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-^Zevon alb By TOM "ED" CLYDE Gamecock Staff Writer Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy" provides a pleasant change from the usual colorless music being packaged these days. Aside from being unique, Zevon's album is musically superior. Warren Zevon grew up studying classical music, but one day turned his energy and talents toward, rock and roll. For a while he toured with the Everly Brothers as a pianist and leader of the band. He became friends with .lackaon Browne and Hip / mr^WlHi wgBHHg Zevon's new album . . . President HoMerman speaking March 1 Topic: "My Dreams fc !w^ Dinner will be serve preceding the sp< Cost $1.75 r?=T= CO Ex mo while helping in the diagno: disorders. If your blood type is B pos would like to earn up to $1 few hours of your time p< applicants between 18-30 y 01 If your blood type,is O pos blood three or more times j extra money please conta< Serol j wi wiys 2719 mid Suite Columl Phone X mrm um is supei made his second album, "Warren Zevon" in 1976 with Browne serving as producer. (His first, (Wanted: Dead or Alive," is a collector's item.) Three of the songs, "Hasten Down the Wind," "Carmelita," and "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" have been recorded by Linda Ronstadt. Zevon's songwriting and musical skills are utilized to their true potential on "Excitable Boy." ACCORDING TO Rolling Stone. "Warren Zevon's 'Excitable Boy' is the best American rock & roll album since Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run' . . . and Jackson Browne's 'The Pretender'." They also say he is one' of three major rock & roll artists of the Seventies, the others being Browne and Springsteen. Those are very strong statements, but "Excitable Bov" has prompted similar comments from critics all over in the past month or so. Utilizing the talents of several excellent musicians (The Section, Waddy Wachtel, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Browne, Ronstadt, and Karla Bonoff), the production of Browne and Wachtel, A the excellent engineering of will be I 10 >r USC" ? \ DeSPM* SA/WES. CWCIHtfl d at 6 p.m. p? eech pflESBYT gi tra ney sis and prevention of blood iitive or B negative and you 60.00 per month for only a ;r week (preferably male ears of ace). ?_ ?I r itive and you have donated and you would like to earn | it: ogicals nbia, inc. dleburgDr. 105 Dia.S.C. 54-6537' rb change o Greg Ladanyi, Zevon has provided the listener with a montage of fine songs, dealing mainly with bizarre and violent subject matter. The inside sleeve is a picture of a .44 magnum revolver sitting in the middle of vegetables and potatoes, as if the gun is the main course being served up. In the title cut, an upreai numoer teaturing the crisp piano work of Zevon, a psychotic "Excitable Boy' went down to dinner in his Sunday best and he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest, Excitable Boy, they all said." ZEVON IS criticizing society's often ineffective ways of labeling people. Later in the song "he took little Suzie to the Junior Prom, and he raped her and killed her, then he took her home, Excitable Boy, they all said." Two of the songs, "Roland and the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Veracruz" are similar in that they both have a sad and historic sound to them as they deal in the realities of war. "Veracruz," lyrically excellent, tells the tale of a family forced to leave their homeland as a result of U.S. pressure ... "I heard Woodrow W I HOPE s j m J~?Y W Jf cjoxovflTt'ofij :j)d? ERIRN STUbENJ ?A/r?/? I "UNI "RE-C 100% NYLON < By Dab SUGGESTED RETA OPENING SPECL f pace Wilson's guns, I heard Maria crying Late last night I heard the news that Veracruz was dying. Someone called Maria's name, I swear it was my father's voice. Saying 'If you stay you'll all be slain, You must leave now, you have no choice." The first song on "Excitable Boy" is "Johnny Strikes Up the Band," priming the listener for what lies ahead. Zevon bellows, "Freddie get ready, rock steady, as Johnny strikes up the band." Waddy Wachtel, musician extraordinaire, scorches on lead guitar. "WEREWOLVES OF LONDON" is the album's first single, a solid, rhythmic tune which probably won't sell well, and involves some gutty, howling vocals by Zevon. "Tenderness on the Block," co-written with Jackson Browne, is a song which bluntly tells the parents of a growing girl that she ain't so little no more. The last song is "Lawyers, Guns, and Money," about a reckless wanderer who keeps getting himself into trouble. Dad always StudentsWelcome First Bfintist Churr 400 Stal (CrossBlossomSt. Brid Sunday School 9:45 RUSSELL KAEMM STEVEN L.PATTESO QUE CASUAL CLOTl OPENING SPEC IHIRTS IL 18.00 ~ 4 L 9.95 1221 (NEXT TO Ca DO 1 pWSMBifc ^^^^^ si|Miijj|JjiSS^^22^^iB^S9*^^^j^s I J^KS^BKKgg^ I fc \ Hggsf ^K . . . and his main course seems to bail him out ... "I'm an innocent bystander, somehow I got stuck between the rock and the hard spot, and I'm down on my luck. Now I'm hiding in Honduras, I'm a desperate man. Send lawyers, guns, and money, the shit has hit the fan." WHETHER OR NOT "Excitable Boy" is truly a landmark album is purely relative. The critics are just about unanimous in their praise, and this reviewer agrees that it is a , superb album. Although it contains , the force of a nuclear warhead, } "Excitable Boy" does not offend; { rather, it fascinates the listpn?r and provides him with a fine * departure from the sad state of j music these days. < for Easter Services ! ^ ; h of West Columbia e Street Igejeft on StateStreetl Worshin 1 1*00 I lERLING, PASTOR N,Minister of Music IING" JAL" [ MAIN ST IROLINA THEATER) WNTOWN