This came out in 2000 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Back in the ’70s, Warren Zevon wrote Werewolves of London, his biggest hit single. I would not be surprised if he felt it was the best thing that happened to him — and the worst.
Ever since, he’s seemed torn between trying to live up to it and trying to live it down. And he’s been saddled with a reputation as a quirky novelty tunesmith instead of the one he deserves — Great American Songwriter.
The fact that fate has not been especially kind to Mr. Bad Example is once again made painfully clear on the grandly bleak, wonderfully twisted Life’ll Kill Ya, his welcome return to the studio after five years. In keeping with its fatalistic shrug of a title, Life is another magnificently crafted therapy session featuring Warren’s biting, mordant tales of missed boats, screwed-up loves and blown chances, from the masochistically upbeat folk-jangle I Was In The House When The House Burned Down to the most ironic cover of Back In The High Life Again you’ll ever hear.
As always, behind the cynical, self-defeatist smirk, the heart of a hopeless romantic bleeds all over Zevon’s elegant piano lines and delicate acoustic guitars. When it comes to putting those feelings into words, though, Warren’s idea of a love song all too often remains — thankfully — a tune like Hostage-O: “All you have to do is ask,” he croons. “I’ll put on the creepy mask.” Can we get an Ah-oooooooh?
