Sentimental Hygiene
Warren Zevon
Waddy Wachtel, Jennifer Warnes, Neil Young, R.E.M., Bob Dylan, Brian Setzer, Don Henley, David Lindley
Virgin Records (USA), 2003
1 CD
Catalogue #: 80621
EAN: 0724358062120
UPC: 724358062120
You save: 20%
Personnel: Warren Zevon (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, piano, keyboards); Peter Buck, Neil Young, Brian Setzer, Rick Richards, Mike Campbell, Blackbyrd McKnight (guitar); David Lindley (lap steel guitar); Darius (sitar); Bob Dylan (harmonica); Amp Fiddler, Jai Winding (keyboards); Mike Mills, Flea, Tony Levin, Leland Sklar (bass); Jorge Calderon (bass, background vocals); Bill Berry, Craig Krampf (drums); Will Alexander, Brian Bell (programming); Michael Stipe, Stan Lynch, Don Henley, Jennifer Warnes (background vocals).
Producers: Warren Zevon, Andrew Slater, Niko Bolas.
West Coast based songwriter Warren Zevon emerged from middling activity and high-strung excess with SENTIMENTAL HYGIENE, his strongest record in years. The album zooms with renewed vigor, well placed cameos, and Zevon's trademark mix of black humor and heartache. Things kick off with the chugging title track, highlighted by a stinging solo from fellow iconoclast Neil Young. Zevon then turns his chronicler's eye towards the boxing ring with the gripping "Boom Boom Mancini."
From there it's Springsteen territory "Working at the Factory" with Bob Dylan supplying the harmonica breaks. R.E.M. turns up on the jaunty "Even the Dog Can Shake Hands," which takes passing pot shots at hanger's on. Never one to wallow in self-pity, Zevon turns his forked tongue inward on "Detox Mansion." His alcohol rehab experiences bubble over the top in the alternately hilarious and gripping song, resulting in the album's funniest, hardest hitting and ultimately, most rewarding moment.
Tracklist
Warren Zevon
Though he came out of the '70s Southern California scene and was championed by Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon's music is far more dark and sardonic than that background would suggest. The quintessential troubadour-with-an-attitude, he's sung about guns, death, and cattle disease (seriously) with a biting sense of humor and a musicality that's attributable to his early classical training. He's probably the only rocker who studied with Stravinsky. He blazed away through the '80s and '90s, doing some of his best work at the turn of the century, but he was cut down by cancer in 2003, leaving behind the album THE WIND as his farewell.
Neil Young
Like the Band, Neil Young eschewed his Canadian roots to create a sound rooted in American folk and country, which he mixed with visionary, poetic rock in Buffalo Springfield and on his solo albums. He played the crucial fourth wheel role in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, but ultimately proved too individualistic to participate in a democracy. The gritty, electric assault of his work with Crazy Horse is the alter ego of Young's more folk/country-based work, and also proved a key influence on the grunge sound of Seattle (Young even recorded a live album with Pearl Jam as his backing band). Over the years, he's followed his mercurial muse through everything from rockabilly to synth-pop to big-band blues, always remaining uniquely Neil.
R.E.M.
This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into the money-making "alternative rock" sound, the group refused to stand still, constantly changing and developing without ever abandoning their underground principles. Somehow they became superstars along the way, but it's never affected their commitment to their music. In 1997, drummer Bill Berry left the band, but Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills soldiered on in his absence.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan began as a Woody Guthrie acolyte, imitating the dust-bowl balladeer as faithfully as a baby boomer from Hibbing, Minnesota, could. It wasn't long before he found his own voice, spearheading the early-1960s folk revival as well as the singer-songwriter movement, and introducing poetry into pop music. Through countless changes in sound, image, and even religion, he retained his unique artistic vision even when his popularity occasionally waned. By the 21st century, he was enjoying an upsurge of critical and popular interest based on a series of powerful late-career albums that crystallized his aesthetics and unique world view.
Brian Setzer
Brian Setzer hit instant rock stardom as the frontman for the Stray Cats, the band that single-handedly jump-started the rockabilly revival of the early '80s. While the band's retro sound didn't last, Setzer proved himself a guitarist to be reckoned with. After he left the Stray Cats for good in the '90s, he assembled the Brian Setzer Orchestra, which helped kick-start another revival--big-band swing.
Don Henley
Don Henley came to prominence as drummer, singer, and songwriter with legendary 1970s country-rockers the Eagles, who virtually defined the laid-back, West Coast pop/rock sound of their era. After the group split, the ever-cantankerous Henley toughened things up considerably with his solo work. He made a splash straight out of the gate with the wry social commentary of "Dirty Laundry" from his 1982 debut album. He went on to even greater acclaim with 1984's "Boys of Summer" and his landmark 1989 album, THE END OF THE INNOCENCE, an elegiac affair that did for the late '80s what the Eagles did for the '70s. Henley reunited with his Eagles pals in 1994 for the "Hell Freezes Over" tour. The band would continue to play together sporadically for the next decade.
