remaster of Warren Zevon's consistently good 1978 album. Sound quality is much improved, and it's worth having for the alternate version of 'Werewolves of London' alone. It sounds like the guys (Mick Fleetwood and John McVie included) are having a bloody good time, belting out the whacky gem, in what sounds like a studio run-through.

Recommended.

"

Warren's classic bestseller gets the love it deserves

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 03/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A great twisted album by Warren Zevon, "Werewolves of London" Zevon's break through still sounds great today. The hit single "Werewolves of London" is still a twisted track and augmented by great remastering "Excitable Boy" proves every bit as memorable from the title track that calmly documents (with killer--pardon the pun--harmonies provided by Linda Ronstandt and Jennifer Warnes)a disturbed killer and the excuses that society makes for him. It's a tour de force track topped only by the other witty and often touching songs included here.

"Lawyers, Guns and Money" continues to be a masterpiece perfectly capturing the innocent abroad theme. The ballads "Accidently Like a Martyr" and "Tenderness on the Block" (co-written with Zevon's patron saint Jackson Browne)are deft, melodic trips down the streets of romance and memory respectively. Although the overall impression is great, "Excitable Boy" is a very different album from his debut lacking some of its depth but it makes up for that lack of depth with Zevon's deadpan humor.

The reissued/remastered version of "Excitable Boy" sounds very good. The bonus tracks include the previous issued "Frozen Notes" (which Zevon once described as a still born composition. It may lack the power of some of his finest work but is still noteworthy), an early, earthy, funky and rehearsal version of "Werewolves of London" than the final version that should have been released before now. It's only flaw is that Warren's voice is so low in the mix. "Tule's Blues" and "Frozen Notes" (this version scored with strings)are low-key songs that would have fit better on the album preceding this than this one(it's still a welcome addition and Zevon fans will want this simply for these three tracks. "I Need a Truck" is a humorous a capella fragment documenting many of Zevon's vices).

We also get booklet notes by Rolling Stone writer David Fricke (he seems to write these for everyone lately)that are interesting and reveal some of the turmoil from Zevon's life at the time. Although lacking the subtly of his second album "Warren Zevon", "Excitable Boy" captures Zevon's wit and dark humor in fine form making a perfect top 10 album (it rose all the way up to #8 on Billboard's Album Charts just on the strength of the first single). Twisted and still fun, "Excitable Boy" is still a lot of fun. 4 1/2 stars I'd also recommend Warren ZevonThe WindBad Luck Streak in Dancing School"

HIDDEN MASTERPIECE

FRANK ROCKER | RIVERSIDE, CA | 08/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If ELTON JOHN had an evil twin, it would have been Warren Zevon. A

great lyricist who sang with a snarl, Warren would sing about the glass

half empty. Mercenary ghosts, werewolves, compulsive killers, rich kids

in trouble on foreign shores, Warren painted a canvas on the dark side

of life. Every song is great on this CD, no filler on the original

tracks, this was his masterpiece.... Werewolves of London, Excitable

Boy, Johnny Strikes Up The Band, Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner,

Lawyers, Guns, & Money, Accidently Like A Martyr, were brilliant songs.

His songs were funny, twisted, cynical; like dry ice sitting in a glass

of expensive wine, meant for a select audience who shared a secret with

him. Warren you will be sorely missed."

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