| Among the many quotable lines on this morbidly engrossing
disc from Warren Zevon is this opening zinger from "Hostage-O":
"I can see me bound and gagged/Dragged behind the clownmobile."
These lines are delivered straight-faced to fingerpicked acoustic accompaniment,
either making the joke even funnier or leaving you wondering whether it's
a joke at all. So it goes on Life'll Kill Ya, an album that seesaws between
gallows humor and hopeful yearning, with the balance tilting toward the
former. Throughout it all, Zevon maintains his poise as a musician who came
of age on the mid-Seventies California singer-songwriter scene - just check
out his well-tempered piano playing on the grimly ironic title track or
the brisk, Dylanesque guitar-and-harmonica romp "Dirty Little Religion"
- while making like the bandleader on the Titanic with an iceberg in full
view. He forthrightly and unsentimentally skewers Elvis Presley in "Porcelain
Monkey" ("Left behind by the latest trends/Eating fried chicken
with his regicidal friends"), then turns the tables on himself in "For
My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer." A contemporary blues prosaically
titled "My Shit's Fucked Up" and the sardonic, faux-gospel "Fistful
of Rain" represent a fatalistic bottoming-out, but Zevon exits on a
high note with the utterly guileless and prayerful "Ourselves to Know"
and "Don't Let Us Get Sick." Moral of the story: While it's true
that life'll kill ya, don't give up without a fight. (PARKE PUTERBAUGH,
RS 834) |
|
Witty hits like "Werewolves of London" and "Excitable
Boy" made Zevon the clown prince of the hard-living L.A. music set
in the late '70s. More than 20 years later, he's cleaned up his living
a lot, but only toned down his lyrics a bit. The title track and "My
Shit's Fucked Up" showcase Zevon's ironic pessimism. It's uncertain
exactly what "Porcelain Monkey" is about, but this much is certain:
once it gets inside your head, good luck trying to get it out. Zevon also
does well with others' songs. A wonderfully understated "Back in
the High Life Again" eclipses Steve Winwood's original. "For
My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer" is great, too, but Zevon ought
to be paying Bruce Springsteen residuals for copping "The Promised
Land."
(by Mark Morgenstein, All
Music Guide)
|
Plattentipp 
