VMP Magazine

Warren Zevon would have been 70 today. A songwriter's songwriter, he never found the same fame as his contemporaries–the Eagles and Jackson Browne among them–but he had plenty of fans, including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Hunter S. Thompson, Stephen King and David Letterman, who hosted Zevon's last public appearance on The Late Show.

But, as he wrote in 2000, Life'll Kill Ya, and the man who famously sang "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" died Sept. 7, 2003 from pleural mesothelioma, a lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. And though he left us too early, he left behind a comparatively small but genius catalogue far beyond the hit "Werewolves of London."

Nothing indicates that a person is well-read and clever like finding out that they have some well-loved Zevon records in their collection. These five albums are essential for any collection, and though they don't cover his whole discography, they're enough to get any listener started on a journey through LA's gritty back alleys, Africa's steamy jungles, and maybe a Chinese restaurant or two.