Original Album Series

Warren Zevon is just an outstanding singer/songwriter artist and I love his music. His unique view of things and sense of humor always comes through and there's just no one else like him. This is a bundle of his first 4 studio albums, which many consider to be among his best, and also the live "Stand In The Fire".Zevon is a five-star artist but I'd give this set 3 stars for a few reasons:1. These are not remastered. When I put tracks from these cd's into a playlist with other Zevon songs taken from later cd's and/or his "Best of" compilation ("Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon"), the difference in sound quality and volume is impossible to miss. The sound is not as clean and crisp and the volume is way down. "Stand in the Fire" and "Excitable Boy" in particular are remastered with better sound and additional tracks, so hard to recommend this set over buying the individual cd's even though buying separately is the more expensive path.2. While there is some great stuff on these early cd's, most of the best tracks can be found on the previously mentioned "Genius" compilation.3. For my tastes, I like the LAST three albums he did more than his first three. From 2000-2002, Zevon wrote and recorded 2 albums ("Life'll Kill Ya" and "My Ride's Here") that both had enough songs on the topics of aging and mortality that you could almost call them "theme" or "concept" albums. But that's not all he sings about and when he does, it's often with his unique wit and humor, so... not necessarily "depressing" music. It's very poignant and insightful and each album has plenty of excellent songs. The fact that he wrote these albums *before* he was diagnosed with terminal cancer makes them all the more amazing to me. After his diagnosis, he did a third and final album in that trilogy that was released in 2003 (The Wind). So for my money, the albums I listen to the most are the "Genius" compilation (for the best of his earlier works) and those final three albums.That said, his earlier albums ARE worth owning too, I just don't know that this set is the best way to get them when remastered versions are available for purchase separately. But if you're not overly concerned about remastering, bonus tracks, sound quality, etc., or are on a tight budget, these are all good albums and the price is definitely right (I bought at $31 bit as of this writing it's down to $23 which is steal for 5 Zevon albums on disc).

If you like Warren Zevon, this is a good way to get his first 5 cd's. No you don't get all the liner notes with this package, but you don't normally with this kind of set. Still worth the price though. You can't buy these for less individually.

A fantastic value on Zevon's first five albums. Great sounding CDs with nicely done pictorial cardboard sleeves all housed in a slipcase.

so underrated as a composer and a musician. sad thats hes remembered mostly for werewolves of london, which is a fun song, but warren was so much deeper than that. this is a pretty good variety of some of his stuff at a good price. check it out, you wont be sorry

It's always fun to hear all the tracks an artist compiled as they worked toward their more popular songs, and this collection provides that insight into Zevon's work. He was a truly gifted songwriter. His first albums do not shy away from country influences, yet most if not all done with a tongue-in-cheek attitude that is his trademark. How refreshing to listen to an artist who does not take himself too seriously. Zevon was a master of the fun of popular music and though wider acclaim might have alluded him because some were not in on the joke, those who got it love it. Count me in.

This takes me back to my old fraternity days where we had the vinyl spinning all the time with W.Z. Over time the LPs got scratched or liquid spilled on them and became unplayable.The only complaint, which has been noted before is that the CD liner is difficult to read because the print is so small (that's a me problem).Please someone tell me that there is a buried trove of W.Z. music just waiting to be released.

OK, so... can we just take a moment to appreciate THIS IS FIVE ALBUMS FOR ONE LOW PRICE!! You get 4 of Zevon's AMAZING albums, PLUS a LIVE Album!! I got this and listened to one disk after another and I was NOT disappointed by ANY of them!You will not find a better deal than this. This compilation packages much of Zevon's earliest and most influential work. Fans and collectors cannot pass this up! Great collection, ridiculously low price!

Great value! 5 CDs! "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" is worth the price alone! "Play it all night long"

I am very pleased with this cd box set.I would buy from this seller again.Thank you.

Love the fact that for the price I get 5 albums all nicely packed love warren zevon

I like Warren Zevon's twisted sense of humour... I don't always get it, but it's always entertaining. For the price, this is hard to argue with - Five CD collection for around twenty bucks but... c'mon Rhino!!! Your name has been synonymous with high quality re-issues which is primarily why I purchased this set. Alas, the sound is muddy with a complete lack of sparkle or clarity. More's the pity because Rhino has already remastered 4 of the 5 CD's in this collection so I thought we were being treated to a real home run here. Perhaps they're saving their remasters for the high price crowd. Bottom line, great music but muffled sound. By the way, the same goes for The Linda Ronstadt Original Album Series. Buyer beware.

The first self-titled album in this selection was a pretty good indication of the scope and direction his music would take; though strangely it was his second release. He had a sort of mournful voice, but an interesting line in lyrics and a variety of tempos. This was a strong re-start to his singing career and the album times out at just under 38 ½ mins, as it was of course originally released on vinyl.‘Excitable Boy’ had a great selection of songs on it, (who doesn’t remember ‘Werewolves of London’?) and was only stopped from being a ‘classic’ album by ‘Night time in the Switching Yard’ which is not one of his best; and the fact that it is under 32 mins in length, stingy even for vinyl. Still, though, my favourite album of his.‘Bad Luck Streak’ isn’t as memorable as the previous two, though it has a few good tracks on it; but overall this album is a bit disappointing. Time 35.35 mins.‘Stand in the Fire’ was a live album he released in 1980. As such it is not bad, though his voice sounds harsher on this than on his studio recordings; in fact, on the first track it is hard to recognise the vocalist as being he. All in all you get the usual favourites plus some others that are not featured on the proceeding studio releases. Playing time just over 42 ½ mins.‘The Envoy’ was much better than ‘Bad Luck’, with a range of more interesting songs, though nowhere as good as the first two. Playing time only just over 32 mins.All in all, if you could get the first two at a knock-down price, you would be better off going down that route; but it would probably cost you more than buying this set. A better alternative would be to buy ‘Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon’ as you get his best tunes on a decent length CD.

This is an economical and good introduction to Warren Zevon. I already own most of his albums and bought it as a gift for a friend who hadn't heard much of him. This is a great way of exploring the music of an underrated genius.The inclusion of his debut eponymous album and " Excitable Boy" is worth the purchase price alone. If you've only ever heard "Werewolves of London" or are considering buying a Warren Zevon greatest hits cd may I recommend this 5cd box set instead ?