Excitable Boy (1978)
Well, he went down to dinner in his Sunday best... Warren Zevon's follow-up to his self-titled breakthrough album features some of his most well-known work. For the most part, if you hear a Warren Zevon song on traditional FM radio these days, chances are it is going to be a song from this album. "Excitable Boy" peaked at #8 on the Billboard charts, the highest album chart position of his career and this is also the best-selling album of Warren's career. While his previous self-titled release got him some notoriety as a singer-songwriter out of Los Angeles during a time where the scene was rife with talent, this album would cement bring him commercial success and more radio relevance. Excitable Boy would be certified Gold about 4 months after its release. In 1997 it was re-certified as a platinum record. That is the most recent certification.
The album begins with what would also be the first single, "Johnny Strikes Up The Band". Not a bad song, but I don't think it was a strong choice for a lead single. I don't think it was a great choice as a lead-off track on the album, either. The more upbeat and catchy title track would have been a fine opener, in my opinion, but something like that doesn't make or break an album for me. "Johnny..." is a nice easy tune that goes into one of Warren's finest songs "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner".
While I'm nitpicking track listing, I think Roland would have served better in the center of the album instead of the 2nd track. Kind of like how it is on the live "Learning To Flinch" album. Again, that's not a huge deal, though. According to Rolling Stone, Warren met co-writer David Lindell in Spain who was operating a bar after working as a mercenary in Africa. The two would collaborate on this song about a mercenary. The song references the Nigerian Civil War and the Congo Crisis while singing about a fictional character named Roland.
Since I'm no expert in internal African conflicts of the late 60's, much of the story went over my head, but I've always loved this song. It also has the distinction of being the last song Warren Zevon would ever perform in front of a live audience during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.
From "Roland" we go into the title track "Excitable Boy". A catchy, upbeat song with a doo-wop chorus with a carefree tale about rape and murder. He raped and killed her and built a cage with her bones. "Excitable boy", they all said. This track is drenched with that trademark dark Zevon humor. These days, a line like that might get him canceled by the torch-wielding Twitter mob because no one understands sarcasm and subtlety anymore, I guess. Excitable Boy is a good tune, but I find myself enjoying the officially released live versions on Stand in the Fire and Learning To Flinch even more. There's also a live performance from 1982 at the Capitol Theatre with a hot band and a lead guitarist by the name of John Wood who rips and awesome solo at the end of this song. Search that one out.
Track 4 is the big one. Warren's lone top 40 hit "Werewolves of London". Werewolves peaked at #21 on the charts. This means Warren was technically a one-hit-wonder which sounds pretty crazy since he is known for multiple songs even on this album alone, but hey, Jimi Hendrix was technically a one-hit-wonder too so I guess he's in good company. If you happen to be reading this without any knowledge of Warren's work, chances are you've heard this song somewhere before. It features Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of the band Fleetwood Mac on drums and bass respectively.
"Werewolves..." was actually the third single on this album. It was the record company's choice for the lead single, but Warren insisted it should either be Johnny Strikes Up The Band or Tenderness on the Block. The latter of which would not become a single at all on this album that released 5 singles, which surprises me because I think Tenderness on the Block had way more potential as a radio hit than Johnny Strikes Up The Band. This time, though it seems the record label was right in choosing this song to represent the album. Much like the title track, it is catchy, upbeat and features some dark, humorous and memorable lyrics.
The album closes with what would become another fan-favorite and live setlist regular "Lawyers, Guns and Money". A bright hard rock tune that closes the album out nicely. The album is peppered with catchy songs and Lawyers is no different. In conclusion, Excitable Boy is a very fine, complete, solid album. If you're not a hardcore Warren Zevon fan, but a fan of classic rock and 70s singer-songwriters you need to give this album a listen. I consider this essential for any classic rock listener. If I were to introduce a potential new fan to Warren's music I would likely show them this album... however, it's 2020 and I could easily just make a playlist of 25 of my favorite tracks and say "here ya go", but nevertheless, Excitable Boy is an important record and a great effort by Warren to firmly cement star status in the music industry in 1978.
With all that said, I give this album a 9.5/10 both for its great music and its commercial success. No, commercial success isn't the driving force in my ratings, but it does matter to me. Songs and albums that click with a mass audience may happen with a bit of luck, but they don't happen on accident and I'm not going to go the elitist snob route and turn my nose up at one of my favorite songwriter's albums just because it happened to be the most popular with a casual radio audience.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Warren's rebooted solo career is off to a great start. I'll see you here for the next one. Take care and God bless.
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