Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon

the next treat features Jordan Zevon singing "Studebaker", a track unknown to me. What a gem! All life's problems are wonderfully sublimated into "that damned Studebaker...[that]keeps on breaking down again". And then there is the very strange inclusion of "The Wind". Zevon's last album was of course entitled "The Wind", but no track of the same name appears on the album. Did he pass away before recording it? Or simply change his mind about including it? Or somehow forget?

The liner notes are of no help whatsoever either on this or any other track. A little biographical detail on each song and artist would have helped a lot. Anyway, Billy Bob does a great job on the track, which really does belong at the end of "The Wind". The third stand-out track has to be the Pixies' version of "A'int that pretty at all". It has to be played loudly to be fully appreciated, but anyone who has found the experience of travelling to be over-rated can sing along meaninglfully to this one.

The album does have low points- Jill Sobule could smash glass with her high-pitched singing on "D'ont let us get sick", and i have to race toward my stereo to switch off this track immediately whenever it starts playing. The other lamentable track is Dylan's painful live version of "Mutineer", complete with some of the worst piano playing imaginable courtesy of the great man himself.

For those not familiar with Dylan's eccentricities this song's inclusion will be utterly baffling. As it happens, Dylan performs live concerts all the time; not content with having the largest back catalogue of his own songs to draw from he often performs cover versions of other people's songs. Seldom if ever are the songs rehearsed, and what you get is either a classic performance or a simple catastrophy. "Mutineer" sadly falls into the latter category.

What is even more shocking though is that Dylan performed several other cover versions of Zevon songs during the same Californian tour which could easily have been used here . "Accidently" sounded rather like "Mutineer" admittedly, but his version of "Lawyers" was excellent, allowing us the rare chance to hear Dylan sing a curse word in a live show. The pick of those Dylan covers that shoud have been on this Zevon album though is his take on "Boom Boom Mancini", one of my favourite Zevon songs which Dylan absolutely aces.

Dylan's son also sneaks in on the album, with his band the Wallflowers performing a decent "Lawyers". The final track, a string version of "Keep me in your heart", is an excellent way to finish things off given that Zevon's father (or was it his grandfather?) was a classical composer of some sort. This is a fabulous showcase of Zevon's talents, although the skimpy notes and occasionally dubious song selection mean i can still only give it four stars- An updated re-release would be fantastic.

Overall, the album does what it says on the cover - it's "The Songs of Warren Zevon". You need to get the real thing, by the Exciteable Boy himself.