Warren Zevon's "Transverse City": A Reconsideration

Being the big Zevon fan that I am, any release was an automatic purchase so I got the "Transverse City" CD the day it came out. If I remember correctly this 1989 release, on Virgin, was considered a commercial failure. Many reviewers didn’t appreciate the synths or the subject matter. I listened to it twice; once and I didn’t care it and once again to make certain I didn’t care for it. “Splendid Isolation” was its one and only shining moment. Additionally, I didn’t care for the production. And where was Warren’s piano?

I’m at a record show last month and find a mint vinyl copy still in the shrink. You know how it is…you’re a collector; you don’t have it so you buy it, even though it wasn’t a favorite. Well, how things change after 25-plus years. I listened to the vinyl copy earlier this week…and listened…and listened…and all of a sudden it’s one of his best! I find very few weak tracks and the really good ones are some of his best writing. The title track with Jerry Garcia on guitar, “Run Straight Down” with the David Gilmour guitar solos, not to mention the opening chemical recital (only Warren, eh?), “Turbulence”, which reaches back to his heritage and has those Roland-like lyrics. “Networking”…“Gridlock”…it’s like I’m hearing them for the first time. And “Splendid Isolation” is still one of his best (to be fair, I knew that then). Maybe I’m just paying more attention this time. And the production that seemed to get in the way first go around now seems appropriate for 1989. Weird, huh? The vinyl copy doesn’t sound much different than the CD either, so it ain’t that.

Now, “Transverse City” is a fantastic mid-career album, full of good music, great lyrics and guest stars who actually contribute to the cause. It’s become one of my top four Warren Zevon albums. I’m glad I rarely sell anything in my main music collection and I’m glad I discovered this one again.

Wonder what he would be writing about today?

 

It's a solid album. I got it on NM vinyl too, and play three cuts quite often: They Moved The Moon, Networking (funny how relevant those lyrics are today!) and one of my absolute WZ faves, Splendid ßisolation.

 

I first bought Transverse City as a cutout cassette. I loved it immediately. I still think it's one of his best.

I think my CD is a cutout, too.

 

definitely a commercial failure, but I don't recall "reviewers" disliking it. I thought it was well reviewed, if not prominently?

great, ambitious album, in any case. The concept doesn't quite carry through each song, but that's typical. His last album with this level of production.

 

I just remember reading in print how Zevon was going all cyber-punk on us. I can't site specific examples but I remembered a general feeling of disappointment from music writers in 1989 that it wasn't more like his earlier albums.

 

A quick delve into my cuttings file finds two reviews...the first from Q

 

And the second from NME...

 

Transverse City was an immediate favorite when I first bought it in 1989. Nothing has changed, it's still my favorite Zevon album.

What would he be writing about now? I'd bet he's writing a tune about the hypocrisy found with St. Peter at the Gates.

 

Look the gates, Goofy take my hand .

This is the only Zevon album I own and have heard aside from the Enjoy One More Sandwich tribute, and I like it a lot. Warren's cynicisms can't be beat.

 

cool, hadn't seen any UK reviews before... I know he toured there in the late '80s, but I'm actually not sure if he did in his commercial prime era?

 

I saw him in 83 around the time of The Envoy and I know he supported Jackson Browne in late 1976 (which unfortunately I didn't see) - wanna see the review from that one?

There's over 100 shows on the Live Music Archive but I haven't checked to see how many come from the UK.

 

Nothing to reconsider here. I liked it from the beginning, although "Gridlock" and "They Moved The Moon" did take some time to grow on me. I've always thought "Nobody's In Love This Year" was one of his most affecting ballads.

Edit: Thanks for posting those reviews. Fun to read.

 

It took me years to appreciate Transverse City. I still don't consider it to be one of my favorite WZ albums, but it is definitely one I can enjoy listening to at almost any time.

For more Warren Zevon discussion, check out this thread:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...-the-warren-zevon-appreciation-thread.454463/

 

yeah! Was this a solo show? My sense is that he kind of disappeared for a while after the failure of The Envoy and resurfaced to play solo acoustic shows -- those are quite compelling.

yeah, I think have most of those (haven't checked the page in a while), but I especially recall a show from the Hammersmith Odeon in I believe '88 as being superb.

of course, I'm sure he'd been to the UK before ... probably with the Everlys and during his troubador phase, which I believe took him to Spain.

I think TC cut for cut is one of his best. More of an opus than Sentimental Hygiene and more confident than Mr. Bad Example, for sure. I guess its only weakness, alluded to in the Q review, is how it somewhat falls in with the Peter Gabriel/Don Henley "singer-songwriter with a cause" genre that was popular in the VH-1 sector of the industry at the time. But Zevon's take is far more stinging, imo.

 

From the Q Review...
"...human contact is reduced to networking and humans exist in sealed boxes of their own devising".

Sounds like modern times, doesn't it?

 

OK, so maybe it WAS just me.



It was high time for another Warren Zevon thread anyway.

 

Yep.

And welcome to the Forum.

 

Didn't Warren run out Virgin's money before he could complete it? That accounts for the somewhat disjointed style.

 

I always loved this album. I kinda relate it to Neil Young's Trans, which I also love.
Splendid Isolation is probably my favourite Zevon song ever.
'Networking' is great though I prefer the acoustic demo from the CD version.
Great concept.
'Run Straight Down' too...gotta go play that album now actually.

 

Hey krock2009, didn't notice your picture there until just now.
I'm happy to find something else, as I see your an older member than I.

 

I remember reading an interview of his, where he said his mother complained about this album because it wasn't funny.

 

Isn't it "Lock the gates Goofy, take my hand".

While not my favorite of his, I too liked the "Chemical count down" at the beginning, Run Straight Down, They moved The Moon etc.

 

Not sure actually; either way it's a great line.

 

This is a CD I've meant to pick up for a while now. I remember "Transverse City" because I was big into the Grateful Dead in '89 so I was immediately dialed-in to the Jerry appearance. I started to get into Zevon about a year before that. I heard "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner" at a party in college and was like "Who is this? Who writes a song that references Lebanon?"

 

The late 80's were not a welcoming time for superannuated 70's singer-songwriters from L.A., even when it was a genius like Warren Zevon. Thus the somewhat grudging reviews for an album that would have been greeted as a stone masterpiece if it had been somebody's debut.