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DISCID=8c08570c
DTITLE=Warren Zevon / Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School
DYEAR=1980
DGENRE=Rock
TTITLE0=Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School
TTITLE1=A Certain Girl
TTITLE2=Jungle Work
TTITLE3=Empty-Handed Heart
TTITLE4=Interlude No. 1
TTITLE5=Play It All Night Long
TTITLE6=Jeannie Needs A Shooter
TTITLE7=Interlude No. 2
TTITLE8=Bill Lee
TTITLE9=Gorilla, You're A Desperado
TTITLE10=Bed Of Coals
TTITLE11=Wild Age
EXTD=Originally Released 1980\nCD Edition Released June 30, 1992\n\nAM
EXTD=G EXPERT REVIEW: Excitable Boy earned Warren Zevon a hit single (
EXTD="Werewolves of London") and the mainstream success he richly dese
EXTD=rved, but his new fame came with a price; the hard-living Zevon d
EXTD=id not react well to the temptations that come with rock stardom,
EXTD= and in the wake of Excitable Boy he had developed a severe drink
EXTD=ing problem. Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School was cut as Zevon w
EXTD=as working hard to stay clean and sober and put his career back o
EXTD=n track, and it projects an ambition and strength of focus that w
EXTD=as decidedly absent from Excitable Boy. The album's rockers hit h
EXTD=arder and cut deeper than any of his previous work, especially th
EXTD=e twisted Southern gothic of "Play It All Night Long" and the mer
EXTD=cenary's anthem "Jungle Work," while "Bed of Coals" and "Wild Age
EXTD=" found Zevon bravely addressing his own failings and expressing 
EXTD=his need for a greater maturity in his life. While the album was 
EXTD=still short on subtlety compared to 1976's Warren Zevon, "Empty H
EXTD=anded Heart" proved Zevon could still write a straightforward son
EXTD=g about love (not a happy one, but no one expected that from him 
EXTD=anyway), and the two interludes for orchestra gave credence to Ze
EXTD=von's claims that he planned to write a symphony some day (and th
EXTD=at it might even be worth hearing). And if "Gorilla You're a Desp
EXTD=erado" was a throwaway, it was a better waste of time than "Night
EXTD= Time in the Switching Yard" on Excitable Boy. While Bad Luck Str
EXTD=eak in Dancing School didn't quite return Zevon to the top of his
EXTD= game, it made clear that the quality of Warren Zevon was no fluk
EXTD=e, and is a stronger effort than Excitable Boy in nearly every re
EXTD=spect.  -- Mark Deming\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nReading t
EXTD=he book? Buying the reissues? Don't overlook "Bad Luck Streak..."
EXTD=, May 6, 2007 \nBy  John Stodder "a.k.a. Juan La Princi" (livin' 
EXTD=just enough)\nTracing Warren Zevon's career from his self-titled 
EXTD="first" album, to this one, you can certainly see some slippage. 
EXTD="Warren Zevon" represented the fruits of several years of writing
EXTD= songs in obscurity -- great songs, as it turned out. "Excitable 
EXTD=Boy" didn't have as many good songs, but it had enough, and it wa
EXTD=s zesty and captured its moment, bringing the pugilistic spirit o
EXTD=f Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson or Ernest Hemingway into rock
EXTD= for the first time. "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" is actua
EXTD=lly a better album than "Excitable Boy," but at the time it came 
EXTD=out it was treated like a disappointment. Musically, it is as sop
EXTD=histicated as "Warren Zevon." The string interludes are actually 
EXTD=quite beautiful. The sad ballads "Empty Handed Heart" and "Bed of
EXTD= Coals" are quite affecting and artful. "Gorilla You're a Despera
EXTD=do" and "Play it All Night Long" are two of his funniest lyrics, 
EXTD=and the title tune is efficient and cinematic in its depiction of
EXTD= a loser running out of luck in an unlikely place. "Bill Lee," ab
EXTD=out a maverick baseball player of the 1970s, is a brief song in t
EXTD=hree parts, a perfect little profile in music and words. The two 
EXTD=weakest songs are "Jungle Work," which strikes me as a rehash of 
EXTD=the great "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner," and "Jeannie Nee
EXTD=ds a Shooter," which is supposedly a collaboration with Bruce Spr
EXTD=ingsteen (but I don't believe it.) But they are listenable -- you
EXTD= don't skip them. I love the final track, "Wild Age," a hard-rock
EXTD=ing meditation on the fear parents have that their kids might go 
EXTD=bad and never come back. Can't help but think he was worrying abo
EXTD=ut himself as well as his kids, because as we know, he was trying
EXTD= and failing to deal with his alcoholism at this time. \n\nLike "
EXTD=Excitable Boy" and a few of his other albums, this one is full of
EXTD= guest musicians, rock royalty of the late 70s. The best of them 
EXTD=are Linda Ronstadt, a lovely duet partner on "Empty Handed Heart"
EXTD= and part of the background chorus on "Bed of Coal," and David Li
EXTD=ndley, who fires up several songs here with his broad-gauge slide
EXTD= guitar. \n\nThis is a record that will grow on you. It doesn't f
EXTD=ulfill the promise of that first album (the one with "Poor Pitifu
EXTD=l Me" and "Desperados Under the Eaves," but it's his attempt to g
EXTD=et back there, and when it works, it's fine. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUS
EXTD=TOMER REVIEW\nPlay them all night long!, March 4, 2005 \nBy  andy
EXTD=8047 (Nokomis,Florida)\nThis album did not spawn many hits as 197
EXTD=8's EXCITABLE BOY did. On the cover we see the late Warren Zevon,
EXTD=who died of lung cancer in 2003,standing inside of a dancing stud
EXTD=io filled with beautiful female students. The only memorable song
EXTD= is PLAY IT ALL NIGHT LONG,which would appear on the compilation,
EXTD=THE BEST OF WARREN ZEVON-A QUIET NORMAL LIFE. The lyrics are pret
EXTD=ty much silly("Grandpa pissed his pants again,he don't give a dam
EXTD=n."). How about "Grandpa's doing sister Sally,Grandma's dying of 
EXTD=cancer now."? Isn't that silly? PIALN is a ode to Lynyrd Skynyrd 
EXTD=and their signature song SWEET HOME ALABAMA. Another lyric from t
EXTD=he song is "play that dead band's song". Three LS members were ki
EXTD=lled in a plane crash in the seventies. The other songs are cool.
EXTD= \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nWarren Zevon's Third Great Alb
EXTD=um In A Row, July 31, 2004 \nBy  The Footpath Cowboy "rockerusa20
EXTD=02" (Kingston, NY United States)\nBAD LUCK STREAK IN DANCING SCHO
EXTD=OL is Warren Zevon's third great album in a row. Zevon had gone c
EXTD=lean and sober for the first time when this CD was recorded, and 
EXTD=it didn't dull his sense of humor one bit. On the title track, he
EXTD= examined his bad habits in a sarcastic manner which anyone with 
EXTD=ANY addiction (drugs, alcohol, tobacco, food, caffeine) can under
EXTD=stand, while "Jungle Work" humorously describes mercenary violenc
EXTD=e in a way that inspired me to do what I need to in order to remi
EXTD=nd myself that "carb" stands for the names of four politicians wh
EXTD=o support such actions (Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Bush). The ot
EXTD=her songs are all great, too, and you should pick up this CD. \n\n
EXTD=\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nWe parachute in, we parachute out..
EXTD=.., September 19, 2003 \nBy  Tim Brough "author and music buff" (
EXTD=Springfield, PA United States)     \nThere were, for a time, stor
EXTD=ies that Warren Zevon was working on a concerto for strings. If t
EXTD=here was, we are sadly unlikely to ever hear it. But snippets fro
EXTD=m it appeared on his third Elektra/Asylum album, "Bad Luck Streak
EXTD= In Dancing School." Given a taste of rockdom via the surprise su
EXTD=ccess of "Werewolves Of London," his ambition soared along with h
EXTD=is excessive living. So the album opens with both beauty and brut
EXTD=ality, a crescendo of strings ending with a pair of gunshots. And
EXTD= so it goes throughout the album, as Warren weaves tales of betra
EXTD=yal in "Jeannie Needs a Shooter" (I always wondered what Springst
EXTD=een's version of this song would've sounded like), heartache with
EXTD= Linda Ronstadt on the gorgeous "Empty Handed Heart" and a sublim
EXTD=ely funny look at the Los Angeles life as he trades places with "
EXTD=Gorilla You're a Desperado," and the monkey ends up in "Transacti
EXTD=onal Analysis."\nAs with his previous two albums, the playing is 
EXTD=top drawer. It always amazed me that Zevon could take the usual s
EXTD=table of LA's Mellow Mafia and make them sound tough. The cover o
EXTD=f "A Certain Girl" all but leers from force, with the call and re
EXTD=sponse of "What's her name? I can't tell you!" taking on a near p
EXTD=sychotic energy by the song's end. Zevon's literary humor is in f
EXTD=ine form as he describes the mercs of "Jungle Work." It is a subt
EXTD=le prankster who can pair lines like "We parachute in, we parachu
EXTD=te out" without going after a sledgehammer to pulverize the joke,
EXTD= but he manages to do exactly that.\n\nThe album's last two songs
EXTD= were the "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School's" finest moments. "
EXTD=Bed Of Coals" and "Wild Age" are Zevon's most mature songs to tha
EXTD=t point. As a lover watches his life collapse, he realizes that h
EXTD=e can't be a reckless child anymore, and immediately follows with
EXTD= the longing of "Wild Age," which fades out with The Eagles smoot
EXTD=h harmonies and Zevon's desperate, joyous yelping for a time that
EXTD= he knows is no longer there. It cemented Warren's reputation as 
EXTD=a songwriter of unflinching emotional capability. \n\n\nAMAZON.CO
EXTD=M CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThanks Warren, March 23, 2003 \nReviewer: A mu
EXTD=sic fan\nI think that being a performing artist is a tough job. A
EXTD=side from having to produce art, your personal changes are chroni
EXTD=cled and discussed publicly. Warren made this record during his "
EXTD=tumultuous" period. Sometimes times of crisis give birth to incre
EXTD=dible product that would have been impossible to create absent th
EXTD=e madness. Look again at Rolling Stones' Black and Blue, a ridicu
EXTD=lously great and underrated collection that was recorded during K
EXTD=eith's worst times. Personally I put Warren Zevon in a musical br
EXTD=illiance and accomplishment class with Keith Richards, Bob Dylan,
EXTD= and Louis Armstrong. Recognized or not, Warren laid it down. Thi
EXTD=s record is from the early phase and is volatile and full of wond
EXTD=er. Empty-Handed Heart is perfect and might have merited inclusio
EXTD=n on Genius and the Anthology. Warren of course evolved in his la
EXTD=ter, sober years into the musical giant who created Mutineer, Lif
EXTD=e'll Kill Ya, and My Ride's Here. But you don't get those until y
EXTD=ou've lived with this one, Excitable Boy, the Envoy, and Sentimen
EXTD=tal Hygiene. The ride's the point, and Warren is the American mas
EXTD=ter. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\n"Down On My Knees In Pain 
EXTD=. . .", July 9, 2001 \nBy  Brent Evans (Rockhampton, Australia)\n
EXTD=Warren Zevon is on a par with Randy Newman as rock's master satir
EXTD=ist;and,like Randy,is criminally ignored by all but a few here in
EXTD= Australia.This is a strong followup to EXCITABLE BOY and should 
EXTD=have been just as popular.\n1)BAD LUCK STREAK IN DANCING SCHOOL -
EXTD= Driving opener that turns lessons learnt at dancing school into 
EXTD=dangerous asssault courses. Good slide guitar work.\n\n2)A CERTAI
EXTD=N GIRL - A cover of a garage rock classic.There's a girl whom our
EXTD= hero lusts after,but he won't tell his friends the whole details
EXTD= until he's won her.Clever answering vocals on the coda.\n\n3)JUN
EXTD=GLE WORK - A stirring tale of jungle mercenaries doing what they'
EXTD=re paid to do.Hard guitar and strident vocals makes it sound like
EXTD= you're right in the middle of a jungle battle and the mercs are 
EXTD=descending from a chopper.\n\n4)EMPTY HANDED HEART - It amazes me
EXTD= how Zevon can write love songs that can say much more than the s
EXTD=imple "I love you" or "I've lost you".This ballad almost breaks m
EXTD=y heart with lines like: "Girl we've had some goood times,but tim
EXTD=e will not stand still;rolling like a rockslide down a hill".Lush
EXTD= background orchestration.Superb backup vocals by Linda Ronstadt.
EXTD=\n\n5)INTERLUDE NO.1 - A classical piece.\n\n6)PLAY IT ALL NIGHT 
EXTD=LONG - A biting,cynical look of live down on the farm.Swarming gu
EXTD=itars compliment angry vocals.Gives a kick to the head of a certa
EXTD=in Southern Boogie Band.\n\n7)JEANNIE NEEDS A SHOOTER - A western
EXTD= epic about a cowpoke falling in love with a sheriff's daughter o
EXTD=nly to have her(and daddy)double cross him with fatal results.Co-
EXTD=written by Bruce Springsteen.\n\n8)INTERLUDE NO.2 - Another class
EXTD=ical piece.\n\n9)BILL LEE - A short tale of an anti-social,lazy g
EXTD=uy.Piano,vocal, and harmonica only.\n\n10)GORILLA,YOU'RE A DESPER
EXTD=ADO - A funny song about an escaped gorilla who steals Warren's g
EXTD=lasses,BMW,and lifestyle.Biting satire on the LA consumerism,help
EXTD=ed on by backup vocals by certain Eagles members.Sounds like trac
EXTD=k was recorded on a California beach. \n\n11)WILD AGE - Album clo
EXTD=ser;telling you to live your life and always be free,even though 
EXTD=you'll probably be running 'til the day you die. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM
EXTD= CUSTOMER REVIEW\nMore happiness from Zevon, March 2, 2001 \nBy  
EXTD=J. Carroll "Jack" (Island Heights,NJ)\nThe title track with its c
EXTD=horus of "Down on my knees in pain" lets you know that this is go
EXTD=ing to be one more trip through pain and struggle with Warren Zev
EXTD=on. You'll be hard pressed to find a lot of happiness on this CD,
EXTD= even "A Certain Girl" deals with the pursuit of love that may no
EXTD=t pan out. With a visit to Roland's world of mercenaries ("Jungle
EXTD= Work") to a topical reference to one of baseball's strangest pla
EXTD=yers ("Bill Lee") Zevon creates a world where things don't always
EXTD= work out (Jeannie Needs A Shooter" "Gorilla, You're a Desperado"
EXTD=) but you can't stop trying("Empty-Handed Heart") The real questi
EXTD=on is how did "Play It All Night Long" escape the heat that Young
EXTD='s "Southern Man" received? \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA s
EXTD=ociopath with a heart of gold, March 17, 2000 \nBy  dev1 (Baltimo
EXTD=re)\nWarren Zevon is back with another successful addition to his
EXTD= quirky but solid rock'n'roll output. Exploring 'boy meets girl' 
EXTD=is the common subject for popular music, but Zevon adds his perso
EXTD=nal bent. Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School is more like 'boy wit
EXTD=h a gun in his pocket meets girl.' Hey, he may be a sociopath, bu
EXTD=t he's sociopath with a heart of gold. On the inside cover is a p
EXTD=hotograph of a Mack-10 with spent cartridges and an empty pair of
EXTD= ballet shoes lying on the floor. Death and beauty.\nIn the openi
EXTD=ng cut (Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School) Zevon promises to end 
EXTD=his wicked ways and fly straight. The remaining eleven compositio
EXTD=ns break his promise. Mercenaries cause mayhem in 'Jungle Work,' 
EXTD='Play It All Night Long' cures all the world's ills with loud mus
EXTD=ic, and Zevon loses his girl to a hairy bully in 'Gorilla, You're
EXTD= A Desperado.' Of course, all the songs were not written by the p
EXTD=atients of 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.' Warren Zevon and Li
EXTD=nda Ronstadt are beautiful and romantic in 'Empty-Handed Heart.'\n
EXTD=\nBad Luck Streak is backed by Elektra's killer session band incl
EXTD=uding David Lindley, Rick Marrota and Waddy Wachtel. Usually hear
EXTD=d on releases by Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt, Zevon lets th
EXTD=en cut loose. Top pick: "Wild Age' is one of the best teen anthem
EXTD=s of the 1980's. \n\n\nHalf.com Details \nContributing artists: D
EXTD=avid Lindley, Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, J. D. Souther, 
EXTD=Jackson Browne, Joe Walsh, Linda Ronstadt \nProducer: Greg Ladany
EXTD=i, Warren Zevon \n\nAlbum Notes\nPersonnel: Warren Zevon (vocals,
EXTD= guitar, strings, harmonica, piano, organ, synthesizer); Jackson 
EXTD=Browne (vocals, guitar, slide guitar); Jorge Calderon (vocals, gu
EXTD=itar); Rick Marotta (vocals, drums, syndrums, tubular bells, perc
EXTD=ussion); Linda Ronstadt (vocals); David Lindley (guitar, lap stee
EXTD=l guitar); Waddy Wachtel, Joe Walsh, Don Felder (guitar); Ben Kei
EXTD=th (pedal steel guitar); Leland Sklar (bass); Glenn Frey, J.D. So
EXTD=uther, Don Henley (background vocals).\n\nRecorded at The Sound F
EXTD=actory, Los Angeles, California. Originally released on Asylum Re
EXTD=cords (509).\n\nBAD LUCK STREAK IN DANCING SCHOOL finds Warren Ze
EXTD=von knee deep in his own literary yet sardonic and grotesque musi
EXTD=c. From the opening riff of the title track, Zevon pounds and roc
EXTD=ks against the tide of typical singer-songwriter blather. Zevon s
EXTD=wings his mighty piano through an array of countrified boogie, ba
EXTD=re-knuckle rockers, absurd pop, and swooning ballads. He hits the
EXTD= mark with the doomed love of "Jeannie Needs a Shooter" (title su
EXTD=pplied by Springsteen), which became a minor hit upon its release
EXTD=. There are a few missteps, mainly the forced funk and overwrough
EXTD=t machismo "Jungle Work." \nHe turns his sights on country life o
EXTD=n "Play it all Night Long," invoking incest, cancer and Lynyrd Sk
EXTD=ynyrd in one fell swoop. It also bears the distinction of being t
EXTD=he only pop song in history that contains the word "Brucellosis."
EXTD= On "Gorilla, You're a Desperado" he once again strikes at his ow
EXTD=n California homeland, reveling in the shallow glitz of Los Angel
EXTD=es.\n\nIndustry Reviews\n3 Stars - Good - ...rank[s] alongside Ze
EXTD=von's best work.\nQ Magazine (03/01/1995)\n\n...He had already bu
EXTD=ilt a reputation to rival Randy Newman as a writer of graphic, sa
EXTD=rdonic adventure, and this album underscored his genius....featur
EXTD=ing in-your-face arrangements and top-notch playing by some of LA
EXTD='s finest...\nMojo (07/01/2001)\n\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nThere'
EXTD=s a sense of resolution. Not a solution so much as an unburdening
EXTD=, a reckoning with secrets that, revealed, can be swapped, like a
EXTD= pawn ticket, for some kind of stopgap redemption. Or a start tow
EXTD=ard it anyhow -- a beginning: "Swear to God I'll change," the sin
EXTD=ger says in the title tune. No wonder Warren Zevon's dedicated th
EXTD=is fine new album to detective novelist Ken Millar, who writes un
EXTD=der the pen name Ross Macdonald.\n\nZevon's first Asylum LP, Warr
EXTD=en Zevon (1976), and 1978's Excitable Boy were filled with tensio
EXTD=n, tough romance and a wild, charging spirit that led its own mad
EXTD= march. When Johnny struck up the band, that's what you'd hear. M
EXTD=usic that sounded shrewd and satirical and a little sinister, son
EXTD=gs sung by a smiler with a knife. Stories about characters who ca
EXTD=n best be seen in the half-light. Love songs without much hope. P
EXTD=rotagonists who've been worn out or shot down or, like that excit
EXTD=able boy, bent out of shape and left playing with broken toys in 
EXTD=the attic. These compositions were notably short on half-measures
EXTD=: they never backed off. They sounded tough, smelled sulfurous. O
EXTD=nce in a while, you even caught a whiff of self-immolation.\n\nTh
EXTD=is toughness of Zevon's, as well as his highly literate recklessn
EXTD=ess and affection for characters with long guns and nagging consc
EXTD=iences, set people to thinking about his kinship with writers of 
EXTD=fiction that has been called "hard-boiled," as if it were a quick
EXTD= breakfast order in a one-arm joint. Hardboiled: the word has a k
EXTD=ind of visceral accuracy, a smart, vintage sound. And, with a few
EXTD= contemporary modifications, it suits Warren Zevon pretty well.\n
EXTD=\nWhen Zevon's numbers are funny, they cut like a good Philip Mar
EXTD=lowe wisecrack, and his evocations of Los Angeles, snappy and spa
EXTD=re and full of nightshade, are as vivid as any of Marlowe's rever
EXTD=ies when Raymond Chandler's private eye stares out his grimy offi
EXTD=ce window at Hollywood. Some of Zevon's narratives have the fleet
EXTD=, seemingly dispassionate tone of Dashiell Hammett, and, on Bad L
EXTD=uck Streak in Dancing School, the singer's account of a team of m
EXTD=ercenaries ("Jungle Work") boasts the gunmetal gleam of Hammett's
EXTD= Red Harvest. The edgy self-examination of such old songs as "Mam
EXTD=a Couldn't Be Persuaded" and "Accidentally like a Martyr," or a n
EXTD=ew one like "Empty-Handed Heart," comes straight from Ross Macdon
EXTD=ald, who once had a character say: "My husband has been looking f
EXTD=or his father for some time and gradually breaking up. Or maybe..
EXTD=.he's been looking for his father in the hope that it would put h
EXTD=im back together."\n\nThere's a spiritual connection between Zevo
EXTD=n and Macdonald--and a personal one as well--but this isn't the t
EXTD=ime or the place to go into that. For now, it's simply important 
EXTD=to know that the ties, one way or another, are strong--a fact you
EXTD='d discover just as readily by reading Macdonald's The Zebra-Stri
EXTD=ped Hearse and listening to "Wild Age," the cut that ends Bad Luc
EXTD=k Streak in Dancing School like an envoi.\n\n"Wild Age" is a sort
EXTD= of brass-knuckles version of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young," and in
EXTD= it, you can hear a lot of fast moving down rough roads. The song
EXTD= starts off like another hitch along that route: a somewhat wistf
EXTD=ul, halfway-sentimental evocation of the "restless" teenage-outla
EXTD=w years, complete with harmonies by a couple of Eagles ("And the 
EXTD=law can't stop 'em No one can stop 'em/At the wild age"). "Wild A
EXTD=ge" soars -- Warren Zevon writes some of the richest melodies in 
EXTD=rock & roll, and some of the fiercest--but he lyrics seem to weig
EXTD=ht it down until the singer gets to the last verse and you realiz
EXTD=e you've been set up. The effect is like one of those amusement-a
EXTD=rcade portraits sealed in plastic. You tilt it, and a skull shimm
EXTD=ers out from under a face. Instead of "restless," Zevon substitut
EXTD=es "reckless," and he passes along a last thought like someone wh
EXTD=o's just wised up and pulled out of a life-or-death contest: "Mos
EXTD=tly when the reckless years end Something's left to save Some of 
EXTD=them keep running 'Til they run straight in their graves." It's t
EXTD=he setup and the change-up that keep the composition from being a
EXTD= sermon. That, and the impression that these are the words of a p
EXTD=roud survivor. If Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer ever wrote a song, 
EXTD=it would sound a lot like "Wild Age." And even those beach kids w
EXTD=ho vagabond around in the zebra-striped hearse could catch the co
EXTD=ld sting of truth in it.\n\nBad Luck Streak in Dancing School cou
EXTD=ld be Zevon's best album. Certainly, it's the best-sounding recor
EXTD=d he's ever done, with supple guitar work by David Lindley and dr
EXTD=umming by Rick Marotta that gives no quarter. There are various i
EXTD=nstrumental guest appearances -- by Jackson Browne and Joe Walsh 
EXTD=most strikingly--and string arrangements by Warren Zevon that sho
EXTD=w, as clearly as anything ever has, the results of his adolescent
EXTD= pilgrimages up behind the Whisky a Go to visit Igor Stravinsky. 
EXTD=Included are several string-section meditations--a brief introduc
EXTD=tion and two "Interludes" -- that might be fragments of Zevon's m
EXTD=uch-rumored and long-promised symphony. This music isn't pompous,
EXTD= grandiose or meant to demonstrate that the artist can "rise abov
EXTD=e" rock & roll to more "serious" things. Rather, the interludes a
EXTD=re exciting because they meld so nicely with the other compositio
EXTD=ns. "Interlude No. 2" courses easily into a hard, prideful little
EXTD= number about Montreal Expos pitcher Bill Lee. It does everyone p
EXTD=roud -- the master, the pupil and the baseball player.\n\nBut Zev
EXTD=on is trying for another kind of assimilation, too, one that does
EXTD=n't come off quite as well. If the new LP drives harder than his 
EXTD=previous work, it's partly because the singer (who coproduced wit
EXTD=h Greg Ladanyi) is attempting some sort of brash fusion between t
EXTD=he soft steps of California rock and the ass-kicks of the tougher
EXTD= East Coast stuff. It's a heroic struggle and, like most heroic s
EXTD=truggles, a losing proposition in the end. One of the album's fin
EXTD=est numbers, "Bed of Coals" (a great chorus: "I'm too old to die 
EXTD=young And too young to die now"), is featherbedded into a typical
EXTD=ly Southern California, pseudohick country style. The lyric is a 
EXTD=powerful confessional, yet the arrangement wants to make you cry 
EXTD=in your suds.\n\nZevon's other excursion into rural matters, "Pla
EXTD=y It All Night Long," is a rousing rocker that collides with the 
EXTD=other side of the same problem, emerging in one piece but pretty 
EXTD=crumpled. Intended in part as a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd ("'Swee
EXTD=t Home Alabama'/Play that dead band's song") and partly as a vent
EXTD=ure into the mock-macho territory explored earlier in "I'll Sleep
EXTD= when I'm Dead," "Play It All Night Long" catalogs a series of su
EXTD=rreal miseries perpetrated by a clan of yokel misfits much in the
EXTD= manner of Randy Newman's "Old Kentucky Home." But it misses Newm
EXTD=an's irony and sidelong compassion by a country mile. Zevon's son
EXTD=g falls victim to the very clich it's trying to demolish. "There
EXTD= ain't much to country living Sweat, piss, jizz and blood" sounds
EXTD= like something the primally evil Rath brothers in John Irving's 
EXTD=The World according to Garp should be shouting while they fuck an
EXTD=imals in the barnyard. Cut the white-hot playing here--by Lindley
EXTD=, Marotta, Leland Skylark on bass and Zevon on string synthesizer
EXTD= -- tempers the trouble, pulls the track back from the brink and 
EXTD=closes side one with a somewhat equivocal exclamation mark that t
EXTD=he first cut on side two turns into a bullet and lets fly.\n\n"Je
EXTD=anie Needs a Shooter," written with Bruce Springsteen, is a Freud
EXTD=ian Western about love, betrayal and what seems like incest: a ro
EXTD=ck & roll redraft of King Visor's Duel in the Sun. Cowboy songs j
EXTD=ust won't sound the same anymore. (For archivists only: Warren Ze
EXTD=von had heard about an old, unrecorded Springsteen composition ca
EXTD=lled "Jamie Needs a Shooter." The title, jiggered, stuck with him
EXTD=. Zevon composed all the music for his version, did the arranging
EXTD= and wrote the first verse of the lyrics. Bruce Springsteen contr
EXTD=ibuted the rest of the words, presumably including the plot line,
EXTD= which bears no resemblance to the original.)\n\nIf "Jeanie Needs
EXTD= a Shooter" is the record's scariest narrative, the shaggy-ape sh
EXTD=enanigans of "Gorilla, You're a Desperado" are no less personal f
EXTD=or being fanciful. Zevon uses the gorilla as an autobiographical 
EXTD=surrogate, sending the simian off on an unsentimental journey thr
EXTD=ough the recent events of his life. The song is brash, jaunty and
EXTD= funny, yet it lingers in a way that, say, "Werewolves of London"
EXTD= didn't. "Gorilla" will make you laugh, but it's no joke.\n\n"Bad
EXTD= Luck Streak in Dancing School" makes clear that the dancer-prota
EXTD=gonist has been performing on broken glass all along. It starts w
EXTD=ith the sound of two shots from a .44 Magnum, an appropriately sa
EXTD=rdonic approximation of the dancing master's handclaps that begin
EXTD= a class. The track serves as an invocation, a revelation, a dare
EXTD=, and even Zevon seems to back off a bit after it. The next two c
EXTD=uts -- a version of Ernie K. Doe's "A Certain Girl" that sounds b
EXTD=oth sinister and ironic, and the fever dream of "Jungle Work"--ci
EXTD=rcle the themes the title tune lays down: "Down on my knees in pa
EXTD=in ... /Pauline, I swear I'll change." Then "Empty-Handed Heart" 
EXTD=comes to grips with these themes so directly, and so shatteringly
EXTD=, that you're surprised the LP can go on from there.\n\n"Empty-Ha
EXTD=nded Heart" is Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School's core, its cent
EXTD=erpiece: a ballad that's apparently addressed to Zevon's ex-wife.
EXTD= It's full of love, apology, terrifying challenge ("Trying to sep
EXTD=arate the real thing/From the wishful thinking") and a kind of bl
EXTD=eak, proud resolve that makes it as heartbreaking to hear as it m
EXTD=ust have been to live through. The song starts as a monologue, an
EXTD=d suddenly becomes a dialogue. Linda Ronstadt sings a descant tha
EXTD=t underscores with reverie and accusation what Zevon is singing a
EXTD=bout with regret. The memories Ronstadt evokes--watching the sun 
EXTD=set in the sea, making love in the morning--seem like sentimental
EXTD= snapshots, shards of the past filled with unguarded longing. Lik
EXTD=e a gentle tide, the sweet, brook-water clarity of her voice flow
EXTD=s around the vaunting and complex harmonies of the melody. But th
EXTD=en you hear the pity and the vast anger just beneath the surface.
EXTD= These are weapons, not memories: the past used as a blunt instru
EXTD=ment. The descant moves way past teary counterpoint and becomes a
EXTD= woman's act of desperation. Even at this short distance, "Empty-
EXTD=Handed Heart" sounds like a classic, one of Zevon's finest number
EXTD=s, and one of his most direct.\n\nLike the album, "Empty-Handed H
EXTD=eart" is a benediction to an old life and the beginning of a new 
EXTD=one. Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School is a hard-fought record. T
EXTD=hat's what makes Warren Zevon hard-boiled, like Ross Macdonald, R
EXTD=aymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Not the posture or the gunp
EXTD=lay or the scars. It's the willingness to peel the scar tissue, t
EXTD=o stand without it and go for more, that makes these men tough. A
EXTD=nd makes them great. All of them. (RS 312 -- Mar 6, 1980)  -- JAY
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