How does one follow up a hit that defined a career? For Warren
\nZevon, that was the question he had to face in 1980. He had opened
\npeople’s eyes to his work thanks to “Warewolves Of London” on
\nExcitable Boy<\/i>, his 1978 album. What would he do for an
\nencore?<\/p>\n
The answer,
\nBad Luck Streak In Dancing School<\/i>, left more questions than
\nanswers. Moving away from a “top 40” style, Zevon hunkered down
\nwith a string section and the usual cast of celebrities, including
\nLinda Ronstadt, Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey and – as a songwriter, not a
\nperformer – Bruce Springsteen.<\/p>\n
It was a risky gamble, to say the least, and for Zevon, it
\ndidn’t pay off in the dividends one would have hoped for. There are
\na few numbers that have a catchy hook to them, but many others will
\nleave you wondering if this is the same artist that wowed them just
\ntwo years prior.<\/p>\n
Zevon – a songwriter not exactly known for a happy-go-lucky
\ndemeanor – seems to take a trip to an even darker side on some of
\nthe tracks. Through the songs of lost love (“Empty-Handed Heart”
\nand the title track) and the tales of trying to find hope where
\nthere may be none (“Bed Of Coals”), Zevon dares to bring the
\nlistener on a voyage that doesn’t suggest a happy ending.<\/p>\n
Musically,
\nBad Luck Streak In Dancing School<\/i> runs aground by moving
\naway from a radio-friendly atmosphere. Granted, songs like
\n“Lawyers, Guns And Money” and “Excitable Boy” aren’t exactly
\n“top-of-the-pops” tracks at first glance, but at least they had a
\nbeat that caught the listener’s ear and kept them hooked throughout
\nthe song. On this album, such a beat isn’t present as often as one
\nwould like. “Jeannie Needs A Shooter,” co-written with Springsteen,
\ndoes fall into this category.<\/p>\n
At times, it also seems like Zevon is pushing himself to write
\nsongs in the mode of the sarcastic clown. “Gorilla, You’re A
\nDesperado” is an example of this, a song that I’m sure was written
\nwith good intentions, but ends up sounding forced. A better example
\n(if a less pop-friendly number) is “Play It All Night Long”, a song
\nwhich does have some disturbing images – which I think was Zevon’s
\npoint all along.<\/p>\n
In a sense, it’s almost like Zevon was thumbing his nose at the
\nsuccess he enjoyed with
\nExcitable Boy<\/i>, and wanted to create an album that was as far
\nremoved from that vein as possible. In that manner, he succeeded –
\nbut what a price to pay.<\/p>\n
\nBad Luck Streak In Dancing School<\/i> is an album that can be
\ncalled a “for the fans” disc, and regrettably might have left
\npeople wondering if Zevon was a one-hit wonder. Unfortunately, this
\nalbum does nothing to remove that suggestion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5674],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-39008","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-warren-zevon","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39008","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39008"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}