For many people, spending time with someone who's happy and well-adjusted is not nearly as entertaining as being in the company of a black-humoured cynic with a mile-wide pessimistic streak. Which is why certain rock fans believe the records of Warren Zevon, despite their varying quality, are worth getting to know. "I can saw a woman in two/But you won't want to look in the box when I do," he cautions on For My Next Trick I'll Need A Volunteer, in which Zevon uses a magician metaphor to explain why the women in his life seem to disappear. The song is sly, sardonic, keenly observed, surprisingly affecting; in fact, much like the rest of Life'll Kill Ya. True, the title track is limply cliched, but Zevon compensates with a cover of Steve Winwood's Back in the High Life, funereally paced for maximum irony; a life-is-crap complaint, I Was In The House When The House Burned Down; and a guttermouthed anthem for aging men with failing bodies, My S---'s F---ed Up. Nice acoustic sound, too, reminiscent of Zevon's early, Jackson Browne-produced work. For his closer, he adds a little sweet to the bitter: "Don't let us get stupid, all right? ... Let us be together tonight." Hardly Hallmark, but that's as sentimental as Zevon gets.

Track Listing 1.I Was In The House When It Burned Down
  02.Life'll Kill Ya
  03.Porcelain Monkey
  04.For My Next Trick I'll Need A Volunteer
  05.I'll Slow You Down
  06.Hostage-O
  07.Dirty Little Religion
  08.Back In The High Life Again
  09.My Sh** 's All F***** Up
  10.Fistful Of Rain
  11.Ourselves To Know
  12.Don't Let Us Get Sick