Alejandro Escovedo
Real Animal
Back Porch/Manhattan Records
visit Alejandro's website
also available on amazon
For this, his ninth solo project, Alejandro Escovedo enlisted Tony Visconti to produce it, and wrote all the songs with Chuck Prophet, this might be called a musical timeline of his career in song. This outing is one of his strongest efforts, and also one of the most rooted in the earth discs he has done. There are songs that are reminiscent of, almost speak of various bands he has been in; such as Rank and File and The True Believers, as well as his trips into the glam, punk, roots, and country genres as troubadour explorations to investigate the spaces. Look at the diversity of music that runs in his family; brothers Pete and Coke, both percussionists with Santana and Pete’s daughter Sheila E longtime Prince collaborator. This is his second disc since he collapsed on stage and almost died in 2003 of untreated Hepatitis C. This disc shows a songwriter overcoming a near death, growing stronger, and stands with the best work he has
done. As the music has become fuller and edgier, it has also become more risky and audacious, taking chances that hold great rewards when they work, and on this effort they do. He is incorporating violin and cello in addition to what might be called a typical 5 piece rock band. This man who won artist of the decade by the wonderful, but by the now defunct magazine, No Depression, is moving on and getting stronger and playing closer to the void than ever, and reaping the rewards for taking those chances.