Warren Zevon is one of the forgotten artists from the 1970s
California singer-songwriter era and has tended to be overlooked in favour of
many of his contemporaries. Part of the reason for this is probably because he
is not your typical rock star with his very distinctive voice as well as what I
would describe as his quite nerdy looks complete with Harry Potter glasses, not
entirely keeping in line with the glitz and glamour of the mid-70s California
pop world. However, despite this, his musical talents are undoubted and it was
on his third album Excitable Boy where
everything moulded together in what is one of the great albums of the period.
Released in 1978, Excitable
Boy was Zevon’s third album and it would also become his best selling
release. It was on this release where he combined his often humours lyrics and
overall quirkiness with a California pop-rock sound complete with gorgeous
harmonies, a formula which obviously worked well in appealing to a mass
audience. The music on this album is a mix of up-tempo pop rockers and slightly
mellower piano ballads, while it is the wonderful harmonies of the large array of
backing vocalists on display including some of Los Angeles finest in the form
of Linda Ronstadt and J.D. Souther that gives many of the tracks a laid back
California feel. Opening track “Johnny Strikes Up the Band” is a stomping guitar
rocker, while title track “Excitable Boy” has a Beach Boys feel to it and
features a storming sax solo and a section of female backing vocalists. Excitable Boy also notably contains
Zevon’s most recognised song “Werewolves of London”, a song that went on to
become a classic rock radio staple and which in recent years was sampled by Kid
Rock in his smash hit “All Summer Long”. “Accidently Like a Martyr” is a beautiful
piano pop ballad in a similar style to the great singer-songwriters of the 70s
period, while “Tenderness on The Block” features some of the most infectious
harmonies on the album, harmonies that would give The Eagles a run for their
money. This is definitely a standout track on the album and one my favourites,
I guess I am just a sucker for good harmony vocals.
One of the strong features of Excitable Boy apart from Zevon’s wonderful piano playing and unique
vocal style is his ability as a songwriter and in particular some of the themes
he focuses on in his songs. On “Veracruz” he dramatizes the US occupation of
Veracruz during the Mexican Revolution, while “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner”
is about a fictional character called Roland who gets involved in the Nigerian
Civil War during the 1960s. The theme of war continues on “Lawyers, Guns and
Money” which represents Zevon’s humorous take on Cold War paranoia. So not only
are the melodies and harmonies infectious on this record, but the song-writing
is varied, vivid and interesting, ensuring that the listeners are kept amused
with characters such as Roland the gunner and lyrics talking of seeing werewolves
with Chinese menus in their hand walking in Soho. This is just the quirkiness
and unusual mastery of Warren Zevon, showing why he is such a good musician and
how his music makes for such good listening.
Excitable
Boy gave Warren Zevon a larger audience and saw him crack the
top 10 on Billboard, but he would struggle to capitalize in the long term on
the openings this album gave him in terms of exposure. Although he would
continue to retain his cult following in music circles and would earn the
praise of people such as Dylan, Young and Springsteen, commercial success would
elude him throughout the rest of his career and he eventually died prematurely in
2003, age 56. Warren Zevon is to this day still in many ways a cult figure in
music and you have either heard of him or you haven’t. The 70s California
singer-songwriter period and the music that came out of it isn’t everyone’s cup
of tea and people often view it cynically as a coked up bland period for music
where money ruled the roost. This might be the case in some instances, but this
album Excitable Boy by a nerdy
looking guy with a strange last name proved that there were exceptions, and
that in the end some of the music did sound good. A-/A
- Sam
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