Warren Zevon - Stand in the Fire
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.38 You Save: $9.58 (69%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.90 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Stand in the Fire
Free Music Review: Warren Lets 'er Rip, Puts His Soul On The Line
Hit: 5 Stars
Time again, Dave Letterman would tell Warren that this was his favorite album, and ask why it was never released on CD. Zevon usually said he didn't remember this album. For years after the LP was out of press, an enterprising fan could track down two full-price cassettes, each containing half of the music. It was obvious that until Zevon's death, he (or someone) didn't want something this rough, raw and ripping to be available. He damn well remembered this album, though who's to say whether he suffered any blackouts after the nights it was recorded.
This album got me through a bar exam in 1981 the way Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas got me through exam weeks: vicarious over the top insanity has to substitute when life won't allow cutting loose yourself. I've always looked on this album as the ultimate Warren Zevon album precisely for its abandon. Zevon's studio music may have the words of irony, scorn and rage, but the production was always too slick. Here, Mohammad's Radio turns into the hymn for the doomed it was meant to be, and "I'll sleep when I'm Dead" is rightfully the foot-stuck-in-a-posthole rage it doubtless represents. Every suffered injustice feeds this fire, and Zevon indeed stands in the middle of it. "I might pitch a fit, but I won't put on my brakes"--Zevon has no brakes left, and he's rolling at full speed in this remarkable slice of his time.
This is Warren Zevon as the perfect soundtrack to Hunter Thompson, wasted on his lips, pissed off, and letting it all hang out with a band that will take him anywhere he wants to go. Does he mock Jackson Browne "walking down the avenue, and his heart was perfect!" in Werewolves because of JB's offense years ago when Zevon said he was an entertainer and not a tortured poet bard like Browne? Whatever--that werewolf also went looking for James Taylor. Folk music as dinner.
This album is raw, ragged and bleeding. It may have come to symbolize to Zevon the time he got so far beside himself with self-abuse, to become nothing he wanted to be in the public's regard. Now that it was released following his death, we again can see the demons and pitchforks, smell the spilled bourbon and brimstone, and listen to Zevon wail like the werewolf he was. This is Zevon's soul getting out as it did in the late 70's.
Free Music Review: Get out here and dance, or I'll kill ya! And I got the means!
Hit: 5 Stars
Warren Zevon was on a comeback of sorts when he set out to record "Stand In The Fire." As is well known (and documented in the infamous Rolling Stone cover story), he had his addictions to battle, and this was the first tour after having conquered them. The line-change in "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" to "I got a .38 special up on the shelf, and I don't intend to use it on myself" was part of that rejuvenation. Zevon was clean and proud and ready to rip.
"Stand In The Fire" is as pure a rock rip as Zevon ever made. Songs up to "Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School" are included here, with two new songs and a goofy Bo Diddly medley. Why in the world it remained out of print (and never even issued to CD) for over 25 years is downright criminal. Somewhere after this - and documented on "Learning To Flinch" - Zevon became more an acoustic live act. When I saw him on "The Envoy" tour, it was just him, his piano and guitar. On "Stand In The Fire," however, Zevon is almost giddy with rock and roll exuberance.
Adding to this five-star document of Zevon at his peak are the four bonus cuts. My guess is (along with time restrictions) that at least two were left off the original album due to their more mellow qualities. "Frank and Jessie James" and "Hasten Down The Wind" are solo piano performances, but "Hasten" is transcendental. The anguish in Zevon's voice is awe-inspiring. This was always a five-star album in my mind, the bonus tracks add to the luster.
But it is the original 10 song album that I had the excitement for when I heard Rhino was finally going to get them out stateside. Warren Zevon is as alive as he ever was on this LP, and when he shouts out to George Gruel to get on stage and dance, it's as inspiring a moment as has ever been recorded for a live album. (I'd add to that the final verse of "Werewolves of London," where Zevon bellows "and he's looking for James Taylor" like he's on the brink of sanity.) It is just another reason why I will miss Warren Zevon and his insight, literary wit and passion. Essential seventies music.
Free Music Review: Essential!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Oh joyful day! The gods of music have truly smiled upon us. I'd been hoping for this looooooong-overdue release since first coming across an old worn-out cassette back in '99, and now we can hear every detail like never before. I wish I knew why it took most of my life for it to see the light of day on CD, but better late than etc etc... Anyway - believe all the raves. This is one of the greatest live albums ever pressed into vinyl.
Why? For one thing, Warren and his top-notch band TORE THE PLACE UP. The title track kicks from the first drum hit, "Excitable Boy" blows the roof off and I'm sure "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" left some folks to get carried out on stretchers. What I wouldn't give to have been able to catch these shows...
For another, as with any worthwhile live recording, it offers something new. There are two WZ originals and one oddball cover medley not included anywhere else - none of them are as stellar as usual lyrically, but they rock hard enough to melt your speakers nonetheless, so they're better suited to a live album than a studio recording anyway. Better yet, the familiar tunes are presented differently. A couple tracks are slowed down, some arrangements are changed & tweaked ("Mohammed's Radio" is exquisite), there's more room for solos and get-up-and-dance requests, and a few new lyrics are ad-libbed on the spot.
I believe this disc has now replaced Mr. Bad Example as the best Zevon intro for the unconverted. Stand in the Fire has it all - incredible energy, stellar performances, an excellent choice of bonus tracks, and it grabs you so fast that you don't have time to remember how disturbing the songs actually are until you're hopelessly hooked.
Essential rock and roll. Play often and loud.
Free Music Review: The wildest we hear of Warren on any of his albums
Hit: 5 Stars
This is an absolutely essential addition to any Warren Zevon collection. Carl Hiaasen says in the liner notes notes that one of the biggest crimes of modern music is the suppression of 'Stand in the Fire' from re-issue. I totally agree. I'd been searching for this for a long time and now here it is, remastered and expanded with four bonus tracks (the last four on the album).
I had heard often that Warren Zevon lived like Jim Morrison (except longer, as Zevon has said). In the booklet for the anthology 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead', Richard Gere observes 'I saw him drink vodka from a steel boot'. Apparently there are entire tours Zevon cannot recollect. For those who came to Zevon later, like myself (I think it was about 2002), that 'wild man' underbelly of Zevon was, prior to the release of this album, something of an abstraction.
On 'Stand in the Fire' we finally get a dose of that crazy Warren Zevon we've heard so much about. Zevon is pure entertainment on stage. Often he rumbles out a primal scream like on Werewolves of London, where he bellows "you better stay away from him! He'll rip your lungs out Jim! And he's looking for James Taylor!" Other reviewers have mentioned his howling command to long time best friend, to whom he screams "get up here and dance! Get up and dance or I'll kill you! And I've got the means!"
This album truly gives an insight into the wild-man personality of Warren Zevon. I am yet to purchase Crystal Zevon's book about the late great man, but I will certainly be getting it soon. He is a testament to rock and roll. A true statesman and entertainer. Jackson Browne notes that once Warren Zevon told him, "if you're not entertaining, you're not doing anything".
Free Music Review: One of THE great rock and roll live albums
Hit: 5 Stars
Warren's shining moment. That this incredible album only existed on out-of-print vinyl and cassette (and a year ago, on a very limited, expensive Japanese import CD) for so long was a travesty; at long last this error has been corrected. Warren is simply "on fire" at the shows this was taken from, and man, does this lay to waste the studio versions! The backing band, Boulder, is fantastic, with a superb lead guitarist. While one might want to start with "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" (the Anthology on Rhino, not the book; that is for fanatics ONLY), this is far better. Get the anthology double set, this and The Wind; then proceed to, oh, Learning to Flinch (how could "I'll Sleep when I'm Dead" leave off "The Worrier King"??)(or choose the live version of The Indifference of Heaven over the studio one?)Anyways, this disc is Warren in all his glory, with stupendous versions of...well, everything! But especially Jeannie Needs A Shooter,Excitable Boy, and Lawyers,Guns,and Money. The title track is a SUPERB rocker, and The Sin is excellent as well,and you'll only hear them here. The bonus tracks are a nice treat, with Johnny Strikes Up The Band being the best of them. Get this. If you have no concept of Warren other than the "acoustic Heavy Metal troubadour", or the balladeer of beautifully sensitive songs that comprise most of The Wind, this CD will suprise you nicely. AWESOME.