"Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" - Warren Zevon (1980)

Warren Zevon

Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School

1980

Welcome to the 1980's, Warren. Life sure comes at you fast. This album, the follow-up to the very successful "Excitable Boy" and benefitted a little off the fumes of that release. It is, however, different from Excitable Boy, but not the more dramatic change that would soon come in Warren's songwriting career. This album features a pop-rock cover on an R&B tune. A co-write with Bruce Springsteen. Guest appearances from Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt once again and every member of The Eagles at the time is featured on various songs throughout the album.

Dancing School (the term, an old euphemism for a brothel) did present a significant shift in Warren's sound, nevertheless. On his self-titled release and Excitable Boy,  the songs are primarily piano-driven. This album has a much more prominent electric guitar presence. In a 2000 interview by Jody Denberg on radio station KGDR Warren regretfully admitted that he never had as much fun playing the piano as he did the guitar. To him, because he took lessons as a kid and had to learn to be technically proficient and got a job as the piano player of the Everly Brothers he associated the piano with work.  The guitar was more liberating. He didn't have to be perfect and he could move on stage, which he did a lot of around the time after this album came out. In this interview, he also notes that he did not own an acoustic piano from about 1984 on and noted that it was hard for him to really develop a relationship with an electronic keyboard no matter how fancy it is.  I know I'm skipping ahead, but if you're familiar with Warren's work beyond this album you know there's not a lot of "Excitable Boys" or "Roland's" or "Hasten's" or  "French Inhalers" coming down the pipeline.  I will post the aforementioned interview below.

"A Certain Girl", a cover song previously recorded by Ernie K-Doe and The Yardbirds, was the lead single and peaked modestly on the Billboard 200 at #57.  The song is fine, but I don't feel it really fits Warren. Sometimes cover tunes can surprise you. Metallica took a low tempo, light rock Bob Seger tune and made it their own. Ghost took a Beatles song and did a very good job making it their own as well. I don't feel this one worked that well. It's not bad, but I think its chart position rates this song about where it should be. A modest hit single, but nothing strong enough to carry the album.

The album features some fun rock tracks. The album leads off with the title track featuring a prominent lap steel track by David Lindley. "Jungle Work" is one of Warren's more hard rock tracks. My personal favorite songs are "Play It All Night Long" and the Springsteen co-write "Jeanie Needs A Shooter".  Play It All Night Long begins with the line "Grandpa pissed his pants again, he don't give a damn", so of course that's a favorite. In my opinion, Jeanie Needs A Shooter should have been the lead single. Its bright, has a good radio-ready rock feel to it. It rocks, but its also a bit of a ballad as well.  I feel this song represents the album and Warren as an artist much better.

Dancing School was a good effort but did not live up to its older brother Excitable Boy. I enjoy this album, but even I as a hardcore fan of Zevon's work, do not enjoy it as much as the more commercially successful album before it.  I do recommend this album, but it may be a little bit of a grower for some classic rock fans. Warren did not write with hit chasing in mind so some of his stuff is out there... Yeah, if you think this album is "out there" we are just getting started.

My final rating for this album is a fine, respectable 7.5/10  Not one of my favorites by WZ, but certainly worth a good listen every now and then. A nice little bit of personal trivia, this album was released on my birthday, so that's pretty nice.  I can't be biased over that, though. I enjoyed the previous two albums more. "The Envoy" comes next. Will I like that one more than Dancing School? We'll see. 

Here's the interview mentioned earlier. Thanks for reading, everyone and God bless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jseKHl8lOa8

Warren Zevon - "Excitable Boy" (1978) Review

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.

Warren Zevon Album Reviews: "Wanted Dead or Alive" & "Warren Zevon"

Hello everyone. Happy summer and I hope you're doing well. I decided to come back by filling out so retro album reviews. I'm going to start with one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Warren Zevon.

In this post, I'm going to cover both his early "Wanted Dead or Alive" album (as "Zevon") and his self-titled hit from 1976. Why two albums? Because there's not much to say about his first album, but obviously it needs to be covered simply out of the significance of being his first album and I want this post to be more than 4 sentences long. Let's get right into it now.

"Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Zevon (1969)

"Wanted Dead or Alive" was released in 1969 to the sound of one-hand clapping, as Warren himself would put it. The album today acts as a relic of rough, early Zevon tunes for the hardcore fans of his work to seek out after they filled out their collection of his albums. During this period Warren wanted to do everything himself. He want to be the band, write everything, produce everything, but the problem was he wasn't the fully matured, realized genius he would later become. 

Kim Fowley was set to produce the project, but ended up leaving after conflicts with Warren. He would remark in the book "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon":

"[Warren] wanted to play all the instruments himself. He wouldn't listen to anybody. I wasn't trying to produce him because you really couldn't produce Warren, at least not in those days, but I was trying to help him make a record that might sell more than ten copies, all purchased by his friends. But, he didn't listen to anyone about anything, and one day I just walked in thinking I'd had enough."

If you listen to this album, you can hear that its a bit of a mess and all over the place. Warren lacked focus. In every song, it sounds like he was trying to figure out what type of album he wanted to make and with each vocal track it sounds like he was still trying to figure out what type of personality he wanted to project through his music. 

The stand out songs are the title track (not written by Warren) and a true Warren Zevon solo penned song called "Tule's Blues".  The latter would probably be my favorite on this album, however, its lack of focus makes it a difficult listen. The album does close with a pretty cool instrumental track called "Fiery Emblems", though. Not cool enough to save it, though.

Wanted Dead or Album is Warren's first album and also my least favorite album of his. As a hardcore fan, I thought I would find a lot of enjoyment digging this up, but my reaction to  it today is the same as my reaction to it when I first heard it. It's simply not a good record. I give this record a 3.5/10

"Warren Zevon" (1976)

Alright, let's get serious now. This is an incredible record. Seven years after his long-forgotten debut, many people consider this Warren's true debut as a music artist.  The album is peppered with catchy rock tracks, ballads and that 1970's country-rock flavor that was coming out of Los Angeles at the time.  The soft piano of "Frank and Jesse James" starts off the album. One of my personal favorites that turns into a rocking track.  "Hasten Down The Wind" is a classic ballad. "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" is a great rock track. "The French Inhaler" is one of Warren's finest musical moments in his entire career in my opinion... and that's just the first half of the record.

"Carmelita" is another fan-favorite for relaxed guitar strummers. "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" would become one of Warren's more well-known songs and a live favorite early in his career. Possibly the best song is saved for last. "Desperados Under The Eaves" is a great signature Zevon piano ballad with a string intro that mimics the album's opening track to round it out.  The line "and if California slides into the ocean like the mystics and statistics say it will... I predict this motel will be standing until I've paid my bill" is a great line and where you can hear Warren as a fully realized artist who knows who he wants to be. What kind of music he wants to write and what type of personality he wants to project to the public unlike the previous album. If I had to sum up Warren's personality with one lyric, I would say that one is perfect.

Warren was more open to play well with others on this release. Friend and accomplished songwriter out of Los Angeles, Jackson Browne produced the record. The album also features a lot of big guest appearances, many of which are now legends including Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the Eagles. Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys and many others.

Without wanting to do everything himself, Warren was able to concentrate on the songwriting. All these great songs were written by Warren himself. This record is one of my favorites in my collection and the 2008 deluxe 2 disc collection with demos and outtakes is a must-have, too. 

I said "Wanted..." was my least favorite Warren Zevon record. Is this one my favorite? Maybe. Sometimes I think it is. If this were his true debut, I would say its one of the best debut records of all time.  When I'm done reviewing all of these records, I think I will rank his studio albums and try to decide of a favorite. The problem with that is whenever is my favorite on that given day could be my 2nd or 3rd favorite the next day.  I don't know. I'll think about it. For now I'll stick to the reviews.

I give "Warren Zevon" a 9/10 review.  Simply an incredible release. The album sounds great. It is focused. The lyrics are great. The music is great.  A hell of a reset for Warren's career. However, you know the big one is coming soon... Yep. Aaahhhooo!

Guitarist Bob Kulick Dead at age 70

News broke today that long-time session guitarist Bob Kulick died today at the age of 70.  While Bob may not be a household name, he had a very good career in music and got to work with the likes of Meatloaf, Michael Bolton, WASP and most notably KISS and Paul Stanley on his 1978 solo album. Bob is the brother of Bruce Kulick who would go on to be an official member of KISS in 1984 until the reunion of the original band in 1996.

Bob himself came close to being Kiss' guitar player. He auditioned when they were looking for a guitar player and he apparently nailed the audition, but Ace Frehley came in right after and was more what the band was looking for as a member of Kiss. While Bob missed out on the gig, he would do session work with Kiss, playing guitar on the studio disc side of Alive II (1977) and the new songs on the Kiss compilation album Killers (1982).  When Kiss released individual solo albums in 1978, Paul Stanley enlisted Bob Kulick to play all the lead guitar on the album, so if you want as close of an idea as you're going to get as to what Kiss may have sounded like with Bob, give Paul Stanley's '78 record a listen. It's a good album, but in my personal opinion, Ace's would be the most solid of the 4 solo records released by Kiss in 1978.

Along with his session work with various artists from Lou Reed to Diana Ross including those mentioned above, he also worked as a producer on a number of tribute albums throughout the 2000's.  A storied career and working closely with some of the biggest names in music. Even though he didn't land that Kiss gig, things seemed to work out for Bob as a session player. 

Rest in peace, Bob Kulick. 

-CMM

Happy 75th Birthday, Bob Seger

Blow out some candles for Bob Seger. The singer-songwriter legend from Detroit turns 75 years old today. Seger began his career in the 60's and enjoyed some local success.  The bulk of his success and work his is most widely known for would come in the late 1970's with albums like the live success "Live Bullet" (1976), Night Moves (1976), Stranger in Town (1978) and his only #1 album, Against The Wind from 1980 and he would dominate the airwaves during this time.  Like many successful artists, Bob found it difficult to find new success in the flashy and glamorous music video age of the 1980's but he maintained a high profile with his classic rock hits that would become radio staples. "Old Time Rock and Roll", one of his album "Stranger in Town" would become perhaps his most well-known song thanks to a famous scene in the 1983 film Risky Business starring Tom Cruise. A scene itself that has been parodied many times over the years, all with the famous piano intro to the song starting things off. In the 90's, Seger's voice would be in our ears every day with the 1986 #1 hit song "Like A Rock" used as the soundtrack for many Chevrolet truck commercials from 1991 until 2004.  His song "Turn The Page" has been covered by many artists over the years, but none more famous than Metallica's 1998 cover that would turn out to be a #1 hit for the band off their covers album Garage, Inc.

It would take too long and way too much research than I have time for to do even a brief bio of Seger's career, so I'm just going to run down my top 5 Seger songs.

5) Turn The Page  -  A bit of an obvious choice. I love the original, I love his live version on Live Bullet. I love the Metallica version and the Waylon Jennings version from 1985. It's just a great song, great for car rides, great for listing at home and also a great campfire tune if you're hanging out with some friends and wanna strum a few tunes.

4) Old Time Rock and Roll -  This is perhaps his most catchy song. Its the type of song that would fit just about any mood and any mixed playlist. The type of song that someone who probably isn't even much of a classic rock fan would still enjoy. It's an anthem that resonates with generations well past this song's release.   "Call me a relic, call me what you will. Say I'm old-fashion, say I'm over-the-hill. Today's music ain't got the same soul. I like that old-time rock and roll." A line the singer boldly states with no shame. I know a lot of us have been there. The only difference is in this song Bob scoffs off the invitation to a disco club whereas today it would be some new rave or dubstep night.

3) Still The Same - The #4 charting hit from the album "Stranger In Town". Not much to say. Just a cool, catchy tune. A nice mid-tempo rock ballad from 1978 that almost evokes feelings of 1958 in its arrangement and the background singers in the chorus are a nice touch, too. I've always enjoyed this one.

2) Night Moves - The title track off the 1976 album. For me personally, this was probably my earliest favorite Seger tune. Night Moves is also the first Bob Seger album that I ever listened to so its a bit of a sentimental/nostalgic favorite for me, too. I could have gone with "Mainstreet" or 'Rock and Roll Never Forgets", both great songs, but the title track has always been a top favorite of mine and it also represents that album very well. This song was another top ten hit for Bob, reaching #4 in the US. 

1) Against The Wind -  Well, I'm older now and still runnin' against the wind. The #5 charting hit of his lone #1 album. To me this song is just classic rock perfection. A great radio tune. Bob sounds great. The band sounds great. Its one of those songs you find yourself relaxing to, but also one that you also want to pay attention to the actual lyrics as well. A catchy, relaxing tune about weathering the storms of whatever life brings you. Probably something a lot of you out there right now could find some comfort in listening to. It's a huge hit off a huge album and also one of my favorites, so this was a pretty easy#1 for me.

Closing thoughts...

Thanks for reading, everyone. Bob Seger today is pretty much retired. He finished his farewell tour last year, so who knows, right now he could be reading this blog. If you are, know that your music was very much appreciated by a teenager who got into his dad's dusty old record collection in the mid-2000s and claimed them as his own.  I'm no Bob Seger historian so some one else will be much more qualified to do a more thorough write-up on the man's life and career. This is just a post of appreciation from a fan and wishing a very happy 75th birthday to a music legend. 

Take care and God bless.

-CMM

Metallica Perform New Version of "Blackened" From Home

How does it feel to be alive? Metallica performs "Blackened 2020"

On May 1 Metallica joined John Fogerty, Dennis DeYoung, Paul Stanley, and other music artists in performing from their homes while the world deals with COVID-19.  What better song than an uplifting tune about the end of the world? 

The performance of the lead track off their 1988 album "...And Justice For All" is semi-acoustic with an altered arrangement and a new guitar solo by lead guitarist Kirk Hammett. All four members are performing from their homes in what oddly enough is the band's first "live" (or at least public) performance since September of last year when their Worldwired Tour went on hold while singer/guitarist James Hetfield went into rehab.

The video can be seen on YouTube and the band's various official social media and below this post.  In my opinion, this is a great stripped-down rendition of one of the band's heaviest, fastest and complex songs. It would have been easy enough to just do an acoustic, sentimental performance of "Nothing Else Matters", but they went all out with a semi-obscure fan-favorite that clearly took a bit of work to put together. Big thumbs up here and it's also nice just to see these guys playing together again... even if they aren't actually together. 

Dennis DeYoung (ex-Styx) Starts YouTube Channel

Dennis DeYoung (73), best known for being a founding member of '70s rock band Styx, has started a YouTube channel. Amid the world dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, DDY made a video from his home singing his 1981 #3 charting hit "The Best of Times".   The video was a surprisingly viral success, now at about 850,000 views, and met with overwhelming praise from fans.


Overwhelmed himself, DeYoung decided to open a YouTube channel where he will continue to make such videos from his home for the fans and anyone willing to listen. The channel will include home solo performances along with home movies and updates on his music career. DeYoung is still active today as a solo artist. Other than his introductory video welcoming you to his channel, the first video he posted was a solo performance of another #3 hit song, 1990's "Show Me The Way".

Styx is still active today without Dennis, who departed ways with him in 1999. In numerous interviews DDY maintains a positive outlook and never takes shots at his former band, whereas on the Styx side of things, the details as to why Dennis was never invited to reunite with the band are murky at best. Much tension was caused by, again, another #3 charting DeYoung penned song, 1983's "Mr. Roboto". A song other Styx members would publicly bash for years and ignore live, along with many other DeYoung penned hits, for years until about a year ago requests for the song piled up so high that the band has since started performing it again, albeit reluctantly.  DeYoung also dealt with Influenza A and light sensitivity prior to his departure from the band, something the current Styx points out as if to assume he is unable to tour, but DeYoung has been touring as a solo artist for 20 years. This post isn't about taking sides or pushing for a DDY reunion with Styx, but considering DeYoung has taken the high road at every turn and has extended endless olive branches to the band to no avail, it is worth mentioning as it is an ongoing part of his history.

DeYoung penned 7 of the band's 8 Billboard top 10 singles; The lone #1 hit "Babe", "Mr. Roboto", "Show Me The Way", "The Best of Times", "Don't Let It End", "Come Sail Away" and Styx's breakthrough hit "Lady". Now at age 73, sounding every bit as good as he sounded in 1973, he is now part of the YouTube community to share some of these old hits from his livingroom.



DDY's official YouTube channel can be found simply by searching "Dennis DeYoung".

(Styx in the late '70s. Dennis DeYoung, front center.  Chuck Panozzo, bass, to the left. John Panozzo, drums, to the right. Tommy Shaw, guitar, back left and "JY", guitar back right)