Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon captured me in 1978 with "Accidentally Like a Martyr." I remember the jolt I felt on first hearing "The Heartache." So it comes no surprise to hear the love in the songs of "The Wind." For me Warren Zevon has always been a writer of love songs. Some really dark, funny, songs of screwed up love -- I'll grant you that. Yet, songs from one refusing to allow his heart to turn completely to granite -- no matter how much pain he's feeling.
In The Wind Warren Zevon casts aside doubts that love and cynicism can happily coexist. With "Numb as a Statue" Zevon realizes that sometimes you need to share feelings no matter how superficial. In "She's Too Good for Me" he sings of a lost love with the realization he "wanted her to be everything she couldn't be with me." "El Amor De Mi Vida" wonders why he couldn't have said, "You are the love of my life" before it was too late.
I know Zevon isn't all about love. Zevon is a man who has realized he finally can simply say, “please stay.” With those words he cuts to the bone of what you feel when you just can’t be alone. Zevon is a man looking at the scarred face of mortality. He addresses it with a cover of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," but he nails it with "Prison Grove." Heavy, resonate, and written to be played walking slowly down a New Orleans street.
Don’t let me lead you to believe Zevon has turned to syrup and desolation. There are still the hard edges and humor that made us all Zevon fans. Who cannot smile at the quick turn of phases such as “I’m sprawled across the davenport of despair” in "Disorder in the House?"
The Wind is a return to a Zevon sound of years past -- soft melody and sharp note. The guest musicians and vocalists serve to support Zevon without every overshadowing the clarity of his voice. I could go on, but the CD sits on my desk waiting for another play.
(I wrote this for Amazon the morning the album was released. Warren has died.)
