Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy CD Track Listing

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Warren Zevon Excitable Boy (1978)
Excitable Boy (Remastered + Expanded)\n2007 Asylum/Rhino\n\nOriginally Released January 24, 1978\nCD Edition Released 1988\nRemastered + Expanded CD Edition Released March 27, 2007\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Warren Zevon's self-titled 1976 album announced he was one of the most striking talents to emerge from the Los Angeles soft rock singer/songwriter community, and Linda Ronstadt (a shrewd judge of talent if a sometimes questionable interpreter) recorded three of its songs on two of her biggest-selling albums, which doubtlessly earned Zevon bigger royalty checks than the album itself ever did. But if Warren Zevon was an impressive calling card, the follow-up, Excitable Boy, was an actual hit, scoring one major hit single, "Werewolves of London," and a trio of turntable hits ("Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner," "Lawyers, Guns and Money," and the title track). But while Excitable Boy won Zevon the larger audience his music certainly deserved, the truth is it was a markedly inferior album; while it had all the bile of Warren Zevon, and significantly raised Zevon's dark-humor factor, it was often obvious where his previous album had been subtle, and while all 11 tracks on Warren Zevon were strong and compelling, two of the nine tunes on Excitable Boy -- "Johnny Strike Up the Band" and "Nighttime in the Switching Yard" -- sound like they're just taking up space. Musically, most of Excitable Boy is stuck in a polished but unexceptional FM pop groove, and only "Veracruz" hints at the artful intelligence of Warren Zevon's finest moments. It's hard to say if Zevon was feeling uninspired or just dumbing himself down when he made Excitable Boy, but while it made him famous, it lacks the smarts and substance of his best work. [Rhino Records gave Excitable Boy an overhaul for their 2007 remastered reissue. The new edition includes an appreciative liner essay from David Fricke and four bonus tracks. "I Need a Truck" is a revealing a cappella fragment about his myriad burdens and addictions, while "Tule's Blues" and "Frozen Notes" are lovely low-key numbers that would have fit right in on Warren Zevon, the latter featuring a beautiful string arrangement from the songwriter. There's also a ragged, stripped-down early take of "Werewolves of London" which has a lot more energy than the cut that made the album, if a lot less precision. The new mastering also improves the album's sonics, and this edition represents a genuine improvement over the previous CD edition, if the album's creative flaws remain.] -- Mark Deming\n\nAmazon.com essential recording\nWith this 1978 LP, Warren Zevon stepped forward as something of the dark prince of California. Like fellow Southern California outcast Randy Newman, Zevon achieved some fame, albeit not what his talent would have earned him had he written songs more like his mellower pal Jackson Browne and a little less like Jack the Ripper in a convertible. Fascinated with bloodthirsty antiheroes, Zevon wrote with the flair of a desperately bright pulp writer and summoned images of mutilated mercenaries ("Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"), pampered bad boys ("Lawyers, Guns and Money"), helpless sickos (the title track), and, of course, feral Chinese-food fiends ("Werewolves of London"). Excitable Boy's 1976 predecessor (Warren Zevon) may be a more consistent album, but this is the one that put Zevon in the public consciousness as someone to keep an eye on--for protection as well as promise. --Steven Stolder \n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review (Rhino Remastered + Expanded Edition)\nIt's really too bad that Warren Zevon had to die before hearing how spectacular his albums sounded in these latter-day remasters. Excitable Boy remains his best-known document, awash with blood and guts (especially on the horror-laden title track) and a famous, phenomenal touch of lycanthropy. The trick is in Zevon's ironic distance, his dispatch of killer narratives that touch on mercenary internationalism and undeserved indulgence in due course. Zevon's writing is musically simple--pianos and guitars and mid-tempo pacing--and those touches here only underscore how crisp the remastering sounds. To wit: The raucous undertow of "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" is delirious and ironically rhapsodic. As for "Werewolves of London," it's here twice (once in the expanded rack of four additional tunes) in all its tilted glory. As for the other extra content, "I Need a Truck" is the short gem, a 50-second a cappella litany of Zevon's raffish ways: "I need a truck to haul my percodan and gin" and one to "haul the womens from my bed," he sings... followed by this apt note, "I need a truck to haul my body when I'm dead." He had a mordant side. --Andrew Bartlett \n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nWarren Zevon releases his classic for the ages, September 1, 2005\nReviewer: Darth Kommissar (Las Vegas, NV (USA))\n\nINTRODUCTION: \nOne of the most interesting (and most underrated) pop musicians of the late seventies was Warren Zevon. Although he started out as a singer-songwriter with musical stylings not unlike those of his friend/producer Jackson Browne, Zevon had a musical style all his own. Unfortunately, he has been long since forgotten in the musical world, and these days is remembered for a single song only - his 1978 classic, Werewolves Of London. The classic hit single came from Zevon's second studio album, 1978's Excitable Boy. How does his second album measure up? Is the classic hit the only worthwhile song, or does the whole thing impress? Does it top his debut album? Keep reading if you want the answers to these questions and many more! \n\nOVERVIEW/REVIEW: \nDamn all of the people who deem Warren Zevon a one-hit wonder - the man is a musical genius, and there is more to the man than a single song! Excitable Boy may have been the album that spawned the man's biggest (and arguably only) hit, but as with Zevon himself, there is much more to this album than just one song. On this album, Zevon veered away from being the "Dark Prince of California" that some people had dubbed him, and took his music in more of a pop-oriented direction, while at the same time maintaining his widely-diverse singer-songwriter roots and unique stylings. The end result tops the first album, which was a masterpiece in its own right. As a whole, this album sounds something like a cross between Jackson Browne and Tom Petty. The opening track, Johnny Strikes Up The Band, is an excellent pop-rocker which sounds very similar to Tom Petty's work in its instrumentation, while at the same time being uniquely Zevon. A great opener. The slow and depressing ballad of an ill-fated soldier, Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner, comes next. In its insturmentation, this song is very similar to the classic Frank And Jesse James from Zevon's first album. The song is fairly popular with Zevon's followers, and it isn't hard to see why. Only he could write a song like this. The pace is kicked up a bit with the third track on the album, which is the title track. With horns in the background, and an upbeat pop-rock sound somewhat reminiscent of Bob Seger in the same period, Zevon serves up another winner. Track four is Werewolves Of London, the classic pop tune that gave Zevon his one-hit wonder status. I shouldn't have to tell you that this song is excellent, and to be quite honest, it's the whole reason I bought the album initially. It's a great song worthy of its lofty status, I just wish more of Zevon's songs got the same recognition this one does. Following the massive pop hit, we enter another slower track entitled Accidentally Like A Martyr. Soulful and melodic pop ballads don't get much better than the ones Warren Zevon served up, and this here is solid proof of that. Nighttime In The Switch Station is perhaps my favorite song on the entire album, because it sounds so different from everything else on this album. Here, Zevon takes up a funk-driven, almost disco-sounding track. But the most remarkable thing? The song is excellent! When disco is done right, the end results can be surprisingly pleasing to your ears, and with Zevon's attempt at this style, he succeeds beautifully! Hard to believe a non-disco artist like Zevon could create a song that puts the one-hits of the many one-hit disco wonders of the day to shame - and the song isn't even his biggest hit! Oh well, enough on that song. I'm starting to ramble. Veracruz comes next. It's another one of Zevon's ballads. This one sounds a little like some of David Bowie's slower early tunes. Once again, he creates a solid ballad. It's immediately followed by the upbeat-yet-melodic pop sounds of Tenderness On The Block. Here's a song that had all the potential in the world to be a massive pop hit, yet it never got the chance for popularity it deserved. What a shame. Laywers Guns And Money closes out the album. For the closer, Zevon serves up Eagles-esque rock that, like so many other songs on the album, is excellent but ever-so-overrated. He couldn't have ended the album on much of a higher note. In the end, the Dark Prince's sophomore effort is a solid effort that certainly has more depth to it than its lone hit. \n\nEDITION NOTES: \nThis album was only released on CD in America once, but the version initially released still seems to be in print, albeit in fairly limited supply. Hopefully a deluxe edition of this album will be released on day. Until then, this version is just gonna have to hold you over. \n\nOVERALL: \nSophomore slump? No way. Where most musical artists create a sophomore album that pales in comparison to what preceeded and what will immediately follow, Zevon wasn't in that crowd. His sophomore album surpassed his debut, and what followed never topped this. If you're a fan of pop rock, Warren Zevon's second album is a masterpiece of the genre you simply must own. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Five stars all the way.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nExcitable Boy, They All Said, February 27, 2005\nReviewer: Tom Emanuel (Deadwood, SD USA)\nI've always had a thing for Warren Zevon. He and his music have always been very unique. If he has any parallel, it's contemporary Randy Newman: they both emerged in the mid-to-late 70s; both are primarily keyboardists; both are witty, with dark senses of humour and social consciences; and both defy categorization. \n\nHowever, one of Zevon's most distinctive qualities is his Lennonesque double edge. On the one hand we have the cynical, razor-sharp wit, on the other the exposed, emotional human being. His voice can be best approximated to one like that of Jim Morrison: deep and expressive, with just a hint of menace. He isn't as versatile tonally as say Elton John or Freddie Mercury (who is?), but he adapts well to the material, equally at home with cynical sneering and heartfelt balladry. \n\nHe's never gone for exactly orthodox subject material either, and both facts are more than apparent on this, his breakthrough album. There are maybe three cuts here that conform to anything like "mainstream" topics; otherwise the songs range from tales of war-torn Mexico (partially in Spanish, no less) to legends of phantom mercenaries to werewolf pastiches. The title song, for instance, is the warped story of a homicidal teen described as an "excitable boy" by friends and family. It sounds macabre, and it is, but Zevon makes us laugh at it somehow. As I said, his sense of humour's a bit off-kilter. But at the same time he can be very emotional, wrenching at your heartstrings with bittersweet ballads - notable on this album Accidentally Like a Martyr. \n\nApart from Nighttime in the Switching Yard, which tries too hard and fails to achieve a weird kind of disco groove, this disc is loaded with first-class material. (A couple personal favourites are Tenderness on the Block, very much a "growing up, letting go" song, and Lawyers Guns & Money, a delicious slice of biting satire.) We've all heard Werewolves of London, but there's far more to Warren Zevon than that, and this disc belongs in any collection.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Cracked Mirror View of LA Singer Songwriters, September 14, 2003\nReviewer: Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States)\nMore 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. \nA 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").\n\nWarren 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 indispensible.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nAn overlooked literary treasure.., November 21, 2002\nReviewer: spiral_mind (Pennsylvania)\nJackson Browne once called Zevon "the first and foremost proponent of song noir," and I might as well lead off with that description since I can't think of one more simple and eloquent myself. From the late 60s to the present, WZ has developed an uncanny ability like no one else - the art of mixing oddball black humor with melodies so bright and spirited you catch yourself humming them for a week. The arguable peak of his 70s material is this album you're reading about now, Excitable Boy, and not just because everybody knows "Werewolves of London." Much of it is simple rock and roll, but to me there's always been a uniquely creative quality about everything here that keeps any of it from sounding stale or tired. Maybe it's partly because I have a thing for cool titles like "Lawyers, Guns and Money." Maybe I just can't help admiring someone who can rhyme 'word' with 'Johannesburg' and make it work. I can't explain it.. I just know that I still get a kick out of this stuff after years of listening, and Warren's recent diagnosis with terminal lung cancer has saddened me like no other bit of celebrity news in recent memory.\nBut anyway - back to the album. To be sure there are a couple more somber moments here: "Accidentally Like a Martyr" for example (Dylan, eat yer heart out), or the growing-up theme of "Tenderness on the Block".. and that's not even getting into the strange half-creepiness of "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and the like. But even despite all those, it's a safe bet you've rarely heard such cynicism with such a sweet sugarcoating as you'll hear here. The title track is probably the best example; the words verge on downright disturbing, yet it's driven along with a joyfully sunny saxophone and a bright "oo-wah-oo" backup chorus. "Lawyers..." is Warren's finest example of the perfect straightforward three-chord rocker, while "Veracruz" establishes a foreign setting by mixing in some flute. I can even forgive the 70s disco-funk touch of "Nighttime in the Switching Yard" considering what brilliance it's surrounded by. The whole disc plays like a short-story anthology in musical form, peppered with characters that range from oddly lovable to frighteningly strange.. from Roland and his mercenary comrades, to the trouble-loving thug in a tight spot begging his father for help, to the album's namesake with his habit of murdering prom dates. It's a guilty treat for the cackling cynic in all of us; a way of unflinchingly looking at the dark side of humanity and realizing that, when you get right down to it, something about it all is wickedly funny for a reason we can't really explain.\n\nOr maybe I'm reading way too much into it, and it's just nine plain songs to stick in your head and give you a good laugh. Of course there's nothing wrong with that either, and there are much worse ways of spending a few quick dollars than this. Enjoy and beware the werewolves.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nFrom the first track about his dope dealer..., December 20, 1999\nReviewer: David (Ontario, Canada)\nto the last about a young man in over his head in Central America, Zevon avoids his problem of self-confession by writing about other, imagined people. (The one exception - "Accidentily Like a Martyr" - is as obscure as its title.) That none of his characters are believable says more about Zevon's delightful askew view of relationships, innocence and forgiveness than is the norm. This gentle fantastical way of putting things allows him to accomplish couplets ("then he dug up her grave and made a cage with her bones") that nobody else could get away with in the same way. If this was Randy Newman it would just be spooky and arch. But because it is Warren Zevon (even the name seems silly) we skip right past being horrified and enter in at being intrigued. "Werewolves of London" is the greatest and smartest song that will ever be written about the Sex Pistols. His disinterest in cliques will redeem his stylistic rootedness and the fact that he lives in California.\n\nHalf.com Details \nContributing artists: J. D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Jennifer Warnes, John McVie, Karla Bonoff, Linda Ronstadt, Mick Fleetwood \nProducer: Jackson Browne, Waddy Wachtel \n\nAlbum Notes\nPersonnel includes: Warren Zevon (vocals, piano, organ); Danny Kortchmar (guitar, percussion); Arthur Gerst (harp); Waddy Wachtel, Jim Horn (saxophone); Kenny Edwards, John McVie, Bob Glaub, Leland Sklar (bass); Rick Marotta, Mick Fleetwood, Jeff Porcaro (drums); Greg Ladanyi (percussion); Karla Bonoff, Jennifer Warnes, Jackson Browne, Jorge Calderon, J.D. Souther, Linda Rondstadt (background vocals).\n\nWarren Zevon came roaring out of the '70s touchy-feely California singer-songwriter gene pool with one hand on the piano and the other waving a pistol. While his more genteel peers were primarily concerned with taking it easy, Zevon crawled under the seedy side of L.A. and poured it into his ivories, taking in every ounce of decadence and excess. Although the weight the underworld would eventually all but break him, EXCITABLE BOY finds Zevon empowered by his surroundings.\nThe terrain is unsettling, bizarre and often soaked with blood. Stalking across the landscape are pina colada-sipping werewolves, headless mercenaries, and desperate gamblers. That the sound and overall musical mood of the record is upbeat underscores Zevon's ability to attach a winning melody to a gallow's tale. The home runs are the instantly memorable "Werewolves of London," the murderous glee of "Excitable Boy," and the affecting "Accidentally Like a Martyr." The inclusion of obvious filler cuts detract from the overall focus of the record but that is a small complaint. After all, it takes a special man to turn a tale of rape and murder into a cheery singalong.\n\nIndustry Reviews\n...Zevon took the vernacular of the pop song into uncharted, bloody territory...\nUncut (09/01/2003)\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nWarren Zevon's Excitable Boy is the best American rock & roll album since Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run (1975), Neil Young's Zuma (1976) and Jackson Browne's The Pretender (1976). If there's not enough firepower in that statement, let's cock the hammer on another. Thus far, the Seventies have introduced three major American rock & roll artists--Browne in 1972, Springsteen in 1973 and Zevon--and I have every confidence the music of all three will be even better in the future.\n\nOddly enough, Zevon, the apparent newcomer, preceded both Browne and Springsteen into the studio. His first record, an exercise in self-produced self-induced psychedelia called Wanted Dead or Alive (Imperial, 1970), went deservedly unnoticed, and it wasn't until 1976, when his career seemed all but dead, that he got another shot (largely through Browne's persistence), this time with Asylum. On Warren Zevon, his aim was truer but he hit perhaps too many targets, and there was some confusion whether he was just another sensitive (albeit unusually tough) singer songwriter or a Magnum-cum-laude rock & roller who ate gunpowder for breakfast. His first tour answered that question, and the new LP blasts the bull's-eye into smithereens.\n\nWhen Warren Zevon sits down at the piano and throws back his head and sings on Excitable Boy, he's like Sam Peckinpah trying to work out the obsessions in something like Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. While one hand steadily applies the Apollonian technique and obvious control of the classical artist (Zevon also writes symphonies and string quartets), the other is compulsively jerking the trigger with Dionysian delirium. Though clearly no dumdum, Zevon, like Peckinpah, sometimes refuses to rely upon academic intelligence and pragmatic perspective to pull him through. An intuitive artist, he's often both smart and crazy enough to shoot first at the most explosive subjects, then figure out the ramifications of whatever the hell he's bloodied later ("Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner," "Excitable Boy," "Werewolves of London," "Lawyers, Guns and Money"). This is a dangerous way to work--it isn't nice, and not everybody gets it--but you can claim some spectacular trophies when you're sufficiently reckless to risk safari on the dark side of the moon, where the gleam of the lion may look like the leer of the lamb.\n\nNot that Zevon is particularly metaphysical, at least not in the expected manner. While he writes very good lyrics ("Veracruz"), he writes great music. Mostly, his songs are purely physical, but in the same ways that Clint Eastwood--in, say, Dirty Harry--is purely physical. Almost without exception, Zevon's rock & roll songs command and demand your attention through the sheer strength of their creator's personality; they're not necessarily profound (though they can be), but they hit with such primary impact you don't have to think twice about them. In movies, there's a saying that when a director dies, he becomes a photographer. Well, when a rock & roller dies, he writes hooks and succumbs to other similarly decadent devices. On Excitable Boy, Warren Zevon's self-confidence and craftsmanship are so inherently forceful he's able to bypass self-consciousness and secondary concerns altogether. These songs stand up and look you right in the eye. They're so damned good no one could miss them.\n\nLike Wanted Dead or Alive and Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy shares a passion for larger-than-life historical figures (or those who would emulate them), elemental forces and codes of behavior often associated with courage and honor. But Zevon's would-be heroes ("Should have done, should have done, we all sigh") sometimes unwittingly shoot for the moon when it's reflected in a puddle of water under their tangled feet. Like the characters in Graham Greene's The Comedians, they're so tragicomically confused about glory they don't know up from down, quandary from quarry, but they do know they're either running after or running away from something big--and, in their zeal and commitment, that's all that matters. There's not much irony here, but a lot of heart. When the picaresque protagonist of "Lawyers, Guns and Money" sings:\n\nNow I'm biding in Honduras\n\nI'm a desperate man\n\nSend lawyers, guns and money\n\nThe shit has hit the fan,\n\nhe's not surrendering; he's just acknowledging he's fucked up the quest again and now needs power to fight power.\n\nWhen Warren Zevon needs more power on this album, all he has to do is snap his fingers. For, if Excitable Boy is clearly a singular triumph, it is also a collective one. Brassy as Zevon is, he's given comparable backing by the rhythm sections of three superlative rock & roll bands (Linda Ronstadt's, the Section, Fleetwood Mac), exceptionally crisp and complementary production by Jackson Browne and guitarist Waddy Wachtel, and the kind of sound quality (by Gred Ladanyi, who engineered Browne's Running on Empty) that most musicians would kill for. Musically, Zevon's stalwart singing and rigorous, razor-sharp piano playing hold down the fort, while Wachtel, who brandishes an armory of guitars, takes the high ground with such audacity he nearly steals the action at times. On "Johnny Strikes Up the Band" (like the second LP's "Mohammed's Radio," a "tribute to rock & roll"), Wachtel simply picks up the song and carries it away, giving it back only for the vibrant vocals.\n\nThough it's not exactly confined to quarters here, Zevon's anarchic obsession will never get time off for good behavior either. His heroes are too excitable ("Well, he went down to dinner in his Sunday best ...And he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest") and generally find themselves in situations as absurd as those in Norman Mailer's An American Dream, which "Lawyers, Guns and Money" resembles:\n\nWell, I went home with the waitress\n\nThe way I always do\n\nHow was I to know\n\nShe was with the Russians, too?\n\n"Caught between the rock and the hard place," Zevon's "innocent bystander" shouts sendups that make sense and statements that don't. "Werewolves of London" is one of those indescribable, half-sung/half-spoken, stupid/profound anthems that captures something of a city and a time. With Wachtel's guitar prowling through the rolling fog like Jack the Ripper, Zevon reduces the whole world to a mythic howl, and you feel exhilarated. "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner," cowritten by ex-soldier of fortune David Lindell in Spain, is an ersatz Irish ballad about betrayal, revenge and death in Africa ("They can still see his headless body stalking through the night In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun") that somehow winds up with Patty Hearst in Berkeley. The title song sounds both harmless and bouncy until you listen to the lyrics, which could have been scrawled in blood by Anthony Perkins in Psycho.\n\nIt would be a mistake to define Zevon solely by his outr

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