A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon

A Quiet Normal Life: The Best Of Warren Zevon is a greatest hits album by Warren Zevon released in 1986. Warren Zevon's second album (his first, Wanted Dead or Alive, appeared in 1969) Warren Zevon included three songs "Hasten Down the Wind", "Carmelita" and "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", that gained popularity from Linda Ronstandt's cover versions. Zevon's second album, although it achieved critical acclaim and sold better than his solo debut, lingered at the bottom of the pop charts. Warren Zevon finally broke through with the song "Werewolves of London" from his second album Excitable Boy. Although Excitable Boy sold well, Zevon had a difficult time capitalizing on the success of the album. The follow-up album Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School features Zevon's cover of Ernie K-Doe's "A Certain Girl" and while the single did chart, it was not included on A Quiet Normal Life. Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School peaked at #20.

Later albums fared even worse with the album The Envoy peaking at #93 in the Billboard Charts. That album is represented here by three songs including "Looking for the Next Best Thing". Zevon's last album under his Warner contract was represented by this Best of collection, mastered by Barry Diament. This set was superseded in 1996 by I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, a 2-disc anthology of hits, album tracks and rarities and, later, by a single disc Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon.