Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy (2023 MFSL UltraDisc UHR SACD) (1978/2023)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 32:02 minutes | Full Scans included | 1,32 GB
Genre: Rock | Publisher (label): Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2241

Excitable Boy established Warren Zevon as rock’s gonzo figurehead – or, as Jackson Browne aptly called him, “the first and foremost proponent of song noir.” A supreme collision of over-caffeinated energy, acerbic wit, dark humor, irreverent reporting, bittersweet romance, swept-under-the-rug truth, and illicit desire sent up with booze, pills, and therapist confessions, the breakthrough album zeroes in on frightening aspects of American culture with an incisiveness that’s even sharper today than upon the effort’s release in 1978. And the music has never sounded so excitable.

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Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy (1978) [Audio Fidelity 2013]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 31:34 minutes | Scans included | 1.3 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 622 MB
Mastered by Steve Hoffman | Audio Fidelity # AFZ-166

Warren Zevon’s self-titled album announced he was one of the most striking talents to emerge from the Los Angeles soft rock singer/songwriter community, and Linda Ronstadt (a shrewd judge of talent if a sometimes questionable interpreter) recorded three of its songs on two of her biggest-selling albums, which doubtlessly earned Zevon bigger royalty checks than the album itself ever did. But if Warren Zevon was an impressive calling card, the follow-up, Excitable Boy, was an actual hit, scoring one major hit single, “Werewolves of London,” and a trio of turntable hits (“Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,” “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” and the title track). But while Excitable Boy won Zevon the larger audience his music certainly deserved, the truth is it was a markedly inferior album; while it had all the bile of Warren Zevon, and significantly raised Zevon’s dark-humor factor, it was often obvious where his previous album had been subtle, and while all 11 tracks on Warren Zevon were strong and compelling, two of the nine tunes on Excitable Boy — “Johnny Strike Up the Band” and “Nighttime in the Switching Yard” — sound like they’re just taking up space. Musically, most of Excitable Boy is stuck in a polished but unexceptional FM pop groove, and only “Veracruz” hints at the artful intelligence of Warren Zevon’s finest moments. It’s hard to say if Zevon was feeling uninspired or just dumbing himself down when he made Excitable Boy, but while it made him famous, it lacks the smarts and substance of his best work.

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