WARREN ZEVON Excitable Boy

1) WARREN ZEVON Excitable Boy LP 2020

(Colored Vinyl, Red)

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.

SIDE A
1. JOHNNY STRIKES UP THE BAND
2. ROLAND THE HEADLESS THOMPSON GUNNER
3. EXCITABLE BOY
4. WEREWOLVES OF LONDON
5. ACCIDENTALLY LIKE A MARTYR

SIDE B
1. NIGHTTIME IN THE SWITCHING YARD
2. VERACRUZ
3. TENDERNESS ON THE BLOCK
4. LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY

Release Date: 17 Jan 2020

2) WARREN ZEVON Excitable Boy (Expanded & Remastered) CD 1998

It'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 women 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.

1 Johnny strikes up the band
2 Roland the headless Thompson gunner
3 Excitable boy
4 Werewolves of London
5 Accidentally like a martyr
6 Nighttime in the switching yard
7 Veracruz
8 Tenderness on the block
9 Lawyers, Guns And Money
10 I need a truck (Outtake)
11 Werewolves of London (Alternate Version)
12 Tules Blues (Solo Piano Version)
13 Frozen notes (Strings Version)

Release Date: 7 Oct 1988

3) WARREN ZEVON Excitable Boy (Expanded & Remastered) CD 2007

Release Date: 27 Mar 2007