Customer Reviews

Stand in the Fire

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Warren Zevon was on a comeback of sorts when he set out to record "Stand In The Fire." As is well known (and documented in the infamous Rolling Stone cover story), he had his addictions to battle, and this was the first tour after having conquered them. The line-change in "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" to "I got a .38 special up on the shelf, and I don't intend to use it on myself" was part of that rejuvenation. Zevon was clean and proud and ready to rip.

"Stand In The Fire" is as pure a rock rip as Zevon ever made. Songs up to "Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School" are included here, with two new songs and a goofy Bo Diddly medley. Why in the world it remained out of print (and never even issued to CD) for over 25 years is downright criminal. Somewhere after this - and documented on "Learning To Flinch" - Zevon became more an acoustic live act. When I saw him on "The Envoy" tour, it was just him, his piano and guitar. On "Stand In The Fire," however, Zevon is almost giddy with rock and roll exuberance.

Adding to this five-star document of Zevon at his peak are the four bonus cuts. My guess is (along with time restrictions) that at least two were left off the original album due to their more mellow qualities. "Frank and Jessie James" and "Hasten Down The Wind" are solo piano performances, but "Hasten" is transcendental. The anguish in Zevon's voice is awe-inspiring. This was always a five-star album in my mind, the bonus tracks add to the luster.

But it is the original 10 song album that I had the excitement for when I heard Rhino was finally going to get them out stateside. Warren Zevon is as alive as he ever was on this LP, and when he shouts out to George Gruel to get on stage and dance, it's as inspiring a moment as has ever been recorded for a live album. (I'd add to that the final verse of "Werewolves of London," where Zevon bellows "and he's looking for James Taylor" like he's on the brink of sanity.) It is just another reason why I will miss Warren Zevon and his insight, literary wit and passion. Essential seventies music.

Wow, this is what rock and roll could be, should be, used to be*. These guys are tight and they rock out! Great renditions of Warren's great songs. Warren is singing out of his mind. Lots of fun lyric variations, just enough jamming, great backing band. Warren always did know how to choose and lead a great band. (* see also Lou Reed's Rock N Roll Animal!)

The extra four tracks (Johnny Strikes up the Band, Play It All Night Long, Frank and Jesse James, and Hasten Down the Wind) are from the same concert and are also great. The last two provide a denoument to the concert: they are calmer, WZ alone at the piano. The remastered sound is wonderful.

Explosively energetic. Wonderful. This is a must for any WZ fan. Sure makes me sad that he's: too soon gone.

Essential rock n roll. One of the best rock albums ever.

There were better rock 'n roll singer/songwriters than Warren Zevon. Or so I heard somebody say. I think they may have been wrong.

STAND IN THE FIRE captures the Warren-in-concert feel that his newer fans (such as myself) will, alas, never be able to experience for ourselves. This is an album of great rock 'n roll--from the satirical "Excitable Boy," to the deliciously perverse romp of "Poor Poor Pitiful Me," to rollickin' surprise of "Bo Diddley's a Gunslinger," to the exquisite piano/vocal performance of "Hasten Down the Wind." From the very first note the very last, this album (like most of Zevon's records) will captivate you. Older fans will delight in hearing this treasure on CD; newer fans such as myself with simply delight in hearing it at all.

I remember buying Warren Zevon's live album "Stand in the Fire" on vinyl in its original release at the start of the '80's. I had initially become a fan of Zevon's as a teenager in the late 1970's , after endlessly sneaking into my older brother's (off-limits) room on surreptitious missions to listen to this provacative music. I became entranced by Zevon's music and endless tales of desperados, spies, mercenaries, bad girls and werewolves.

By the time 1980 had come along, I had my own record collection going and "Stand in the Fire" was a welcomed edition, that got endless time spinning on my turn table. To me this really was a 'B*lls to the Wall' live Rock n' Roll performance, best played at high volume. But beneath the pounding drums and piano was the same literate (sometimes almost poetic) lyrics, that had first attracted me to his music. I love the humour found in songs like "Excitable Boy", "Werewolves of London" and "Lawyers Guns and Money". These songs seem to be wryly told with tongue firmly implanted in cheek. They are offset by more dramatic fare found in tunes like "Jeannie Needs A Shooter" and my personal favorite cut of the album, "Mohammed's Radio".

In this live performance it seems like Zevon is almost acting the songs out for us. I can just imagine the poor sm**k of a protagonist in "Lawyers, Guns and Money" as he proclaims about his waitress/lover..."How was I to Know/She was with the Russians too!" You can just hear Zevon just playing it up and selling the line! I also love the more personalized references, that are throughout the show. In "Werewolves of London" there are prominent mentions of musician pals, Jackson Browne & James Taylor (love his play on the words Taylor/tailor), who are humorously incorporated into the story of the British wolf's lively pursuits. I also like the topical political references in "Mohammed's Radio", where Zevon ad-libs "Ayatollah's got his problems too/Even Jimmy Carters got the highway blues!" Ahhh!! It nostalgically brings me back to the late 1970's political malaise, that this country was going through. (You think it's gone away?)

All in all, this is just a amazing live album. The songs are great and Zevon and his backing band give a kick-a** performance! Why it has taken forever for this album to finally reach CD is a mystery! The CD itself has been wonderfully remastered. It's sounds better than I originally remember it. The CD also includes four previously unissued cuts. My favorites include magnificent performances of "Frank and Jesse James" and the now classic ballad, "Hasten Down the Wind". Zevon just puts so much emotion into these cuts. I'm amazed they were not included on the original release. If your a fan of Warren Zevon or just good old, Rock N' Roll in general, than buy this CD! Highly recommended!

Everyone has their favorite- the live album that seems to capture the artist at his or her best, setting free all the emotion and energy only a live performance can unleash. For me, it has always been STAND IN THE FIRE. The band is ragged, a bar band supplemented by David Landau, plays with energy and just tries to hang on as Zevon cuts loose. This is barely controlled chaos-with Zevon as a hyper kinetic ringmaster. Even when the music slows down, the intensity remains. There is always a feeling that anything can happen. Music from Zevon's first three Asylum releases is the focus here; with an outrageously ad libbed "Werewolves of London" leading the pack, each song is brought to a new life, as if performing it live has created a new song, with a new and different energy. "Excitable Boy" adds new layers of creepiness," "Lawyers, Guns and Money," adds a desperation that is palpable, and "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" should have been a hit for Zevon as well as Ronstadt. Even the newly added material with Zevon's voice cracking as he speaks to "his friends" brings a wonderful sense of intimacy so often missing from live recordings. (and from the original release of this one!)I hope the release of this and THE ENVOY on CD allows fans another opportunity to discover one of rock's great songwriters and with SITF one of rock's most magnetic performers.

Wow, this is what rock and roll could be, should be, used to be*. These guys are tight and they rock out! Great renditions of Warren's great songs. Warren is singing out of his mind. Lots of fun lyric variations, just enough jamming, great backing band. Warren always did know how to choose and lead a great band. (* see also Lou Reed's Rock N Roll Animal!)

Explosively energetic. Wonderful. This is a must for any WZ fan. Sure makes me sad that he's: too soon gone.

Update: 30-Mar-2007. NOW AVAILABLE ON A RE-ISSUE FROM RHINO FOR LESS $ AND WITH BONUS TRACKS -- CHECK IT OUT!

True to its title, an incendiary live record that held out the promise of the late Warren Zevon as a rival to his friend and collaborator Bruce Springsteen--if one can imagine a hard-drinking, bespectacled Boss with a somewhat sick sense of humor vying with an endearing sentimentalism.

Stand in the Fire is 180 proof Zevon, stoked by a relentless drums-bass-guitars-keyboards attack that mixes finesse and force. The man himself is in rare form, in total command of his material but always threatening to go off the edge and take the band and the crowd with him.

Zevon left us with several very strong studio albums, with the most consistent being his self-titled debut (1976) and Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School (1980). Excitable Boy (1978) has several classics including the disturbingly droll title song but is weighed down by an equal number of weaker efforts. Sentimental Hygiene (1987), one of the very few Zevon albums of the 1980s, is perhaps his most underrated work. The farewell album The Wind (2003) is indispensable and quite moving but also uneven. Revisiting Stand in the Fire in its remastered expanded version confirms my belief that this could be the definitive Warren testament.

Warren's unique career had its peaks and valleys--this is a peak that should be the envy of any and all rock and rollers.

Oh joyful day! The gods of music have truly smiled upon us. I'd been hoping for this looooooong-overdue release since first coming across an old worn-out cassette back in '99, and now we can hear every detail like never before. I wish I knew why it took most of my life for it to see the light of day on CD, but better late than etc etc... Anyway - believe all the raves. This is one of the greatest live albums ever pressed into vinyl.

Why? For one thing, Warren and his top-notch band TORE THE PLACE UP. The title track kicks from the first drum hit, "Excitable Boy" blows the roof off and I'm sure "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" left some folks to get carried out on stretchers. What I wouldn't give to have been able to catch these shows...

For another, as with any worthwhile live recording, it offers something new. There are two WZ originals and one oddball cover medley not included anywhere else - none of them are as stellar as usual lyrically, but they rock hard enough to melt your speakers nonetheless, so they're better suited to a live album than a studio recording anyway. Better yet, the familiar tunes are presented differently. A couple tracks are slowed down, some arrangements are changed & tweaked ("Mohammed's Radio" is exquisite), there's more room for solos and get-up-and-dance requests, and a few new lyrics are ad-libbed on the spot.

I believe this disc has now replaced Mr. Bad Example as the best Zevon intro for the unconverted. Stand in the Fire has it all - incredible energy, stellar performances, an excellent choice of bonus tracks, and it grabs you so fast that you don't have time to remember how disturbing the songs actually are until you're hopelessly hooked.

Essential rock and roll. Play often and loud.

This is Warren Zevon unleashed! He was truly a one-of-a-kind songwriter/performer who wrote wierdly literate lyrics with great music and fantastic musicians behind him. When he died we lost a great one but he left behind this uproarious live album to savor...his versions of WEREWOLVES OF LONDON, LAWYERS GUNS AND MONEY, POOR POOR PITIFUL ME, I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD and BO DIDDLEY'S A GUNSLINGER are over the top and devastating. I'm glad this is finally out and gladly paid almost $30 to own it. But it is a shame that his record label hasn't released this in the USA for a reasonable price. Maybe they will soon but I couldn't wait. This live music, which is over 25 years old, makes today's so-called performers pale in comparison. The album sleeve says "The dog ate the part we didn't like." Well, I'd take what the dog ate over much that is being released these days as "music." Let's hope there's more in a mouldering vault somewhere.

If you're a Zevon fan, you need this album. It is Warren at his live, raw, cojones to the wall absolute best. The back up band of unknowns are awesome. Track listings include:

1) Stand In the Fire
2) Jeannie Needs A Shooter
3) Excitable Boy
4) Mohammed's Radio
5) Werewolves Of London
6) Lawyers, Guns & Money
7) The Sin
8) Poor, Poor Pitiful Me
9) I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
10) Bo Diddley's A Gun Slinger

The album is pure "live", no fiddling with the tapes. Sound quality (based on the LP I used to own - I haven't heard the CD) is very good. Standouts, for my money, are Werewolves, Lawyers, Poor, Poor Pitiful & I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. The only weak track is 'The Sin.' But what the hell - buy this, turn it up to 11 and remember what being young and live at a real rock concert by someone who gave a **** was like - and if you ARE still young and alive, this is what you're missing out on!