Today's packaging spotlight is about Warren Zevon's "Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School" reissue from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
For the first time ever, you can hear Warren Zevon's 1980 album, "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" on audiophile vinyl.
Mobile Fidelity's edition of "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" is done as 1/4" / 15 IPS Dolby A analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe. The album is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl as 2 LPs at 45 RPM. It sounds incredible and the artwork is crystal clear.
It is unlike most reissues which sound okay and the art is blurry. Mobile Fidelity took the time to source the audio from the analog master tapes, and they recreated the art in a way that it isn't distorted. The album is packaged in a Stoughton gatefold jacket and each copy is numbered.
The album features appearances from numerous musicians including Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Ben Keith, Waddy Wachtel, J.D. Souther, and Eagles members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Don Felder.
You will get to experience the wide instrumental separation. This is the dynamic elements that underscore the depth of the rhythms. It is a transparency that traces a through-line to the original recording sessions at the Sound Factory. There is warmth on a par with prized analog recordings. There is a naturalism that elevates the body and tenor of Zevon's vocals. It reveals levels of openness, balance, and imaging. This includes everything from the .44 Magnum that Zevon fired into a barrel of sand to capture percussive effects at the beginning of the title track and the variety of slide, pedal, lap-steel, and electric guitars used throughout comes through with incredible clarity.
This album is dedicated to crime-fiction author Ken Millar, who was the one that helped steer Zevon through his drying-out period. It is distinguished by a back cover that famously features a disparate image — a pair of ballet shoes resting alongside a machine gun and spent bullets.
The title song finds the then-newly divorced Zevon pledging to change. The high-and-lonesome T-Bone Burnett co-write “Bed of Coals” extends that commitment. Then there's the sweeping piano-based ballad “Empty-Handed Heart” which witnesses Zevon at his most conciliatory and tender despite the fact the subject of his affection has moved on. On the latter track’s coda, a descant gorgeously sung by Ronstadt sends the tune into another orbit and affirms the deep–seated levels of texture and touch that is widespread throughout Zevon’s work.
Those characteristics are also present on the Top 20 record’s rowdier fare. Partnering with his pal Jorge Calderon, Zevon delivers one of his classic mercenary tales on “Jungle Work.” The song broadcasts an apt desperado vibe via a macho military-styled refrain and beefy tones. Joe Walsh’s memorable turn on lead guitar ups the risk factor. For the socially biting “Gorilla, You’re a Desperado,” Zevon lays down a melody that moves like a squeezed accordion. Henley and Browne join on the chorus, and the collective seemingly dances its way amid a vibrant landscape dotted with rubber-mask absurdity, humor, and commotion.
Besides the appearances by Zevon's industry friends, Zevon draws major-league pitcher Bill Lee, who is known for his unfiltered statements and outrageous personality into the mix. He does this by way of a namesake tribute on which the singer’s harmonica cleverly substitutes for off-the-cuff vocal remarks Lee would utter. While Bruce Springsteen doesn’t appear, a rousing anthem he co-wrote, “Jeannie Needs a Shooter,” makes a permanent mark by way of push-pull riffs, magnetic grooves, twinkling keyboard notes, tolling bells, and Walsh’s illustrative guitar lines. To say nothing of Zevon’s yearning vocals that somehow manage to remain controlled amid the tension.
Zevon's snappy rendition of Allen Toussaint’s “A Certain Girl” is complete with old-school-soul call-and-response exchanges and lithe rhythms — and sends out the closing “Wild Age” with delirious excitement.
You can order a copy of it here: https://mofi.com/vinyl/warren-zevon-bad-luck-streak-in-dancing-school-numbered-180g-45rpm-vinyl-2lp
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