This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Back when he was howling Werewolves of London and yelling for Lawyers, Guns and Money, Warren Zevon was in the driver’s seat. Sure, he was speeding drunk on the wrong side of the freeway, but it was a helluva trip.
Now, sadly, he seems like he needs a jumpstart. My Ride’s Here, Zevon’s unlucky 13th album, finds the singer-songwriter disappointinginly low on gas. His lyrics, usually among the sharpest and darkest around, sound like tired self-parody here — and co-writers like Carl Hiassen and Hunter S. Thompson only prove good novelists and journalists aren’t necessarily good lyricists. Musically, meanwhile, Zevon spends too much of his time idling through a landscape of predictable melodies and arrangements, unfocused performances and anemic productions that offer only brief glimpses of the moody, menacing brilliance he used to deliver so effortlessly. And I’m not even going to discuss Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song) — which includes cameos from (sigh) Paul Shaffer and David Letterman. Warren, it’s been a good long ride, but we’ll get off here, thanks.
