"If it's still the past/That makes you doubt," sings Warren Zevon at the close of side one of his winning comeback, Sentimental Hygiene, "Darlin', that was then/And this is now/Reconsider me." This touching ballad is surprisingly direct for someone whose work has been typically barbed and wired. When Zevon appeared on the scene with his 1976 LP, Warren Zevon, his association with the Eagles and Jackson Browne linked him to Los Angeles' touchy-feely singer-songwriter crowd. But his best songs had the acerbic bite and pounding rock & roll heart that his pals' music lacked.
So when he sings "Reconsider Me" (with Don Henley on background vocals) and, in a similarly straightforward
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fashion, "The Heartache" (with Jennifer Warnes), you have to wonder: Could this be the man who, on 1978's
Excitable Boy, chortled about rape, mutilation and Patty Hearst?
Yes and no. Deftly backed by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry, Zevon still prowls the Hollywood hills, painting ominous, hard-hitting portraits ("Boom-Boom Mancini") and lashing out at duplicity ("Even a Dog Can Shake Hands"). But the five years since his last album, The Emoy, as well as the experience of detox somewhere along the line, have mellowed him a bit; his criticism is now most often directed at himself. This mix of angry rock and sincere self-deprecation gives Sentimental Hygienc its drama.
In "Bad Karma" (complete with sitar noodlings) and the "Da Doo Ron Ron"-like "Trouble Waiting to Happen," Zevon wavers between blaming himself and bum luck for his troubles. He gets to the point in the deceptively witty "Detox Mansion": after jokingly singing, "I've been rakin' leaves with Liza/Me and Liz clean up the yard," he admits, "It's tough to be somebody/And it's hard not to fall apart/Up here on Rehab Mountain/We gonna learn these things by heart."
It's a sign of Zevon's strength that despite the high-profile presence of R.E.M. (Michael Stipe even joins in on "Bad Karma"), Hygiene is of a piece with his previous rough-edged L.A. session sound. An all-star supporting cast has for the most part been put to good use, particularly Neil Young, who gives a searing guitar solo on the title song.
There are weak moments: Bob Dylan's guest harmonica spot can't save "The Factory," which sounds like a silly Springsteen imitation. And the George Clinton-arranged synthesized dance number "Leave My Monkey Alone" is a shameless attempt to modernize.
But Zevon's albums have always seemed willfully spotty – as if he knew quite well that he'd struck oil but still, self-destructively, placed it alongside goofy dreck. And even if Sentimental Hygiene is only a two-thirds-perfect album, it still towers head and shoulders above most of his contemporaries' best efforts. (RS 504-505)
DAVID HANDELMAN
