Jordan Zevon - Insides Out Review
Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 05.17.2008
Son of the late Warren breaks out on his own...
Release Date: April 15, 2008 Label: New West Records Producer: Mike Chapman
Main Personnel
Jordan Zevon: guitar, piano, vocals,
Bruce Watson: guitar
Luke Adams: drum
Jordan Summers: keyboards
David Lindley: lap steel guitar
Jorge Calderon: bass
Jordan Zevon is the son of the late Warren Zevon. After his father’s death from cancer in 2003 Jordan appeared on two tribute albums to his father performing the unreleased songs “Studebaker” and “Warm Rain.” He has also produced a few movies and released an EP of just a handful of songs. Jordan recently appeared on “the Late Show with David Letterman” to promote his new album.
TRACK LISTING
The Jokes on Me: With a title like that I was expecting something close to his dad, but Jordan makes it clear he’s not his father right off the bat. I would call his sound from this track as a cross between the more pop elements of Elvis Costello and Weezer. There is a very whimsical quality to the song that works with the subject matter of a loser who suddenly realizes he’s a loser. Jordan’s voice is nothing to right home about, but that fits for the speaker of this tune.
This Girl: I’m not sure if he’s making fun of generic current rock ballads or not. How more generic can you get than “there’s this girl.” It’s a little too repetitive and maudlin even as a parody song, but Jordan’s vocal are a little more clean and in tune here. By the end of it you’re kind of humming along despite yourself and that’s probably what he was going for.
Home: This is a treatise on how special home can be and how you can give the memory of someone a home in your heart. It’s a little too sunshine and Capri Sun drinks for my like. I could see this being the theme to a “7th Heaven” spin-off. The guitar gets a little more oomph toward the end, but the musicianship overall here kind of just blends into a sweet mess. The worst track by far.
Just Do That: This has a nice beat with syncopated drum work and appropriately fitting guitar and keyboard work. It has a more distinct and rock enthused rhythm than the earlier tracks. However, we once again have overly generic lyrics like “just do that thing you did that one time that I can’t get out of my mind.” I don’t want to keep comparing him to his dad, but you would think he could write more clever lyrics.
Camila Rhodes: This is a great song because it paints a very specific and quirky character. She’s a girl who was the first on his block to wear fluorescent clothes and she was obsessed with Rick Springfield. The vibe of the song is kind of early Elvis Costello with a singsong chorus and playing around with some different sounds such as an organ and a heavier guitar sound.
Insides Out: It sounds very close to “This Girl,” but with a more moody vocal. Jordan is either on the verge of killing himself or just popping a couple valiums and going to sleep. More pronounced guitar work is needed here, such as on the first track.
American Standard: The whole album should have been much more like this. The song features biting lyrics that spoof what is the stereotypical college student and how they are happy with drinking and screwing their lives away. Zevon delivers another good vocal performance by investing himself in the speaker of the song. The background vocals help to flesh out themes nicely as there is just a hint of old school doo-wop to it.
Studebaker: This was a written but unrecorded song of his father’s. That is quickly evident in the tinny, darker sound of the music and the lyrics. Jordan does a good job of aping his father’s slightly strained and slightly raspy world-weary vocal style. It really doesn’t fit the rest of the album, but it’s a nice pallet cleanser.
Payday: Nice controlled guitar work and some slap bass makes this one of the better tunes musically. It builds in intensity as it goes to an end that cuts loose, but is still a little too reserved. Once again the lyrics are just sort of there. It’s about a guy asking his girl to hang around until the money rolls in.
Too Late to Be Saved: That’s a great title for the last track. It feels like filler until you get to the bridge where we get some of the best guitar work of the album. It’s just not providing background ambience, but is able to take center stage. Ultimately, like the album, it all blends together and is forgettable.
The 411: I would like to give Jordan Zevon the benefit of the doubt and think he’s trying to be facetious and parodying, but there’s not enough winking and nudging on this album for me to clearly believe that. It’s very generic pop with a heavy influence of Elvis Costello and other British pop acts on the fringe in the seventies and eighties in the vocals and simple musicianship. The problem is that he lacks a cleverness or meaning with his lyrics. That is very evident when compared to “Studebaker” that Warren wrote. There are a couple tracks like “American Standard” and “Camila Rhodes” that show Jordan has potential and possibly he just too consciously steered away from his dad. With the right producer and collaborators Jordan could put out a good album, but this isn’t it.
