by Cameron McGill in New Music on Thursday 9 June 2011

This has been my favorite blast-from-the-past record over the last year. I cannot escape it. It kills me how beautifully crafted it is. Produced by Jackson Browne, Zevon’s second release from 1976, simply called Warren Zevon, captures every bit of genius and wit that Excitable Boy would two years later. It includes The French Inhaler, Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Carmelita, Mohammed’s Radio, Desperados Under the Eaves, Hasten Down the Wind, any one of which could be the cornerstone song of a whole career.

Every time he gets to the line ‘you said you were an actress, yes, I believe you are’ in The French Inhaler, I’m always singing at the top of my lungs. I was in LA last week and made a point to drive down Gower Avenue just to have been a part of the song Desperados Under the Eaves. Get it for the first time, or go back to it if it’s in your collection.