Mutineer

Mutineer is often considered one of Warren Zevon’s lesser inspired releases. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It’s an intimate look at a man who often used the most professional of Los Angeles session players to build his sound. Here in his home studio, Zevon is free to wander as he feels fits. The songwriting is stellar and the cover of Judee Sill’s “Jesus Was a Cross Maker” is years ahead of its time. (Sill’s resurgence was a long time coming). “The Indifference of Heaven,” the highlight of the solo live album Learning to Flinch, is a powerful piece of personal philosophy. “Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse” is exactly the kind of quirky folk song that Zevon could always deliver. “Mutineer” is Zevon at his most romantic and self-mythologizing. “Seminole Bingo” is the flipside, white-collar crooks on the lam. “Something Bad Happened to a Clown” features a top-notch Zevon vocal performance. Zevon was a ruthless yet tenderhearted songwriter who always found a unique way around the same old tried-and-true chords of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s time to rediscover this lost classic.