Mutineer (album)

Last updated

Mutineer
Warren Zevon - Mutineer.jpg
Studio album by
Warren Zevon
ReleasedMay 23, 1995
Recorded1994–95
StudioAnatomy of a Headache, Los Angeles
Genre Rock
Length35:37
Label Giant
Producer Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon chronology
Learning to Flinch
(1993)		Mutineer
(1995)		 I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology)
(1996)
Singles from Mutineer
  1. "Rottweiler Blues"
    Released: 1995
  2. "Poisonous Lookalike"
    Released: 1995
  3. "Mutineer"
    Released: 1995
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Uncut 7/10 [3]

Mutineer is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Warren Zevon. The album was released on May 23, 1995, by Giant. [4] The album largely consisted of home recordings. Bob Dylan covered "Mutineer" a number of times in concert after Zevon's passing. A cover version plays over the credits of "Otherwise", the finale of Futurama season nine.

Contents

Warren's son Jordan Zevon would later recount a frustration with the stripped-back synth focus of the album and its contemporaries sounding like "demos", having argued to his father his music would have benefitted from a full band arrangement and that he knew musicians who would play with Warren "for free." In 2025 at a Warren Zevon tribute show, Zevon would perform Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse with a full backing band supporting the vocal track ripped from Warren's original recording which Jordan described as “We’re gonna do a little posthumous ‘I told you so.’ And hopefully in the afterlife, I’ll be all right." [5]

"The Indifference of Heaven" is seen as a response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the lyrics opening on a scene describing an act of violence at a 7-Eleven during the event, with Zevon writing the song and beginning to perform it live shortly after the riots (as seen on Learning to Flinch ). [6] Journalist James Campion would argue the references to Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen (a close friend of Zevon) in the lyrics were indictments of how wealth and fame shielded people from the harsh realities of violence, poverty and racial tensions that were present in Los Angeles at the time.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Warren Zevon, except where indicated.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Seminole Bingo" Carl Hiaasen, Warren Zevon3:10
2."Something Bad Happened to a Clown" 4:25
3."Similar to Rain" 3:26
4."The Indifference of Heaven" 4:03
5."Jesus Was a Cross Maker" Judee Sill 1:55
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Poisonous Lookalike" 4:14
7."Piano Fighter" 3:52
8."Rottweiler Blues"Carl Hiaasen, Zevon3:15
9."Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse"Duncan Aldrich, Zevon3:52
10."Mutineer" 3:15

Personnel

Production

Charts

Weekly chart performance for Mutineer
Chart (2025)Peak
position
Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ) [7] 40

References

  1. ↑ Mark Deming (May 23, 1995). "Mutineer – Warren Zevon | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  2. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  3. ↑ "How to buy Warren Zevon". Uncut . October 2023. p. 71.
  4. ↑ "Mutineer by Warren Zevon on iTunes". iTunes. May 23, 1995. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  5. ↑ William, Chris (October 26, 2025). "'Warren Zevon: Join Me in L.A.' Tribute Concert Gathers His Flock for a Night of Subversion and Tenderness on the Block: Concert Review". variety.com. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  6. ↑ Campion, James (2018). Accidentally Like a Martyr: The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Backbeat Books. p. 179-191. ISBN   978-1-61713-672-6.
  7. ↑ "Album Top 40 slágerlista (fizikai hanghordozók) – 2025. 44. hét". MAHASZ . Retrieved November 5, 2025.
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