Stand In The Fire Expanded & Remastered

Fantastic live recording of the one and only Warren Zevon. I love Learning to Flinch, but this is a far, far better recording. If you're a Zevon fan, don't hesitate: get it now. (I got lucky, I suppose: this CD arrived unscathed while the other two Zevon CDs I ordered arrived in a different package with both jewel cases crushed in spots. I didn't even open those, but got an RMA from Amazon and back they went. After all these years in business, you'd think Amazon would understand packaging and shipping. Yes, they refunded my money for those other two CDs, but I'd rather have the music, and I didn't trust them enough to have them package the replacements properly. Maybe after the holiday and return season is gone. . . .)Anyway, Stand in the Fire is great, both the recording and the music itself.

I love this record! Having seen Zevon on this tour in Nashville and purchasing it on LP, I couldn't wait for the re-issue on CD. It rocks with an exuberance you don't often hear. Its nearly impossible to capture the live energy of a great rock show on vinyl, but I believe this record pulls it off better than almost any other. I'm still laughing with the ad-libbing like, "where's George Gruel, my road manager, my best friend?" during Poor Poor Pitiful Me. This record displays Zevon's songwriting ability, bizarre sense of humor, and his sheer rock power better than any other album. 1993's Learning to Flinch may display Warren's instrumental virtuosity even better, but Stand in the Fire is the gold standard for pure rock.The excitable boy was quite a songwriter, and these tracks prove it. He wrote Lawyers, Guns, and Money as well as Hasten Down the Wind. He's frenzied and tender too. You've also got to love the performances on these songs. I love the vocals on Mohammed's Radio. This is a nice, tight band, and the production value of the live recording is excellent.God love Rhino records for finally releasing this long-overlooked masterpiece. Zevon is, at the same time, both rockin' and poignant, a feat few could pull off so naturally. Once when asked if he was the "Ernest Hemmingway of rock, "Zevon replied that he was more the "Charles Bronson." This record proves him to be both. RIP to a truly original artist.

Time again, Dave Letterman would tell Warren that this was his favorite album, and ask why it was never released on CD. Zevon usually said he didn't remember this album. For years after the LP was out of press, an enterprising fan could track down two full-price cassettes, each containing half of the music. It was obvious that until Zevon's death, he (or someone) didn't want something this rough, raw and ripping to be available. He damn well remembered this album, though who's to say whether he suffered any blackouts after the nights it was recorded.This album got me through a bar exam in 1981 the way Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas got me through exam weeks: vicarious over the top insanity has to substitute when life won't allow cutting loose yourself. I've always looked on this album as the ultimate Warren Zevon album precisely for its abandon. Zevon's studio music may have the words of irony, scorn and rage, but the production was always too slick. Here, Mohammad's Radio turns into the hymn for the doomed it was meant to be, and "I'll sleep when I'm Dead" is rightfully the foot-stuck-in-a-posthole rage it doubtless represents. Every suffered injustice feeds this fire, and Zevon indeed stands in the middle of it. "I might pitch a fit, but I won't put on my brakes"--Zevon has no brakes left, and he's rolling at full speed in this remarkable slice of his time.This is Warren Zevon as the perfect soundtrack to Hunter Thompson, wasted on his lips, pissed off, and letting it all hang out with a band that will take him anywhere he wants to go. Does he mock Jackson Browne "walking down the avenue, and his heart was perfect!" in Werewolves because of JB's offense years ago when Zevon said he was an entertainer and not a tortured poet bard like Browne? Whatever--that werewolf also went looking for James Taylor. Folk music as dinner.This album is raw, ragged and bleeding. It may have come to symbolize to Zevon the time he got so far beside himself with self-abuse, to become nothing he wanted to be in the public's regard. Now that it was released following his death, we again can see the demons and pitchforks, smell the spilled bourbon and brimstone, and listen to Zevon wail like the werewolf he was. This is Zevon's soul getting out as it did in the late 70's.

Everyone has their favorite- the live album that seems to capture the artist at his or her best, setting free all the emotion and energy only a live performance can unleash. For me, it has always been STAND IN THE FIRE. The band is ragged, a bar band supplemented by David Landau, plays with energy and just tries to hang on as Zevon cuts loose. This is barely controlled chaos-with Zevon as a hyper kinetic ringmaster. Even when the music slows down, the intensity remains. There is always a feeling that anything can happen. Music from Zevon's first three Asylum releases is the focus here; with an outrageously ad libbed "Werewolves of London" leading the pack, each song is brought to a new life, as if performing it live has created a new song, with a new and different energy. "Excitable Boy" adds new layers of creepiness," "Lawyers, Guns and Money," adds a desperation that is palpable, and "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" should have been a hit for Zevon as well as Ronstadt. Even the newly added material with Zevon's voice cracking as he speaks to "his friends" brings a wonderful sense of intimacy so often missing from live recordings. (and from the original release of this one!)I hope the release of this and THE ENVOY on CD allows fans another opportunity to discover one of rock's great songwriters and with SITF one of rock's most magnetic performers.

Let's face it, it's rare to rave about live albums. They rarely add much to an artist's repetoire, you know all the music, and the applause can be a bit annoying. However, those rules don't apply when we're talking about Warren Zevon.Stand in The Fire captures Zevon at his crazy, brilliant best, belting out familiar songs from his catalogue to a hugely appreciate audience at the Roxy. He's backed by excellent musicians - and in some ways this reminds me of a US version of Ian Dury and the Blockheads; the music is skilfully done, tightly controlled and more than a little edgy. Zevon clearly relishes the moment and goes for it.Even the additional bonus tracks don't sound out of place, although by the time we reach the final couple of numbers, Zevon's voice sounds cracked and tired and he's not sounding his best. Still, it's one gig you wish - on the evidence of this recording - that'd you'd been there.

Classic Zevon - if you like him, you'll be bowled over. If you've never heard him, you'll be bowled over and hopefully hooked to a legendary musician and unique songwriter.

As described and used for entertainment

Miss you, man.

Got the original Vinyl - this is even better. Nice job.