The sober Zevon seemed fully dedicated to showcasing his hand and he could rock out with the best of them, and that they did. This all leads us to Zevon's "The Dog Ate the Part We Didn't Like Tour," which is represented here from recordings at his tenure in his adopted homeland of LA's legendary Roxy Theatre. A classically trained pianist with a penchant for pop hooks and alarmingly bizarre lyrics, Zevon's voice and records were more of the country or blues rock variety than true rock n' roll. He was recently sober at the time (he referenced his friend/producer Jackson Browne's role in getting him into rehab with "I saw Jackson Browne walking slow down the avenue/You know his heart is perfect" in a "Werewolves of London" ad-lib on this LP), and this recent sobriety was to his wellbeing's supreme benefit, being the term rock n' roll was more representative of Zevon's personal life than his records. Ronstadt also did a nice version of his "Hasten Down the Wind," which on the extended remaster of this LP is not only featured but some great intro banter ("I was poor and strung out and screwed up when I wrote it, now I'm just screwed up…it's great to be alive") from Zevon precedes it. At the time he had two major singles under his belt, one being the mistaken as just a jaunty fun pop song, "Werewolves of London," and one of them being Linda Ronstadt's cover of "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me" which was a nice hit for her. Hell, even the man himself forget he recorded the fucking thing…Īt least Dave and Paul fondly remember Stand in the Fireīy the time of 1980, Zevon had released four records (if you count his equally often forgotten debut, Wanted Dead or Alive) and was an extremely talented and respected songwriter, though that respect came more from fellow musicians than the public itself. Yet Warren Zevon's absolutely fabulous, outright balls out first live affair, Stand in the Fire: Live at the Roxy is rarely, if ever, mentioned in such conversations. I don't know about you, but hearing the Who drunkly sing their songs off key makes no interest to my ears. If I have to see the Who's Live at Leeds on another list I'm gonna pull Kurt Cobain and have my wife set me up as a suicide. Which brings me to another issue, which is the actual lists people come up with of greatest live records of all time. Remember when the Black Eyed Peas performed at the SuperBowl? Yeah, me neither, certainly didn't give me the drive to go see them live, just reminded me Fergie is the poster child for Butterface. Nobody gives a fuck about the music or content or what she has to say, it's just about what dumbass antic she'll come up with and how drunk you can get watching it. Truth is? Nobody wants a live album from Miley Cyrus, because all it would be is studio tracks with canned audience audio. Why is that? Well let's be honest, Miley Cyrus (to take one pathetic example) isn't going to make headlines on her tour except for one reason: making controversies regarding, say, her ass and another countries flag, or absolutely butchering a cover song. You notice there aren't many live records from more recent artists released these days? Sure, you get some, even occasionally brilliant releases like Wilco's Kicking Television, but the truth is if you glance over anyones greatest live releases of all time lists and you're not gonna see many recent records make it. Beautiful Melodies Telling You Terrible Things Vol.
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