When approaching the catalog of the late Warren Zevon, one may
\nvery well assume some CDs are more approachable than others. At
\nfirst glance,
\nTransverse City<\/i> seems like it might be lighter than some of
\nZevon’s other work, with its brightly colored cover and
\nstraightforward photo of a serious-looking and wildly-coifed
\nZevon.<\/p>\n
You think so, do you? Sucker.<\/p>\n
\nTransverse City<\/i> is Zevon’s hard-hitting analysis of where we
\nwere and where we were going at the end of the 1980s, and it’s as
\nunblinking as an autopsy and cold as January. Heavily influenced by
\ncyberpunk and futurist speculation,
\nTransverse City<\/i> shares the dispassion of science-fiction
\nartists like William Gibson and Pat Cadigan. In the future of
\nZevon’s musical vision, the world is winding down like a cheap
\nwatch and we’ll all watch TV as we drown in our own industrial
\nwaste. — where, to quote Cadigan, we are all just change for the
\nmachines.<\/p>\n
Yet, despite the heavy rhetoric, Zevon manages to dance the
\nrazorwire tightrope over the abyss of maudlin pessimism. Nothing on
\n(in?)
\nTransverse City<\/i> is too heavy to listen to, and there are
\ntimes when it’s downright perky. The production is light and
\nuncluttered, the drum sounds particularly sharp and crisp. (I had
\nthe 24-bit digital remaster version to review, and I heartily
\nrecommend it.) Zevon’s usual backing musicians, including Jorge
\nCalderon and Waddy Wachtel, are excellent, and Zevon’s guest list
\nlooks like a Rock of Roll Hall Of Fame pre-admission party — Jerry
\nGarcia, Chick Corea, David Gilmour, Neil Young, Jack Casady, Jorma
\nKaukonen, and J.D. Souther all show up at various moments.<\/p>\n
The songs are the real element that makes
\nTransverse City<\/i> brilliant. From the opening notes of the
\ntitle track, Zevon paints a picture of post-futuristic despair, his
\nimages stark, cool, and unflinching. He dabbles in straight-ahead
\nrock (“Long Arm Of The Law”), romantic balladry (“They Moved The
\nMoon”), and pop (“Splendid Isolation”) with equal skill.
\n“Networking” is a pun-filled tongue-in-cheek look at computerized
\nrelationships, “Gridlock” is a paean to freeway madness, and “Down
\nIn The Mall” twists a knife in the back of consumerism.<\/p>\n
Add to that the two gems of “Run Straight Down”, with its
\nhaunting descant of industrial chemicals like an indictment, and
\n“Nobody’s In Love This Year”, the final statement of the death of
\nromanticism, and
\nTransverse City<\/i> is solid, brilliant, and rueful. Days after
\nfinishing repeated listens to
\nTransverse City<\/i>, “Run Straight Down” is still caught in my
\nhead like a dirge — or a cyberspace loop of endless news, all
\nbad.<\/p>\n
Do yourself a favor, and visit
\nTransverse City<\/i>. You’ll be glad you did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5674],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37739","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-warren-zevon","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37739"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}