Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

For some reason the first Warren Zevon record I bought was Bad Luck Steak in Dancing School. I don't know why I bought this record, but I really liked it and it led me to check out some of his older records. Luckily I got hold of his 1978 release Excitable Boy before too long and wore it out. Most of the songs on this record are on the seemingly endless greatest hits records that have come out: "Johnny Strikes Up The Band," "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner,"Excitable Boy" and his biggest radio hit, "Werewolves Of London." Zevon lived a pretty hard life (he battled demons as they like to say) with two extended bouts with alcoholism. Bad Luck Steak was actually the first record back on his first sober stint in 1980. Although he always garnered critical success, sales did not follow, which led to him falling off the wagon and a few lost years. Unfortunately Zevon's hard living seems to have caught up with him. In 2002 he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. He decided to record one more record with a bunch of his famous friends called The Wind. I have included this record in this review in case you flake out and buy a greatest hits record. You should buy this for no other reason than to hear him sing Bob Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door;" this song is a lot more powerful when you hear it from a person that knows he only has a couple of months to live.