Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me

Keeping up our Warren Zevon watch, there is an exellent review of The Wind over at Salon this morning.

Shannon Zimmerman sums up here review saying The Wind is "...heartbreakingly good, in fact, ranking right up there with Zevon's endlessly amazing early work. Thanks mainly to its rough-hewn production, the album echoes his self-titled 1976 disc in particular. "Warren Zevon's" most famous tune, "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," was a minor hit for Linda Ronstadt back in 1977. But the album's best number was "Hasten Down the Wind," a pretty but ultimately bitter ballad about the mercurial ways of love relationships.

With this "Wind," Zevon resolves that crisis, bringing his illustrious career full-circle by embracing -- or at least coming to grips with -- the ephemeral nature of the ties that bind. He's still singing about death, of course, about the way things sadly and inevitably end. This time, though, there's gentleness in Zevon's voice, acceptance without resignation and, at the same time, a genuine lust for life.

"The Wind," in other words, is funny, sad, smart and touching -- a graceful goodbye from one of rock's sharpest wits."

Read the whole thing here.