*** Warren Zevon

LIFE'LL KILL YA

(Artemis)

In a career that's spanned three decades, this 52-year-old veteran of the California singer/songwriter boom of the '70s has never been as prolific (10 or 12 albums in 30 years) or consistent (three or four good ones in the bunch) as many of his contemporaries. But Warren Zevon has always had more of an edge than, say, your average Jackson Browne. And when Zevon's on, like he was for 1978's Excitable Boy, he simply nails it with a potent combination of razor-sharp wit and rock-and-roll heart. Life'll Kill Ya, his first for Danny Goldberg's new Artemis label, started as a collection of rough-hewn demo recordings that, with a minimum of tinkering by producers Sean Slade and Paul Kolderie, have ended up as Zevon's best album in years. "I had the shit but it all got smoked," Zevon bellows gruffly in the opening cut ("I Was in the House When the House Burned Down"), setting the self-deprecating confessional tone of Life'll Kill Ya against a stripped-down backdrop of strummed acoustic guitar, harmonica, drums, and bass. Elsewhere, Zevon accompanies himself on piano and draws on a cynical sense of humor in the title track ("You've got an invalid haircut/It hurts when you smile/You'd better get out of town/Before your nickname expires") and "For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer" ("I can saw a woman in two/But you won't want to look in the box when I do/I can make love disappear/For my next trick I'll need a volunteer"). It takes a certain amount of patience to be a Zevon fan, but an album as direct, soulful, and, well, funny as Life'll Kill You is worth the wait.

-- Matt Ashare