Excitable Boy | ||||||||||
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Studio album by Warren Zevon | ||||||||||
Released | January 18, 1978 | |||||||||
Recorded | 1977 | |||||||||
Studio | The Sound Factory, Los Angeles | |||||||||
Genre | Rock | |||||||||
Length | 31:29 | |||||||||
Label | Asylum | |||||||||
Producer | Jackson Browne, Waddy Wachtel | |||||||||
Warren Zevon chronology | ||||||||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Music Box | |
PopMatters | 9/10 |
Robert Christgau | A− |
Rolling Stone | (favorable) |
Excitable Boy is the third studio album by Warren Zevon. The album was released on January 18, 1978, by Asylum Records. It includes the top 40 success "Werewolves of London". The album brought Warren to commercial attention and remains the best-selling album of his career. A remastered and expanded edition was released in 2007.
The tracks "Excitable Boy" and "Werewolves of London" were considered macabrely humorous by some critics. The historical "Veracruz" dramatizes the United States occupation of Veracruz, and likewise "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" is a fictionalization of a mercenary in Africa. "Lawyers, Guns and Money" is a tongue-in-cheek tale of a young American man's adventures in Cold War era Latin America. In addition, there are two ballads about life and relationships ("Accidentally Like a Martyr" and "Tenderness on the Block"), as well as a dance tune ("Nighttime in the Switching Yard").
All songs written by Warren Zevon except as noted.
Album
Singles