My Ride's Here

Entertainment Weekly - "...Zevon squeezes 10 tough songs out of collaborations with journalists, plus a poet who wrote six lines that stand as the best review Bob Dylan's OH MERCY ever got..." - Rating: A- Uncut - Ranked #15 in Uncut's "100 Best Albums of the Year" - "...MY RIDE'S HERE is a superb collection of Zevon's literate style..." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 - "The mordant humour continued on MY RIDE'S HERE..." Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...MY RIDE'S HERE makes 2 crucial improvements on [his] honorable 2000 release LIFE'LL KILL YA. First, it rocks harder without stinting the musicianly colors...Second, it doesn't dwell much on his love life..." Rolling Stone - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2002" Mojo - "...For all his sour wit Zevon remains a musical craftsman who's happy to leave the lyrics to others..."

Warren Zevon is famous for black-hearted comedy tunes like "Werewolves of London" and "Excitable Boy," but his best work is a good bit deeper and more penetrating, and 2000's Life'll Kill Ya was an impressive return to form, a song cycle about aging and death that was played less for easy laughs than for the bitter humor derived from the knowledge that no one, the artist included, will get out of this world alive. Zevon's follow-up, 2002's My Ride's Here, for the most part recalls Zevon albums like Mr. Bad Example or Mutineer. My Ride's Here also finds Zevon collaborating with a number of writers from outside the world of music (not the first time he's done this; novelist Tom McGuane co-wrote "The Overdraft" on Envoy). Novelist Carl Hiaasen co-wrote "Basket Case," an ode to an insane girlfriend, while gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson collaborates on "You're a Whole Different Person When You're Scared." Sportswriter Mitch Albom, of all people, turns in the best collaboration on the album, "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)." The sardonic "Genius" and "Sacrificial Lambs," and the title cut -- a meditation on mortality that would have fit in on Life'll Kill Ya -- are strong and remind listeners of just how talented Zevon still is. ~ Mark Deming|