Customer Reviews

Wanted Dead Or Alive

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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.

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.

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.

Reissued and remastered, Wanted: Dead or Alive (ironically titled given the circumstances under which it has been reissued)features glimmers of Zevon's talent. His songwriting became more confident by the time of his self titled solo album in 1976. There aren't any bonus tracks but the sound quality is slightly better than the previously issued edition.

The title track and a couple of the other originals here make this worthwhile for long time and hardcore Zevon fans. I'd suggest Zevirgins and the curious stick to Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy, Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, Mr. Bad Example, Sentimental Hygiene and Life'll Kill Ya. My Ride's Here always has very strong songwriting and performing as well.

Also pick up "Stand in the Fire" his great, great live album with bonus tracks available on the Rhino reissue. I finally caught Zevon on the tour to support Bad Luck (Stand was recorded during that tour)at the Old Wardorf in San Francisco. Not much has been said about Zevon's skills as a live performer. Quite simply, he's an amazing singer/songwriter. The emotions that inspired him to write many of his best tunes continued to be evident on later tours as well. He managed to instill each song with unique performance each and every time.

Recorded after Zevon's short stint in Lyme & Cybelle and after serving as music director for one of the Everlys, Wanted has enough sparkle to it to make it worthwhile after investigating the Zevon's best albums. Incidently, if picking up every album seems a bit much, I'd recommend the Rhino boxed set released 5 or 6 years ago. It manages to distill the essence of each important album while adding a number of goofy singles, songs written for television and unreleased tracks onto two packed CDs.

Most fans of Warren Zevon probably know that he would have been just as happy if this album dissappeared from the face of the earth completely. I can sort of see why, although it is a rather, uh, interesting listen. The most annoying thing about this album is the way he uses his voice. While he does have that familiar deep rich voice Zevon fans know and love, he sings with vibrato way more than he should, making him sound as if he had been cross bred with Joan Baez (actually put your Joan Baez albums on the turntable and turn the pitch as flat as it could go, and you would have a pretty good idea of what to expect from "Wanted Dead Or Alive."). Only for the curious and completists.

Get this only if you are really into Warren and want everything. Past that, there are a couple nice moments here and there, but if he had put out more albums like this one, we wouldn't care.

And it is because "Wanted Dead Or Alive" is an album of an artist still defining himself. "Bullet For Ramona," for example, was carried from the Lyme and Cybelle sessions (see the "First Sessions" CD) and was given yet another reworking before it wound up in the "Midnight Cowboy" movie. There's even a song called "Gorilla," which hints at a favorite topic of WZ's (think "Gorilla You're a Desperado" or "Leave My Monkey Alone"), the animal traits we hide in ourselves.

But like John Mellencamp's "Chestnut Street Incident," "Wanted Dead Or Alive" trapped an artist with a record he probably wishes he could scorch from the face of the planet. Not that it's bad, just that it's a poor representation of who Warren Zevon, in another five or six years, would grow into as a musician. If you really want to hear where Warren found his voice, start with "Warren Zevon" and listen to "Carmelita" and "Frank and Jessie James."

I became a fan of Warren Zevon with "Werewolves of London" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money." Thankfully, I decided to did deeper and (for the most part) have been very happy with what I found. Since Zevon's death in 2003 from lung cancer (specifically inoperable mesothelioma), I decided to collect all of his albums on CD (including compilations, Hindu Love Gods, etc.). With my list all but complete, I reluctantly decided to order Wanted Dead or Alive.

Having read all of the reviews (here and elsewhere) and listening to the samples from the 1996 version of the disc, I assumed I'd listen to this disc once and put in on the shelf to commence with the dust collecting. While there is no question that this 10-song collection does not measure-up to Zevon's best work, it was much better than I had been led to believe.

First off, I want to stress that if you are going to buy this album, you should definitely get the 2003 version from Capitol Records. The sound quality is far improved over the 1996 version from One Way Records, Inc. (Who?). When considering this disc from the right perspective, it is a brilliant collection of songs form a great singer/songwriter at the beginning of his career. Listening to this disc feels similar to finding a high school picture from someone who went on to become rich and famous; they look different, but you can still tell it's them. The seeds of Zevon's brilliance are here and while they are starting to sprout, they have not yet bloomed.

01. WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: One of the better songs on the album. Easy to see in hindsight that this song details the beginnings of the spirt of songs like "Mr. Bad Example" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" (in terms of content if not musically).

02. HITCHHIKIN' WOMAN: A bluesy number. Not entirely successful.

03. SHE QUIT ME: Emotional ballad that was used (in another form) on the soundtrack from "Midnight Cowboy."

04. CALCUTTA: Great music with an oddly affected vocal. Zevon's trying a little too hard to sound like an old black blues singer!

05. IKO-IKO: WHAT? This song is almost to cheerful and light to be in the Zevon cannon but (like his later cover of Steve Winwood's "Back In The High Life"), it works. I'm not sure how or why, but it does work. It's enjoyable and gives the listener and idea of what it might sound like if WZ ever recorded a children's album!!!

06. TRAVELING IN THE LIGHTNING: Rowdy song with some slighty cheesy reverb and reverse drum effects near the end of the song. All in all, a good early Zevon effort.

07. TULE'S BLUES: Beautiful. Early proof that WZ had an underappreciated skill at writing love ballads. (The title character is Marylin "Tule" Livingston, the mother of Warren's first child, Jordan. Sadly, Tule also died from cancer not long after Zevon).

08. A BULLET FOR RAMONA: A gloomy song in the vein of "Jeannie Needs A Shooter," but without the trademark dark humor and wit.

09. GORILLA: A jungle rave-up that sounds as if the percussion was supplied by restless natives dancing around a fire. Again, great guitar and piano work from WZ. Not one of my favorites, but worth a listen.

10. FIERY EMBLEMS: A fantastic up-tempo instrumental with some great electric guitar work.

In summary, this album is not likely tomake it onto your "heavy rotation" playlist, but it is much better than many give it credit for. If you like hearing an artist in the early stages of development, thant this album is for you. If you are looking for Werewolves-era Zevon, than you are better off picking up the expanded reissue of 1976's "Excitable Boy."

Before I purchased this CD, I had heard nothing but negativity about it. I believe that that is still what's mostly circulating in regards to this work. To be fair, it's not a running start on a solo career; more like tripping and falling a few times on the track, only to be coached skillfully by Jackson Browne the second time around. But enough with stretching metaphors. I found that I liked it, despite its rough edges. Get this CD if you want to complete your collection, or at least if you want to hear Warren try his hand at some folk/country/blues or something sort of style. His "Midnight Cowboy"-chosen track "She Quit Me" is the best, and "A Bullet for Ramona" shows his taste for the dark and delicious early on. Steer clear of "Gorilla", though; that song is not for all tastes, and may make your head explode. Meanwhile, pray for the release of "Stand in the Fire" and "The Envoy" on CD.

First albums are never the artist's best album. "Wanted Dead or Alive" is a fine addition to any collection, given you realise that the "Excitable Boy"-era Zevon is still a while off.

No, it doesn't sound like your average Zevon record, it was intended to sound like a John Hammond, Jr. record, and it does. Keep that in mind when listening.

It's true that Zevon's disowned it. It's not in his style, but that doesn't stop it from being a damn fine record.