Warren Zevon humor to wed geopolitical subtexts to hard-boiled narratives. Tracks from this album received heavy FM airplay, and the single release "Werewolves of London", which featured Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, was a relatively lighthearted version of Zevon's signature macabre outlook and a No. 21 success. The critic Dave Marsh, in "The Rolling Stone Record Guide" (1979), called Zevon "one of the toughest rockers ever to come out of Southern California". "Rolling Stone" record reviews editor Paul Nelson called the album one of the most significant releases of the 1970s and placed him alongside Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen
Warren Zevon He wrote several songs for his White Whale labelmates the Turtles ("Like the Seasons" and "Outside Chance"), though his participation in their recording is unknown. Another early composition ("She Quit Me") was included in the soundtrack for the film "Midnight Cowboy" (1969); to suit its place in the film, the song was re-recorded by Leslie Miller as "He Quit Me". Zevon's first attempt at a solo album, "Wanted Dead or Alive" (1969), was produced by 1960s cult figure Kim Fowley but did not sell well. Flashes of Zevon's later preoccupations with romantic loss and noir violence are present in songs