Wanted Dead Or Alive

Warren Zevon | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 3, 2012)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: CAPITOL
• ASIN: B00008NGC6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,592 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Wanted Dead Or Alive by Warren Zevon

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing re-release, May 7, 2003

By 

John Corbett (Summerland, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wanted Dead Or Alive (Audio CD)

Many of you who are interested in this disc have probably already purchased the original CD release of Wanted Dead Or Alive from One Way Records in 1996. The original release publicity for this Capitol re-release announced that it would include all tracks from an unissued album entitled Leaf In The Wind in addition to the Wanted songs. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the bonus tracks could not be included, and were quietly removed, pushing the CD release date back from April to May. It seems that many people are not yet aware of this development, and could be in for an unpleasant surprise when they open the plastic shrink wrap and find they are stuck with the same disc they already have.

The upshot is that this Capitol reissue DOES NOT HAVE ANY BONUS TRACKS ON IT. If you have the One Way Release, you have all you're going to get on this one. Get this only if you want to see how the same album you already have sounds remastered.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rough but enjoyable, September 18, 2002

By 

John Corbett (Summerland, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wanted Dead Or Alive (Audio CD)

The standard Warren Zevon biographies and discographies refer to Warren Zevon's 1969 debut album "Wanted Dead Or Alive" as a botched effort, a record that never should have been made, a disaster, or sometimes use even less flattering descriptions. Certainly Zevon himself felt that way, and had it not been for the efforts of his pal Jackson Browne, that may have been the end of his solo career. For the next few years, Zevon went off to obscure bars in Spain and occasional jobs as musical arranger. It wasn't until he was "discovered" again in 1976 that his career began anew. A couple of listens to this CD may not convince you that this is his best album, but it will be a unique and valuable early foray into Zevon's deranged universe.

"Wanted" was Zevon's first release as a solo artist after briefly flirting with the psychadelic sound as one-half of the duo Lyme & Cybelle in the mid-1960s. (You can find a couple Lyme & Cybelle tracks on the CD compilation "Happy Together: The Very Best Of White Whale Records".) His song noir style and the classic hapless and impulsively self-destructive characters that Zevon nurtured to perfection over the years began to blossom on this album. The title track highlights the desperation of a man on the run who can't seem to hide because "they say I have an outlaw face." "A Bullet For Ramona" is about a man who tried to let go of a failed relationship, but when he saw her with a drifter, "I knew right then Ramona had to die." "She Quit Me" finds Zevon wondering "where did she get the nerve to say goodbye?" This track, when it was included with modified lyrics on the "Midnight Cowboy" soundtrack of the same year, became his first commercial success, albeit through a different artist and style.

Some of the other tracks, like "Hitchhikin' Woman" and "Tule's Blues," are wistfully pleasant songs. "Iko-Iko," the album's low point, seems to be a parody of itself, with Zevon leading a chorus of girls into a chaotic series of silly shouts of "Iko!" "Traveling In The Lightning" and "Gorilla" explore some of the novel studio effects of the day, and have a frenetic energy to them. "Fiery Emblems" is an early Zevon instrumental.

The biggest criticism of the album has always been the production. Good production highlights the music - poor production focuses on the effects. Some of the double-tracking of Zevon's voice, like on the title track, can get tiresome. The instrumentation is often quite good, and in some cases outstanding, but the mixing tends to muffle the sound or accentuate the wrong elements of the song. All in all, the production's rough qualities lend a certain simple charm to his first solo work.

This album has been repeatedly criticized as a throw-away, but to dismiss Warren Zevon's first album without giving it a listen would be a mistake. This is essential Zevon.

IMPORTANT NOTE: On May 6, 2003, Capitol Records released a remastered version of Wanted Dead Or Alive. Originally, this CD was supposed to be issued in early April with extra tracks covering an entire unreleased album, Leaf In The Wind. There was a lot of excitement raised about the extra tracks. As it turned out, there were problems releasing these tracks (possibly from WZ himself), and the release date was delayed into May. It now turns out that the Leaf In The Wind tracks were removed from the CD, meaning its track listing is EXACTLY THE SAME as the One Way release from 1996. If you are planning to buy the new Capitol version for the extra tracks, don't throw your money away.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars In the beginning. . ., June 20, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wanted Dead Or Alive (Audio CD)

Rather amazing isn't it that the powers-that-be have made this available on cd while "The Envoy" and "Stand In The Fire" have never been released on cd, and "Mr. Bad Example" and "Transverse City" are now out of print. Oh, well. We Zevon fanatics will have to take what we can get.

Unfortunately, Warren's humble beginnings were just that. There is not a lot of truly memorable music on this one. "She Quit Me" is a hard blues number, interesting mostly because of its appearance in the film "Midnight Cowboy" (not Warren's version). "A Bullet For Ramona" offers a glimpse of the brilliantly deranged music to come, and one of these songs ("Gorilla"?) contains the riff that would later become "Jungle Work".

If you are new to Zevon, do not start here. This is a curio for fans like me who just can't get enough.