But you do get the most famous songs, which are invariably worth hearing (his own hits and a couple tunes that were made famous by Linda Ronstadt, though "Hasten Down the Wind" is curiously absent), along with a few pleasant surprises, including the incendiary "Play It All Night Long" and one of Zevon's finest meditations on life in L.A., "Desperados Under the Eaves." A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon will satisfy those with a casual interest in the artist, but for a better one-stop introduction to this songwriter's body of work, try I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology). It doesn't even honor the hits as well as one might hope (the remastering is a bit on the flat side, and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" appears in a radio edit that deletes the final verse), and there isn't a single song from Stand in the Fire, Zevon's superb live album. Excitable Boy (Expanded & Remastered) by Warren Zevon Audio CD. As one might expect, A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon focuses on the artist's best known stuff from his tenure at Asylum Records, and leans more towards "Crazy Warren" tunes (like the above-mentioned trio) over superior if more difficult material like "The French Inhaler" or "Frank and Jesse James," with no rare or unreleased material for completists. This item: The Best of Warren Zevon: A Quiet Normal Life. To see more, visit Fresh Air.Warren Zevon's body of work is a good bit more diverse and intelligent than you might imagine if you only know his music from the radio while his relative hits ("Werewolves of London," "Excitable Boy," "Lawyers, Guns and Money") play more like novelty songs than anything else, his best albums display a melodic sophistication that never gets in the way of his desire to rock out, and a lyrical perspective that's unusually literate, witty, and brutally cynical. It was a challenge and a pleasure to pick through a year as ripe as this one proved to be.Ĭopyright 2022 Fresh Air. Like you, I find my music in various ways: on albums, on the Internet, through books. Stream songs including 'Werewolves of London', 'Excitable Boy' and more. The book is both an anthology of his best writing and a tragic recounting of a life that shut down too soon. Listen to A Quiet Normal Life - The Best of Warren Zevon by Warren Zevon on Apple Music. Nelson, who died in 2006 at age 69, was part of the first generation of rock critics, instrumental in bringing attention to musicians including Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, New York Dolls and Warren Zevon. My Top 10 list also includes a book: Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson, by Kevin Avery. Both the Middle Brother album and Deer Tick's Divine Providence were examples of rock 'n' roll powered by McCauley's raw, jagged, sensitive and soulful vocals. If one voice defined the year for me, it was that of John McCauley, singer for the band Deer Tick and part of a small-time supergroup called Middle Brother. But working within an R&B tradition proved fruitful - not only for Adele, but also for a singer such as Anthony Hamilton on his rich new album Back to Love, and on Raphael Saadiq's continually amazing revitalization of soul music on Stone Rollin'. I wouldn't say there were any big, obvious trends in 2011 pop - it was a Lady Gaga-slash-Adele kind of year. It kept coming back around on my playlist so often that it worked its way into my Top 10. There's also another, definitely non-country group I didn't get around to reviewing, tUnE-yArDs, and the intricate pop-rock clatter tUnE-yArDs founder Merrill Garbus makes on the band's album w h o k i l l. ![]() I reviewed Miranda Lambert's album, Four the Record, for Fresh Air, but only recently got into the Pistol Annies album, Hell on Heels, and I think it's as good as any country record out there. Pistol Annies is a trio whose guardian angel is Miranda Lambert - she's one of the three singers in this side project. This was a very strong year in country music, with fine albums from veteran performers (like Dolly Parton) and new acts (like Pistol Annies) alike. The more I listened to it, the richer its rewards became. Yet Simon's So Beautiful or So What is an album that I underrated when I first reviewed it here. You may say you love popular music, but someone who likes, say, Beyonce may never listen to Deer Tick, and Deer Tick fans would likely think that Paul Simon is way uncool. Sales figures and broad demographics don't mean much, quality-wise, in a music industry that's become so splintered into genres and cults. That last element has become increasingly unimportant in compiling a year-end best list. ![]() I would daresay it reached the widest range of listeners, too. If any one musician held center stage in pop music this year, it was probably Adele, the English singer whose 21 was one of the bestselling albums of the year, as well as one of the most highly praised by critics.
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