WARREN ZEVON - "On Track...Every Album, Every Song" by PETER GALLAGHER - A Review by Mark Barry of the April 2022 SonicBond Publishing Paperback Book...

 

WARREN ZEVON 

"On Track...Every Album, Every Song" by PETER GALLAGHER

 

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"...Desperadoes Falling Out Of The Eaves..."

Like most fans of this brilliant, eclectic and unpredictable musical troubadour, I picked up on Chicago's Warren Zevon through the "Excitable Boy" album of January 1978 (the "Werewolves Of London" LP on Asylum Records) and have been a devotee ever since. But as with all the greats (and cults for that matter) - the journey has been a series of super highs and difficult lows (I saw him live in a solo show in Dublin and it was easily one of the worst shows I've ever seen where the audience nearly came to blows and were screaming for their money back). To the matter in hand... 

 

I've been digging these "On Track..." paperbacks from SonicBond Publishing now for a while and have reviewed The Hollies, Status Quo, Led Zeppelin, Electric Light Orchestra and a tome for "1967: The Psychedelic Year". The premise is the same in each case - about 125 to 145 paperback pages with a central slew of relevant photos (repro sleeves, live snaps, memorabilia etc) – all of it discussing their chosen artist where they live - the albums - song by song. 

 

While this might glibly sound like an easy-peasy writing project, the truth is, you have to dig in and know your subject matter with true depth to pull off serious fan-based analysis like that. So when I saw "On Track...Every Album, Every Song" for WARREN ZEVON slotted into their UK-release schedules for 29 April 2022 (June 2022 in the USA) - I got a tad excited. And I'm thrilled to say that Peter Gallagher's book of 128-pages and 16-colour plates is the best I've read so far. 

 

Why is WZ so fascinating? Take a band like the mighty Quo - every song is riff riff, riff riff etc. Let's go out girl on a Saturday night and put our collective long hairdos to the boogie grindstone. And I'm down with that. But WZ is so much wider than such a narrow themed-straightjacket. Take Zevon's song titles for starters - few artists I know write tunes with names like "The Hula Hula Boys", "Even A Dog Can Shake Hands", "Desperadoes Under The Eaves", "Boom Boom Mancini", "Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School", "Lawyers, Guns And Money", "I Was In The House When The House Burned Down", "Quite Ugly One Morning", "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner", "Nobody's In Love This Year" and of course the 'be careful of him, he'll rip your lungs out Jim' riffing classic "Werewolves Of London" – a No. 21 hit single on the American Billboard charts in January 1978 (his only one to chart). 

 

As you can imagine, you're not dealing with the average lyricist here trotting out themes you've heard rehashed a thousand times before. Zevon could be angry and vicious and whimsical all in the same tune - "Ain't That Pretty At All" and sweeping leaves with Liza at "Detox Mansion" hammers home the itchy Hell of addiction and efforts at getting clean - "Porcelain Monkey" discusses Elvis Presley's last days and his obsession with onyx and porcelain trinkets in the TV room at Graceland - while "Reconsider Me" is a song plea rejected by his ex-wife Crystal who had suffered too long and too much at the hands of his alcohol and drugs consumption. 

 

"Reconsider Me" is in fact a microcosm of Zevon and his life in many ways. Not only is it written about a woman 'he' asked to do a no-holes barred autobiography on him (she called it "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life And Times Of Warren Zevon") - it contained brave and brutally honest subject matter – and a huge raft of famous contributors into the bargain. Tom Petty's principal axeman Mike Campbell (and now a star in his own right with two tremendous solo albums) plays guitar, Tony Levin of Peter Gabriel's band plays Bass and Don Henley of the Eagles lays on his fantastic Harmony Vocals. The song was given originally to Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac who did a version for her 1985 "Rock A Little" album, but it was rejected and later turned up as an outtake on the "Enchanted" Box Set. "Reconsider Me" - a genuinely lovely ballad - got covered by other revered/hero types too - The Pretenders and Steve Earle amongst them. 

 

Zevon was like this - huge players loved him, hovered around him, paid tribute via covers. Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen were more than big fans - "Janey Needs A Shooter" was a co-write with the Boss and he recently/finally put out his official version on the excellent "Letter To You" album of 2020 - while JB was there from the Asylum Records start - getting the brilliant and hugely underrated "Warren Zevon" debut LP (for Asylum that is) up and running. That 'should have been huge' LP with tunes like "Hasten Down The Wind" (Linda Ronstadt named a whole album after it), "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (she also covered this) and he brilliantly wistful "Mohammad's Radio" also featured a slew of contributions - Jackson Browne (Production, Playing, Backing Vocals), Waddy Wachtel and David Lindley, John David Souther, Phil Everly, Ned Doheny, Bonnie Raitt and Rosemary Butler, Bobby Keys (of Rolling Stones fame), Don Henley and Glenn Frey of Eagles, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. 

 

The 1987 comeback set on Virgin "Sentimental Hygiene" featured R.E.M. for God's sake as the backing band with slots from Neil Young, Brian Setzer and Jennifer Warnes. Hell even George Clinton of Funkadelic and Parliament fame arranged "Leave My Monkey Alone". Speaking of Funk, I have been putting the so-Talking Heads groove of "Nighttime In The Switching Yard" on FUNK-ROCK CDR compilations for years (its on the stunning "Excitable Boy" album abutting loveliness like "Tenderness On The Block"- another co-write with Jackson Browne). 

 

The point is that with such rich material and thorough research (he namechecks many sources on the final credits page) - Gallagher has dug out the backdrop/background - and each song reads like a mini opera of drama, wit and yes - excess to the mess. But what I also loved - and all the greats have this - Zevon could pen a ballad, a love song, that often floored you. Gallagher is unfairly dismissive I think of "The Envoy" LP's big ballad moment, "Let Nothing Come Between You" - but I can firmly state that as young twenty-something in Dublin in 1982 with the LP on my trusty Garrard SP25 - I played this hopeful ditty to death. And then his research goes on to the so-sad yet utterly beautiful "Keep Me In Your Heart" from August 2003's swansong album "The Wind" (Zevon would die from cancer only two weeks after its release in early September 2004 living only just to see his return to the charts after 25 years). 

 

All the famous albums are here - the wildly underrated kick-ass live set "Stand In The Fire: Live At The Roxy" - the Hindu Love Gods project with R.E.M. - forgotten troubled-few-charts sets like "Transverse City" on Virgin in 1989, "Mr. Bad Example" and "Mutineer" on Giant in 1991 and 1995. The album analysis goes up to the brilliant and comprehensive 1996 Rhino 2CD Anthology "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead", stretches back to the late 60ts days when he was paired up with Violet Santangelo and they were calling themselves the double-act of Lyme and Cybelle (The Turtles put his "Like The Seasons" on the B-side of their million-seller "Happy Together" 45-single on White Whale Records) and includes honourable mentions of David Letterman who championed the guy for decades. Gallagher quite rightly also touches on the tribute album project "Enjoy Every Sandwich" of October 2004 with covers by Dylan, Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, The Pixies, Jill Sobule, The Wallflowers and his son Jordan (with others). The author has even managed to find a business card for Lee Ho Fook – the Chinese Restaurant literally mentioned in his most famous song "Werewolves Of London" (big dish of beef chow mein).

 

Zevon was complicated, funny as Robin Williams, edgy as Dave Chappelle, maddening and no doubt an absolute nightmare to live with in real life let alone market. But like other giants I can think of - John Martyn or Patti Smith or Chrissie Hynde or Elvis Costello or The Boss - he danced to his own song and has held a torch in my musical heart the whole of my life for exactly that. 

 

I loved "On Track..." for WARREN ZEVON and I can't recommend it enough. And to give it the best compliment of all, I rushed back to the albums and fell in love with the music of Warren William all over again. 

 

As Gallagher remarks in his take on "Keep Me In Your Heart" and a man he saw as a musical hero - Zevon (who knew he was not long for this world) said goodbye with style, grace and genuine heart-breaking pathos - like another one of our heroes - Bowie. I miss him...