Excitable Boy

Artist: Warren Zevon
Label: Elektra / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 075596052122
EAN: 0075596052122
ASIN: B000002GW7

Release Date: 1990-10-25

Excitable Boy

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Tracks:

Johnny Strikes Up The Band
Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner
Excitable Boy
Werewolves Of London
Accidentally Like A Martyr
Nighttime In The Switching Yard
Veracruz
Tenderness On The Block
Lawyers, Guns And Money

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Amazon.com essential recording

With 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 (<I>Warren Zevon</I>) 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. <I>--Steven Stolder</I>

Customer Reviews:

Zevon Deep in Singer-Songwriter Groove.......2007-04-26

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. 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.

"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.

Warren Zevon.......2007-03-23

A shame he passed away at such an early age. This one has his best known works.

Nighttime In The Switching Yard Is My Jam!.......2007-03-02

i got this album on c.d. the audio quality is good.

remember, the CORRECT pitch is 33 & 1/3rd. i don't know about anybody else, but i can tell that it's sped up.

Strong Zevon Songs - Look Beyond the Big Hits for Some Other Fine Music.......2005-12-30

If Warren Zevon had a bigger album than Excitable Boy, I am not sure what it would be. What is it about his music that I appreciate? Well, he does certainly tell interesting stories with his lyrics. Sometimes they are bizarre such as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner", or marvelously weird such as "Werewovles of London". Even the popish sound of "Excitable Boy" embraces lyrics with strange but real meaning.

His tortured love songs of loss and pain are among his best on any album. On this album it is "Accidentally Like a Martyr". It isn't a great song, but better than nearly anything you will hear on the radio or anyone else's CD. The bow to disco with "Nightime in the Switching Yard" is the weakest thing on the album and immediately forgettable. "Veracruz" pairs the political sensibilities and storytelling of something like "Roland" with a sad love song such as "Accidentally Like Martyr" and is quite a good story of loss and hurt.

"Tenderness on the Block" speaks to every Dad who has ever raised a teenage daughter. Arrgghh!

Then there is the magnificent and culturally significant "Lawyers, Guns, and Money"! It is a term that has entered the language for important reasons and rings so true to anyone who has ever gotten deeply lost in a troubled situation that is dragging them into an abyss.

Zevon, we feel his loss, had a fine way of constructing songs. At times they were so compelling that they became hits for others. I am glad that he put this album together for us.

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