Always interesting to hear from the man himself.
Archive for Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro’s Interview On NPR
Posted in Music with tags Alejandro Escovedo, Street Songs of Love on July 2, 2010 by johnbuckley100When Alejandro Paints His Masterpiece
Posted in Music with tags Alejandro Escovedo, Bruce Springsteen, Street Songs of Love on June 29, 2010 by johnbuckley100In 2008, with the release of Real Animal, Alejandro Escovedo proved ready for his close up. After years on the road, after his recovery from the ravages of Hep C and the beginning of recovery from the alcohol that caused it, Alejandro pretty much nailed it, insofar as churning out an airplay-ready platter was concerned. Tony Visconti proved to be the sympathetic and ideal producer that weirdly a year earlier John Cale was not, though truth be told, The Boxing Mirror captured Alejandro brittle in the early stages of sobriety, dry on several levels, and still wobbly on his feet. With today’s release of Street Songs of Love, it has all come together: Alejandro has released the greatest rock’n’roll album of his long and storied career.
It wouldn’t be accurate to say I didn’t like Real Animal. I loved songs like “Chelsea Hotel ’78,” “Smoke,” and “Nuns Song.” But I found “Always A Friend” too self-consciously an attempt to get into the managerial and artistic slipstream of Al’s new friend Bruce Springsteen, whose manager Jon Landau had taken on the duties of getting this unheralded American treasure known by a wider audience. Those three songs rank among the best rock songs of Escovedo’s career, but too many of the softer songs fell into the nether region between rock ballads and the achingly beautiful chamber-folk concoctions that Alejandro had woven on great albums like With These Hands and Thirteen Years. I loved the concept of Alejandro telling his own story in a single album — going back through his days in San Francisco with The Nuns, or in New York with Rank and File, or Austin with the True Believers. And I was happy to hear it actually played on FM radio. I just didn’t really love it.
With Street Songs of Love the worry is that I’ll play it over and over and over again until my iPod, ears, and brain give out. Yes, some of the riffs and chord progressions have been recycled from songs like “Chelsea Hotel ’78” and “Smoke.” That’s fine; recycling is good for the environment and Alejandro’s found his groove in self-homage. But he doesn’t back down and fall into soft rock mush; this is the rockingest album he’s been on since that second, flawed True Believers record. It’s nice that Bruce does a duet with him, and great to hear him sing with his hero Ian Hunter. But the reason this one is so great is that it’s the real proof that Alejandro is a rock’n’roll animal.
This one has a stripped down band — no cellos or violins, just Hector Munoz bashing the drum kit like he’s killing a gila monster with the butt of a gun, and David Pulkingham reeling off riffs like he’s the living embodiment of Wagner and Hunter on Lou Reed’s Rock n Roll Animal. The trinity of Alejandro references — early ’70s Rolling Stones, Mott the Hoople, and late ’70s LA-SF-NY punk rock — hold everything together. Someday soon I”d love to hear Alejandro pull together a double album with a quiet side, his own version of Exile. For now, having this platter of crunching rockers will do. With the Bruce bait for DJs, maybe this will finally make Alejandro the star that in a just world he would have been long, long ago.
3rd Best Album of 2008, Alejandro Escovedo’s “Real Animal”
Posted in Music with tags Alejandro Escovedo, John Buckley, Tulip Frenzy Top Ten List on December 8, 2008 by johnbuckley100After Por Vida, in which a small army of A-list artists paid their respects, the world was waiting for Alejandro Escovedo to put out a record that showcased why all the accolades were understatements. The Boxing Mirror wasn’t it. And of course it probably couldn’t have been, as the record Al made as he recovered from Hep C and getting on The Program found him just a bit too brittle and unsteady on his feet. But Tony Visconti proved to be a perfect midwife for Alejandro to get down on digits the collection of songs he and Chuck Prophet wrote to tell the story of his life. With references to The Nuns and the Chelsea Hotel and his musical hero Iggy Pop, Real Animal finally did it, and now radio listeners and fans of The Boss can learn for themselves what that distant Austin ruckus was all about.
Alejandro At The Mansion on O Street
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Alejandro Escovedo, Carl Hutlzer Photography, Mansion on O Street on November 17, 2008 by johnbuckley100From Carl Hutzler, whose great shots of the event can be found following the link in the post below.
Alejandro Escovedo’s O Street House Party
Posted in Music with tags Alejandro Escovedo, John Buckley, Mansion on O Street, Tulip Frenzy on November 17, 2008 by johnbuckley100Ain’t nothin’ but a house party that Alejandro put on at the O Street Mansion in D.C. last night. By the time he got to “Pissed Off 2AM,” his voice was a little ragged, and so it should be, when you’ve played your heart out for a stadium arena — actually, for an intimate gathering of 100 lucky fans. Because they were filming for a yet-to-be-announced project, it seemed like Alejandro, Susan Voelz, and David Pulkingham ramped up their set with even greater tension, simultaneously more precise and wilder in their abandon. If the highlights from last Sunday’s show at the Birchmere were “Everybody Loves Me” and “Deerhead On The Wall,” last night the highlights were “I Was Drunk” and “Chelsea Hotel.” Not to mention “All The Young Dudes,” sung while standing about four inches from the crowd. This portion of Alejandro’s version of the Never Ending Tour having concluded, we look forward to his return with the whole rocking ensemble. And since he deserves to play in stadiums, if that’s where he wants his next house party to be, we’ll show up there, too.
(If possible, will post some of Carl Hutzler’s superb photos later. If not, go here to see them:http://carlhutzler.com/blog/
The Alejandro Escovedo Trio Is Heavier Than Motorhead
Posted in Music with tags Alejandro Escovedo, John Buckley, Lou Reed, Mick Jagger on November 10, 2008 by johnbuckley100The protean Alejandro Escovedo formed his act into a power trio last night at the Birchmere. Maybe when we say power trio you think of Cream, or the Jimi Hendrix Experience, or everybody’s favorite, Beck, Bogert and Appice. And yeah, this amalgam was just as thundering, only it was just Al on acoustic, Dave Pulkingham on the same, and Susan Voelz, as always, on the fiddle.
It’s been a winter tradition in these here parts for Alejandro to show up with cellos and Ms. Voelz and Mr. Pulkingham, taking all these erstwhile rockers out for a chamber-music spin. (Warmer parts of the year, at least since Al regained his health, are dedicated to him touring with his rock band. Though Alejandro Escovedo manages his personnel they way Bob Dole managed his presidential campaigns, which is to say, when he can’t figure which team to ride — the rockers or the stringed quartet — he just makes them all work together. For Alejandro, a successful approach. For Dole, not so much. And it is, of course –Alejandro’s rock bands every bit as much as Dole’s campaigns — a spectacle: the cellos choogling, Victor Munoz walloping the skins, one, no two, no three electric guitars fighting for air.) But then last year at about this time he dropped one cellist and came to the Barns at Wolf Trip as a foursome. And then last night it was just the three of them, and damn if they didn’t put out just as much of a sonic hum, though without the cello for ballast, the whole thing seemed to ride higher on the waves.
“Drop a penny in the Indian Ocean,” he sang in the opener, the stunning “Way It Goes,” from 1992’s Thirteen Years, and quickly gone were any doubts about whether Al, playing in just a threesome, would be giving something up. “Everybody Loves Me” was as great as it is on Room Of Songs, but that version’s performed by a five piece orchestra, and this version had just the three, so they tripled their effort and expended a precisely identical thermal reading. Lots of songs from Real Animal, which does appear to have been something of a breakthrough, and not just artistically. We got to hear about the “Chelsea Hotel ’78,” and yeah, it rocked. And then there was the version of “Deer Head On The Wall,” with its opening interlude out of Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle,” quickly shifting into a song that sounds okay on The Boxing Mirror, really good when he has the whole rock band cranked up, but last night, with just the three of them, damn near levitated the roof into the Reagan Airport flight path.
Maybe a few people can tell anecdotes that mention Johnny Thunders showing up — it’s a pretty good name to drop — and it is possible there are others who, like Alejandro, will always mention Joe Strummer at their concerts (I don’t think I’ve ever heard him forget him, which tells you just about all you need to know.) Anyone can play a Stones cover. But who other than Alejandro Escovedo would take his trio into the crowd and play “Evening Gown,” from Mick Jagger’s best solo album? Who else would even admit he listens to Mick Jagger’s solo albums?
The man is a national treasure. Thank Heaven he is healthy and well. And coming back to DC next weekend to play a show before a hundred people in the Mansion on O Street. Special as last night was, could this upcoming show top it?
Alejandro Escovedo Brings “Real Animal” To The 930 Club
Posted in Music with tags "Real Animal" 930 Club, Alejandro Escovedo on July 13, 2008 by johnbuckley100Washington, D.C. July 12th. Some bands work the entire evening to show half the range exhibited by Alejandro and the band on just the opener, “Put You Down.” But then, not every band capable of playing everything from punk rock to Bowie can have their cellist, violinist, and guitarist prove themselves to be rock’n’roll virtuosi the way Al’s band can.
It was a stunning evening. Alejandro was relaxed, in fine voice, and as a six-piece, with David Pulkingham playing (mostly) electric lead, you really had the complete meshing of the Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra with his rock band. (David normally plays acoustic with the former, but not always electric with the latter.) On “Real Animal”‘s rockers — particularly “Nuns Song,” and “Chelsea Hotel” — the band was languid, not overly forceful, and it worked.
Where the whole building shook was on stunners like “I Was Drunk” and “Everybody Loves Me.” If you’ve ever seen Al do these songs with the orchestra inside a more polite setting, you know how hard they can rock with acoustic instruments. Dial it up eight notches and you’ll get a sense of what it was like last night.
Alejandro is getting his due. The 930 Club was pretty packed, for an early show in July. For the first time, he seemed content — no, eager — to show off some rock star moves; singing “Real Animal” without guitar in his best Iggy immitation, doing the windmill guitar moves on a few songs. Closing the place down with “All The Young Dudes” and “Beast of Burden” made everyone go home thinking they’d seen a real rock’n’roll show. You’ve gotta love a guy whose heros are Iggy Pop and Joe Strummer. Yeah, Alejandro is absolutely in that league.
Alejandro Escovedo’s “Real Animal” Was Born In The Wild
Posted in Music with tags "Real Animal", Alejandro Escovedo, David Bowie, Rank and File, The Nuns, Tony Visconti, True Believers on June 24, 2008 by johnbuckley100If you did not know how long the road has been for Alejandro Escovedo to be able to release a radio-ready disk as commercially viable and excellent as “Real Animal,” you might think it was easy. Yet it was just three years ago that we wondered whether Al would live long enough to ever play music again. That he’s now produced not simply a career restropective, but the album of his career is a testament to persistence, magic, kismet. You don’t need to be a cynic to doubt such happy endings. This one’s true.
“Real Animal” is the hardest rocking album Alejandro’s been involved in since that Buick McKane project in the late ’90s. It actually wallops as hard as that second, inferior True Believers album back in the late ’80s. Tony Visconti quotes liberally from his past work for David Bowie, and cribs from some of Bowie’s other, lesser producers, to give Alejandro a sheen that serves him well. It’s the songs, though, and how strong Al’s voice is, that makes the record a career highlight.
“Always A Friend” is a transparent attempt at an FM hit, if there is such a thing these days, and kicks off the album with an homage to Alejandro’s new friend Bruce Springsteen. I don’t hold this against anyone involved. Interestingly, “Chelsea Hotel,” which shows him reminiscing for the days of ’78 when Neon Leon stalked West 23rd Street, sounds more like a John Cale song than anything on 2006’s “The Boxing Mirror,” which Cale produced.
“Sister Lost Soul” is prime Alejandro: melodic, beautiful, a marriage of classic ’70s rock with Austin grit. The sheer improbability of an American artist who combines Rolling Stones riffs with Bowie glam, Detroit guitar rock with Southwestern roots rock, and fills it all out with a small chamber orchestra on top of two-guitars and kicking drums can partly explain why the boy’s defied the easy categorization the music biz demands.
“Smoke,” like “Nuns Song,” is one of the greatest hard rockers from any of Alejandro’s bands or periods — and this is a guy who was in a San Francisco punk band (The Nuns), a Texas hard rock project (True Believers), and the seminal roots rockers Rank and File. In fact, “Nuns Song,” with its farfisa organ garage undertow, and choogling cellos in the rhythm section, is such a great song he repeats it as an acoustic duo with Dave Pulkingham, and damn if it’s not just as good.
“Sensitive Boys” makes you think of Bowie’s “Young Americans” album and “Golden Bear” takes its production cues from The Thin White Duke — cleverly, without being derivative; it’s a quotation more than an appropriation.
The album has some misses. The title track’s not great, and some of the softer songs are poor reminders of how poignant Alejandro is at his best.
But did the guy rise to the moment? Yes, and then some. His partnership with Chuck Prophet here is remarkably successful, and Visconti was both an inspired choice and a great medium to invoke the spirit of Alejandro’s past.
Rare is the artist who by merely quoting from himself can create an album as diverse and deep as “Real Animal.” But of course our most important American songwriter of the past fifteen years would come through when it matters. He’s a real animal.
Will Alejandro Escovedo’s “Real Animal” Make Him A Star, Finally?
Posted in Music with tags "Real Animal", Alejandro Escovedo, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Mott the Hoople, Tony Visconti on June 1, 2008 by johnbuckley100Alejandro Escovedo is about to release a new album, “Real Animal,” and I note that he’s to perform on the set of the “Today Show” on June 24th, the date of release. That stage is usually reserved for reunions by New Kids on the Block, right? He was interviewed by the great Kid Leo on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. He’s on the road opening for Dave Mathews. He’s just been signed by a new manager, Jon Landau, who’s other notable client is some guy from New Jersey named Bruce. Could this, at long bloody last, be it? Are the portents for the success so cruelly denied one of our greatest songwriters and performers at last showing up, like a comet in the evening sky?
Consider this: if you go to Alejandro Escovedo.com and play the new “Nuns Song” which previews on it, you’ll get a taste of Al at his hard rock best — Hector walloping the drums, Brian’s cello chugging like a freight train, with this underlying “96 Tears” farfisa reminding us of Al’s garage roots. It’s about his late ’70s San Francisco band, The Nuns, and it’s a rockin’ gem. “Sister Lost Soul” is Alejandro at his most melodically beautiful. “Always A Friend” showcases the Tony Visconti production. Yeah, it could be on a Mott The Hoople album, if Mott the Hoople was the finest band in Austin. (It actually sounds — and in this context, it’s a compliment — a little like that guy name of Bruce.)
I was disappointed by what John Cale did with Alejandro’s sound on “The Boxing Mirror,” the might-not-have-ever-happened album heralding his return to health and sobriety following a nasty interlude with Interferon in the goal of recovery from Hep C. But these songs, co-written by Chuck Prophet, are superb.
Is the American musical artist most worthy of success finally about to taste some? Oh man. Fingers crossed.
Tulip Frenzy 