Warren Zevon Mr Bad Example (4*)
I'd (honestly, no kidding) have been reviewing this a good twenty years ago had I known it was out there, and by the time I did, distribution was in the hands of a notoriously unreliable (or at least that was how it appeared from the Deep North) agency. Had that not been the case you'd probably have heard these tracks fairly regularly on Hughesy's radio shows a decade ago.
Things have moved on since then, but this collection of early nineties material mightn't be tapping his glory years, but, hey, it's Warren Zevon, and while the arrangements mightn't be the best I've heard, the material isn't exactly duff, and, hey, it's Warren Zevon, who mightn't be Hughesy's favourite songwriter, but would definitely slot into the upper reaches of my top ten. A brief check, following a thread over on the Richard Thompson mailing list reveals four Zevon songs in the top twenty of Hughesy's 1500 Most Played songs on iTunes.
Not his best work, perhaps, but we're talking someone whose writing regularly worked the stratosphere, Highlights? The title track, Heartache Spoken Here, Searching For A Heart and Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead, most of which went into regular rotation through the man’s live sets (which says something in itself)…