''Mr. Bad Example'' is an album by the American musician

Warren Zevon Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician. Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Th ...

, released through

Giant Records In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

in October 1991. Zevon supported the album with a North American tour, with the

Odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

serving as both opener and backing band.

Production

''Mr. Bad Example'' was produced by

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy ...

. Los Angeles session musicians contributed to the album. Zevon sometimes struggled for songwriting ideas, but always finished a song once he had started.

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerabl ...

provided backing vocals on "Heartache Spoken Here";

Dan Dugmore Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying Bur ...

played pedal steel. David Lindley played a variety of instruments on "Quite Ugly One Morning". "Searching for a Heart" appeared on the soundtrack to the film ''

Love at Large ''Love at Large'' is a 1990 American romance and mystery film directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Tom Berenger, Elizabeth Perkins and Anne Archer. Plot Set in a present that feels more like the past, Harry Dobbs is a private detective surrou ...

''.

Critical reception

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' called ''Mr. Bad Example'' "a wonderful, resonant album, eclectic and accessible." The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' deemed it "a return to the terse guitar-drums-keyboard format of evon's'70s albums." The ''

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding B ...

'' considered it to be "pure, earthy rock accessibly colored by Zevon's typically wry imagery." The '' Calgary Herald'' wrote that "Zevon's become a somewhat torpid renegade wailing away about his rebellion while safely ensconced in L.A. security." The '' Austin American-Statesman'' determined that "Zevon's first-person characters on this record are shocking, reprehensible and relentlessly slapstick."

Track listing

All tracks composed by

, except where indicated.

Personnel

*Warren Zevon – guitar, keyboards, vocals * Jorge Calderón – bass guitar on "Mr. Bad Example", "Quite Ugly One Morning" and "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead", harmony vocals *

– guitar on "Model Citizen",

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

on "Heartache Spoken Here" *

Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...

– bass guitar *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Dow ...

– drums on "Mr. Bad Example" and "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" *

Tito Larriva Humberto "Tito" Larriva (born 1953) is a Mexican/American songwriter, singer, musician, and actor. He came to prominence leading The Plugz, one of the earliest Los Angeles punk rock groups. Since the 1990s, his main musical outlet has been the ...

– harmony vocals on "Angel Dressed in Black" *Kipp Lennon – harmony vocals on "Searching for a Heart" *Mark Lennon – harmony vocals on "Searching for a Heart" *Michael Lennon – harmony vocals on "Searching for a Heart" * David Lindley – fiddle on "Renegade", saz, lap steel guitar,

cümbüş The ''cümbüş'' (; ) is a Turkish stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. It was developed in 1930 by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş (1881–1947) as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble. The cümbüş is s ...

on "Quite Ugly One Morning" *

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working o ...

– drums *

– guitar, harmony vocals *

– harmony vocals on "Heartache Spoken Here" * Jordan Zevon – harmony vocals

Production

*Producer: Waddy Wachtel *Engineer: Marc DeSisto *Assistant engineers: Andrew Ballard, Scott Blockland, Jeffrey Shannon, Brian Soucy *Mixing:

Niko Bolas Niko Bolas is an American music producer, sound engineer, and consultant and business developer in the fields of virtual reality and Internet radio. In 1989, Bolas founded Fakespace Music with Mark Bolas, Ian McDowall and Christian Greuel, which, ...

, John Beverly Jones *

Dave Collins David S. Collins (born October 20, 1952) is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball from to . Collins is one of three players to have made it to the major leagues who played for the Rapid City Post 22 American Legion baseball program in ...

– Mastering *Technical assistance: Peggy McAfee, Tom Smyth *Art Direction and design: Jeri Heiden *Photography: Diego Uchitel,

Jimmy Wachtel Jimmy Wachtel is an American photographer, art director and designer based in Los Angeles. He has designed album covers for big artists such as Joe Walsh, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Michael Stanley, Jo Jo Gunne, John Cougar, and Buckingham Ni ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Bad Example Warren Zevon albums 1991 albums Giant Records (Warner) albums Albums produced by Waddy Wachtel