Album Reviews

Can rock’n’roll still be dangerous in the 21st century? Escovedo’s latest says “yes” with conviction. Produced by veteran Tony Visconti (I don’t have to cite credits do I?), this is a tight, hard-hitting package of unadorned guitar-driven rock that opens with a tune that sounds like a Bruce Springsteen demo track recorded at a time when Bruce’s music and his performances raged with authenticity.

Escovedo sticks to basics: steady, driving rhythm tracks, silvery crunch-guitars, barbed hooks punctuating dramatic melodic lines and raw, unadorned vocals conveying insistent emotions stoking lyrics about tough times and tough people. The songs appear to be autobiographical and nostalgic, with long past events brought back to life through the songwriter’s lyrical and performing skills. He’s got one of the great voices in rock today.

There are touches of Reed and Dylan in Escovedo’s oeuvre, but only at the fringes of a singular artist who delivers fifteen originals brimming with an understated, muted immediacy born of disappointment and ultimate redemption. Read about it here:

http://www.musicangle.com/album.php?id=416 in the review of Escovedo’s previous album The Boxing Mirror produced by John Cale. You’ll enjoy “Nun’s Story” here a lot more if you do!

That record was very good. This one is even better but probably didn’t fare much better commercially though it was issued last year on Manhattan Records, a division of Blue Note and Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau now oversees Escovedo’s career.

This album sounds as if it was built upon a live-in-the studio foundation, whether or not it was. Visconti’s production is spare and to the point with but a few adornments (mainly sparingly applied strings and some backing vocals) over the basic lead and rhythm guitar tracks.

The ballads like “Swallows of San Juan” work as effectively as the rockers in a set that might take a while to draw you in but once you’re in, you’ll stay.

With a bigger budget and an analog studio there’s no doubt Visconti could have worked the tunes and arrangements to greater effect, particularly putting some meat into the clammy sounding drums, so don’t expect the sonic brilliance of, say, Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World because I’m afraid those sonic days are long gone. So yes, to my ears, the production is stamped “Pro-Tools” and to my ears that’s not good, though for some odd reason side four comes alive sonically as the other three don’t, particularly on bottom.

Though George Marino Mastered and he’s one of the great rock mastering engineers working the boards today, in both the analog and digital domains, the LP was cut back on the west coast at Capitol and pressed on commercial-grade vinyl. I like the gatefold packaging and the fact that you get a free MP3 download so you can easily play this in the car. The closer, as intense as anything Iggy Pop’s produced, deserves a windows or top down ride played back at screaming SPLs!

Open up and let this record in. You’ll keep it close and play it often. I’ve seen the future of rock’n’roll. His name is Alejandro Escovedo. Hmm. That’s got a familiar ring to it, don’t you think?