Warren Zevon - Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings (2007/FLAC)
EAC rip | 2CD | FLAC-tracks - Log - Cue | Full Scans | Release: 2007 | ~ 677 MB
Genre: Rock, Folk Rock, Americana, Singer-Songwriter | Label: New West


Preludes:Rare and Unreleased Recordings is a two-CD compilation of music andinterviews, including unreleased outtakes and demos, bysinger-songwriter Warren Zevon, who died in 2003. Following Warrensdeath in 2003, his son, Jordan Zevon, discovered 126 unreleased outtakesand demos in a piano-sized touring case. This 2-CD set collects thebest of these recordings. The album was released by New West Records in2007 in a deluxe two-CD package in a hardbound slipcase. It includes a44-page booklet with previously unpublished family photos, integratedwith excerpts from the memoir Ill Sleep When Im Dead: The Dirty Lifeand Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon.
Warren Zevontraveled in the same musical circles as the L.A. Mellow Mafia crowd ofthe 1970s, and folks like Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, LindaRonstadt and Lindsey Buckingham often popped up on his albums as guestsand musical collaborators. But in terms of style and intent, Zevonssongs were many miles away from such contemporaries, with a bleak butwitty world view that owed more to Nathanael West or Dashiell Hammettthan the Eagles, and a melodic style that was more sophisticated andadventurous than most folks in mainstream rock & roll. Its temptingto wonder what Zevons earlier albums would be like if one were tostrip off the glossy veneer of the polished production and star-studdedbacking, and Preludes reveals how some of his best songs play underleaner, more concise circumstances. Preludes was compiled by Zevons sonJordan Zevon from a cache of demo tapes discovered after Warrensdeath; while no details on recording dates or personnel for the sessionssurvived, most of the material consists either unreleased tunes orsongs that would later appear on Warren Zevon or Excitable Boy (one evendates back to his misbegotten debut album, 1969s Wanted Dead orAlive), though in considerably more economical form. Most of the trackson Preludes feature Zevon with minimal accompaniment (often just hisguitar or piano with one or two additional musicians), and even thetracks with a full band (such as Werewolves of London, DesperadosUnder the Eaves and Poor Poor Pitiful Me) are sharper and funkierthan the versions fans know best. These alternate takes often reveal atighter and more potent emotional focus than the official versions,and some include different lyrics or musical structures in their roughdraft form. Zevons vocals truly shine on this set, and demonstrate anemotional intelligence thats deeply affecting despite the roughertextures of the recordings, and a number of the unreleased songs arefine additions to his repertoire, especially Studebaker, Stop RaininLord and The Rosarita Beach Cafe, any of which would have beenworthy additions to Zevons early studio albums. This package alsoincludes an interview disc in which Zevon discusses his work (inparticular his 2000 album Lifell Kill Ya) with Jody Denberg; Denbergsquestions arent always insightful and Zevon sometimes sounds a bitimpatient with him, but he also offers some fascinating insights on hisworking method and his attitude about his music and career, and his darkwit is always welcome. While most collections of demo tapes offer aperspective on an artists recording process and little else, Preludescasts some of Warren Zevons best songs in a new and unfamiliar light,and they reveal some welcome new details in the process; this collectionis a labor of love that fans of Zevons work will revel in.



Tracklist:

Disc One:

01. Empty Hearted Town