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 music video from a new compilation, "". The video, titled "She's Too Good for Me," aired every hour on the hour throughout the day. First and last issues of the Zevon albums "Stand in the Fire" and "The Envoy" were released on March 27, 2007, by Rhino Records, alongside a Rhino re-issue of "Excitable Boy", with the three CDs having four unreleased bonus tracks each. Noteworthy rarities include the outtakes "Word of Mouth" and "The Risk" from the "Envoy" sessions and "Frozen Notes (Strings Version)", a melancholy outtake from "Excitable Boy" performed on acoustic piano with a string quartet. On