Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

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 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 Amazon.com

Incredible stuff - one of the best albums from one of the best songwriters

This is an outstanding and powerful album. The entire first half unfolds one masterpiece after another, although the whole lot are superb. This CD has bonus tracks too, including the haunting "I Need A Truck." Buy this, you'll thank me. August 12, 2008

Strike Up The Band

This is an absolutely brilliant album that is bolstered by the remastered CD and four bonus tracks.

Warren Zevon flexes his solid storytelling through the quirky Excitable Boy and Werewolves of London, the brutal politics of Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner, Veracruz and Lawyers, Guns And Money & the rocking Nighttime In The Switching Yard.

But it's the tale of the everyman hero - Johnny Strikes Up The Band - and love coming of age - Accidentally Like A Martyr and Tenderness On The Block - that are the hidden gems. The alternate version of Werewolves Of London is carried by the bass line wedging to the front of the mix.

This is a fabulous release that ages like a fine wine and remains fresh due to the timeless lyrics and outstanding arrangements. May 17, 2008

Learned this album through a wall

When I was a college freshman in 1984, my next-door neighbor was a sophomore who would blast this album almost every day, and scream the lyrics to every song along with Warren Zevon. Within a few weeks I was singing out loud along with both Warren and my neighbor (I knew the words by heart already). When Christmas vacation came, and I had time to do something other than study, this album was my first purchase. I loved it the first time I heard it (in chorus...), and I love it today. It's irony, humor, politics, lyrics, melodies... make it just as brilliant and worthwhile today as it was more than twenty years ago.

I love all the songs, but agree with the reviewer who said that "Night Time in the Switching Yard" is the only weak song on the CD. In "Excitable Boy," I always laugh at the juxtaposition of the line "and he raped her and killed her, then he took her home" and the "sing songy" way in which the line is sung.

I would recommend this CD to anyone, especially those who appreciate great lyrics and the macabre.

Thanks, Jim, wherever you are, for introducing me to this album. January 5, 2008

Remastered and Expanded 'Excitable Boy'

An excellent remaster of Warren Zevon's consistently good 1978 album. Sound quality is much improved, and it's worth having for the alternate version of 'Werewolves of London' alone. It sounds like the guys (Mick Fleetwood and John McVie included) are having a bloody good time, belting out the whacky gem, in what sounds like a studio run-through.

Recommended.

November 17, 2007

Exciting Excitable boy

If you are a Zevon fan. This is a great album. Well worth the price August 11, 2007

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