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78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poor, Poor Pitiful Me, May 20, 2007
Crystal Zevon's "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" is un-putdownable for Warren Zevon fans like me. And I imagine even those unfamiliar with his work will be mightily entertained. I don't think I've read such a revealing rock book since Stephen Davis' Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga, about Led Zeppelin. I remember when Zevon's album "The Envoy" came out in 1982 it seemed to me to be a little thin compared with his previous epic, brilliant records. I had no idea, of course. It turns out Zevon was drinking and drugging himself into near oblivion during the 1970's and much of the '80's. When he emerged from this ordeal for the '90's he had lost commercial momentum and he watched his career dwindle to almost nothing. It's a sad story much of the time, but it's enlivened by Zevon's brilliantly perverse personality. He was called the Dorothy Parker of rock because of his wit, but he was something much tougher: some sort of mutant combination of Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, Randy Newman, and Igor Stravinsky.
Crystal Zevon, his former wife and mother of his daughter, has interviewed many of the closest people to the late musician and has constructed an oral history of his life. Within her narrative framework each person takes turns telling stories in their own words, supplemented by Zevon's surprisingly detailed and hair-raising, candid diaries, and dozens of terrific personal and family photos. It's a similar format to George Plimpton's Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintences and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career and Peter Manso's Mailer: His Life and Times. (I think that is company in which Zevon would be glad to be included, given his literary bent.) Crystal has been able to put together an amazingly life-like, three-dimensional portrait of a complex person for whom the good and bad parts were inextricably linked.
Much of the rock-star behavior detailed here can only be described as despicable. As Crystal walked out the door for the last time Zevon hurled at her, "You're trying to turn Dylan Thomas into Robert Young" and more poignantly, "I'll never be your father." Zevon hit his wife when he was loaded; was a financial deadbeat with some of his closest musical collaborators; was a shamefully neglectful father; emotionally manhandled a series of smart, pretty girlfriends; wasted fortunes on OCD-compelled shopping sprees; had many sordid misadventures with groupies and self-produced porn; and could be a spiteful, sorry jerk to be around. Much of this can be laid at the feet of his alcohol and drug addictions (which continued even after the famous "Rolling Stone" cover story which celebrated his supposed new sobriety.) What makes us care about his tale is his palpable humanity which comes through clearly in these pages. He was fiercely intelligent (if something of an intellectual star-chaser, to use a less obscene term). He was touchingly humble about himself, even as he was aware of his commanding strengths as a songwriter. When he wanted to he could be an awesome companion and father. He counted among his pals some very famous folks like David Letterman (who was "the best friend my music ever had"), Stephen King, Dave Barry (who alone among the interviewees cried while talking about Zevon) and Carl Hiaasen (who wrote the classy and moving introduction to this book.) In fact it seems that Zevon had met most of American show-business at one time or another, which gives his biography an extra dimension (Hunter Thompson called Zevon a "Mormon Jew" because of Zevon's moralistic streak and the background of his mother and father.)
The book begins and ends with a painfully honest account of Zevon's final illness and death. After he was diagnosed with terminal cancer he fell off the wagon in a heap, after 16 sober years. It got pretty gruesome, but he pulled himself together long enough to record his farewell album "The Wind", make a legendary hour-long appearance on the Letterman show, and witness the birth of his twin grandsons. Zevon's music will continue to live because of its sheer melodic beauty, hard-rocking power, and devastatingly funny depictions of certain dark sides of American male experience. This book is an invaluable resource for understanding this great artist; and it's one of the most readable books of this year.
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68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I got to be Jim Morrison a lot longer than he did", May 2, 2007
An unusually witty, intelligent, insightful and downright poetic songwriter, Warren Zevon embraced stardom even when it didn't embrace him back--he struggled with various addictions OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), watching his contemporaries achieve fame and hold on to it longer. Zevon watched his early fame with the novelty hit single "Werewolves of London" (the title was supplied by Phil Everly--Zevon was musical director for the brothers during their last tour before their estrangement)gradually dissolve despite releasing a series of terrific albums in its wake. Warren avoided doctors for 20 years (he would see his dentist whenever he had a problem)finally giving in when he found himself short of breath and exhausted after a tour of Canada--but by then it was too late for him.
Written by Zevon's former wife Crystal, the book is a mix of narrative written by Crystal along with quotes from friends, family and fellow musicians that played with and admired Zevon that Crystal interviewed for this book. Zevon could be petty, was a nasty drunk but could also be a good friend to those he loved when he was sober. She has also includes excerpts from Warren's diary as well as illustrations by Mr. Bad Example and personal photos. When Warren found out he was going to die he embraced the potential publicity by asking his agent to exploit it knowing that this would truly be his last paycheck and that his family could benefit from it. He appeared on David Letterman's show (Letterman was a long time fan and Warren appeared with his band during at one point on the show), did multiple interviews and rushed to finish one final masterpiece before succumbing to "the big C". He beat doctors predictions and expectations surviving long enough to greet his twin grandsons.
The book is filled with a number of heartbreaking, amusing, infuriating stories. Among them Warren instructing his assistant to go to a Beverly Hills store to buy him cigerettes--his stipulation beyond the type was that the packaging couldn't say anything about cancer--it could say that smoking caused heart disease, pulmonary disease, etc. but NOT cancer. We also find out that the line about the "Excitable Boy" rubbing the pot roast all over his chest is based on something Warren did.
Many of Warren's albums are essential and his brilliance is as undeniable as his inability to conquer many of his demons. Even after reading the profiles of him in Rolling Stone, the obits and other comments from friends, lovers, family and collegues, I had no idea as to the extent of Warren's problems. He was a mass of fascinating contradictions. He was a serial womanizer who longed for committment but couldn't be faithful for too long. Before he died, he asked Crystal to document his life and dirty times in a book. He didn't ask her to sanitize his life recognizing that his shortcomings were every bit a part of him as his unique gifts. Interestingly, I found that I appreciated the albums he made even more after learning about all the disorder in his house.
Coinciding with the release of Crystal Zevon's book is "Preludes" a collection of rare, previously unreleased songs and demos all pre-1976 (except for a couple of album tracks and a single live track on the second disc). It's a two disc set with an interview on the second.
Also recommended some of his essential recordings: Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy, Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, The Envoy, The Wind
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The 'Excitable Boy' As Genius And 'Moral Imbecile', July 9, 2007
Crystal Zevon's I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon (2007) is a harrowing, sad, and eye-opening examination of the life of the late musician whose brilliant songwriting found critical and commercial fame just as the Seventies and the era of the 'California Sound' were winding to a close. Championed early by influential luminaries Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Don Henley and Linda Ronstadt (who covered a quartet of his songs at the height of her fame), Zevon was something of a transitional figure as popular music moved towards the rawer edges of punk and new wave.
Ironically, Zevon, whose typically sharp, cynical, and biting songs helped bring an end to the Mellow Seventies, didn't really survive that decade himself, at least not commercially. As I'll Sleep When I'm Dead underscores, Zevon drifted through the next thirty years of his personal and creative life with difficulty, watching the popular audience for his work slowly evaporate while he became overwhelmed with substance, financial, and behavioral problems of astounding scope and variety. Always something of an 'artist's artist,' the acclaim of his industry peers never diminished.
Zevon apparently suffered from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and some type of agoraphobia as well as various kinds of addiction, but few readers may feel these problems excuse his physical, emotional, and verbal abuse towards one woman after another, his expectation that the women in his life were largely present only to respond to his needs, his failure to support his children for extended periods, and the infantile fits of rage he indulged himself in one year after another.
Often haughty and imperious during his youth and heyday, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead suggests that Zevon could neither cope with nor accept the relative failure of his post-Seventies career, when he had to struggle to obtain recording contracts, was reduced to opening for Richard Marx, and playing restaurants and sterile corporate 'parties.'
However, Zevon was hardly alone in facing this 'big chill.' The post-Seventies period was equally hard on most musicians who cut their teeth during the Me Decade, from Browne, Souther, and Joni Mitchell to America and Bob Seger. The Eagles wisely disbanded, while Ronstadt coolly and confidently moved on to other genres. As new multi-media acts like Madonna rose to prominence, even punk bands faltered: Patti Smith retired; Blondie broke up.
Those interviewed, who include Browne, Souther, Waddy Watchel, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, novelists Stephen King and Carl Hiaasen, as well as family members, intimate personal friends and ex-lovers, occasionally appear to fall into two broad camps to explain Zevon's bizarrely self-destructive behavior.
The more tolerant point of view is that Zevon was an artist and a musician, and "this is simply how artists and musicians behave." The other, more worrying but probably far more accurate view, is that Zevon was something of a sociopath, and one who caused infinite amounts of needless pain and suffering to himself and almost anyone who came into his personal orbit. Since many people, especially women, entered into relationships with Zevon and largely tolerated his abuse due to his fame and reputation, they ultimately have to accept responsibility for their experiences.
Much of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead portrays its subject as willful, manipulative, and emotionally immature at best, and as something of a "morale imbecile" at worst. Though only psychiatrists can make such assessments, readers have only to compare Zevon's behavior over the course of his life with Hervey Cleckley's "psychopathology checklist" from The Mask of Sanity (1941) to understand further what I'll Sleep When I'm Dead frequently suggests.
Authored by his ex-wife and the mother of Zevon's daughter, Ariel, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead is a work of integrity, and one initiated with Zevon's encouragement before his tragic death from cancer at 56. Raw but unexploitive, the book is a powerfully dramatic testament to both its subject's musical genius and troubled existence.
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