Jackpot. If Warren Zevon was ever typecast, it would be because of this album. Excitable Boy is full of unique imagery, sardonic humor, and sociopolitical commentary, sometimes in the same song. And it’s damn catchy, too. To wit, “Johnny Strikes Up The Band” is fairly tame, a simple paean to the redemptive power of music. It’s probably just as well, as “Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner” is one of the nuttiest fables ever to be set to plastic. We especially like how the first verse is missing a certain word, as the plot point hadn’t happened yet. (We also wonder what Patty Hearst thinks of this song.) The title track is even cheerier, though many radio programmers probably balked at the third and fourth verses describing the junior prom, even with Linda Ronstadt and Jennifer Warnes cooing the song title and Jim Horn’s best Coasters sax. But everybody’s heard “Werewolves Of London”, all three chords of it, and not just on Halloween. (Another fun fact, that’s the Fleetwood Mac rhythm section.) Lest you think he’s all about laughs, “Accidentally Like A Martyr” is another one of his patented heartbreakers, and that’s how you finish a perfect album side.
Back when vinyl was the way to go, a sense of calm could pervade until you moved the needle. On CD and streaming, unfortunately, the disco thump of “Nighttime In The Switching Yard” wrecks it, with a groove co-opted later that year by the Grateful Dead. If there’s symbolism here, we can’t find it. It makes “Veracruz” all the more poignant, as he sings of the American occupation of that Mexican city while the rest of the world was at war, complete with authentic instruments backing him. After that, “Tenderness On The Block” (co-written with co-producer Jackson Browne) is almost uplifting, the exact opposite of a cautionary tale about a girl coming of age. And where else can we go but the international intrigue of “Lawyers, Guns And Money”? This masterpiece of comedy and economy features not one but two classic punchlines to the request in the title.
While Excitable Boy comes in at just over a half-hour, it doesn’t seem short at all, particularly when the songs and performances are so stellar. The expanded CD three decades later didn’t add much timewise. The alternate take of “Werewolves” isn’t much more than an early sketch, and “I Need A Truck” is only two short verses sung a cappella. But “Tule’s Blues” is a lovely remake of a song from his first album, and “Frozen Notes”, another early song, is cast with a lovely string arrangement.
Warren Zevon Excitable Boy (1978)—4½
2007 remaster: same as 1978, plus 4 extra tracks
One of the best records ever made!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge WZ fan -- saw him headline four times in the early/mid-80s and once open for Kansas (1982 with their then-new singer in a Barry Manilow blue suit). Not to be difficult but it's fascinating how 95% of the albums you review get three stars (many that deserve better) so 4.5 stars is unbelievably rare. I personally would rate Excitable Boy as a 4 and save 4.5 for Mr. Bad Example but everyone has an opinion.
ReplyDeleteyeah, it's not a perfect system, and I have adjusted ratings over time. I'm looking forward into delving into the rest of his catalog.
DeleteAh, number two of the one-two punch to truly start his career. THe best Greatest Hits album that only had one. I talk quite a bit about the album over at my place
ReplyDeletehttps://onebuckrecords.blogspot.com/2025/02/get-excitedfor-more-excitable-boy-of.html
(together with a slightly reworked version, of the album itself)
so I'll be brief: If the self-titled album is a 5 for me, I can go along with your 4 1/2 for EB (-1/2 * for NITSY!), if only Warren would have had one more quality song to add to this album.
Still, hard to think of a better way to (re)start your career than with those two albums.
Looking forward to your stroll through the rest of Warren's discography...
I read that many of these songs were held back from the first album so as to save them. Back in the days when you could get away with two 15-minute sides and two years between albums was pushing it. It's going to be quite the journey from here...
DeleteYup, pretty much everything of consequence was written before the debut, with Jackson Browne placing the more literary stuff like "The French Inhaler" on the self-titled album and withholding some of the wilder stuff for the follow-up.
DeleteLuckily as it turned out, like that Zevon didn't use up all the good songs on the (technically not a) debut, otherwise, that album could've been quite the sophomore slump, as Warren only wrote the lightweight "Johnny" and NITSY, easily the least essential tunes, in between albums.
I noticed that one of my frat brothers had this one. I said, “Oh, ‘Werewolves of London’”. He said, “That’s a minor song on the album”. So I agreed when I borrowed it. He then pointed out that the cherubic looking guy on the cover didn’t look like someone who would write songs like this!
ReplyDeleteOne might argue that “Werewolves..” and “Nighttime..”
are fillers. Maybe, but they are very catchy songs! “Roland.”, “..Martyr” and, of course, “Lawyers..” are other favorites. If one heard the backing track of the title track without vocals, it could have been on “Happy Days”. But then the lyrics come in! It wouldn’t be the last time Zevon engaged in morbid humor, but it’s probably the funniest.
As for the bonus tracks, yeah. “Werewolves..” sounds like a rehearsal. “I Need a Truck” is just a spoof, but it’s a good joke. This version “Tule’s Blues” is amazingly different from the country rock of the original version.
I don’t know if I quite agree with the 4.5, but it’s definitely at least a 4. I do think that he never made a better album, but “Stand in the Fire” comes close. In any case, he would have a tough time following this one up.