Random filings from my little corner of the world. You can expect some discussion of music, arts, politics as well as various links and rants I find interesting. Enjoy!
Full Disclosure: I have been evangelizing about Alejandro Escovedo since my brief stint in Austin, TX in 1990. I could write thousands of words chronicling Alejandro’s storied career, but you can find all that on his site or Wikipedia. I’ll just say that Alejandro has been an important, though little-known force in the underground music since the early 70’s. Along the way he has written some of the most compelling music to come out of America in last 30 years. In my opinion he is the most underrated singer/songwriter working today.
Now that we have that out of the way, on to Real Animal which was released on June 24th. Alejandro has always mined his personal life for songwriting material. Real Animal takes his narrative prowess to new level, laying out the blueprint of a life driven by music. And like the best songs often do, these paint such vivid pictures that the album plays like a movie in your head. A movie with the best soundtrack you’ve ever heard.
In Chelsea Hotel 78, a young punker stands on the sidewalk watching his friend Sid be carried off in cuffs for murder, while crunching guitars fight with swirling strings beneath. The “five feet four, trailer park kid” who stars in Real as Animal (a tribute to Alejandro’s beloved Iggy Pop) kicks “like a mule, twist like a tree” to a pummeling four-on-the-floor garage band beat. While the old man in the closer Slow Down takes his lover on a tour of his childhood home to the sweet strains of slide guitar and plucked cello. He tries to show her the beauty he once found there, to show her why he loved this place so much. But in the end all he really has is this sage advice “Slow down, slow down/Yeah, it’s too fast/To love in this moment/Got to let go of the past.”
Throughout this album, from the raucous recitations of youthful hubris in searing tunes like Chip N’ Tony and Nuns Song to the still serenades of an old man remembering his childhood in Swallows of San Juan and Hollywood Hills, Escovedo is exploring his musical legacy as well as his personal one. He manages to touch every genre he has ever dallied in, often combining two or three in a single song. If this album had come out during his near-fatal bout with Hepatitis a few years ago, it might be taken as a swan song. A final exclamation point to brilliant career, not unlike Warren Zevon’s amazing album, The Wind. But with Alejandro now disease free, I think we call look at this as a man assessing how he got to this point in his life, and where he is going next. I don’t know where that may be, but I have a feeling he’ll have some amazing stories to tell when he gets there.
MY OH MY! I have just made it through my first listen of Alejandro Escovedo's new release, Real Animal. All I can say right now is I am blown away. The album is a musical and narrative trip through his career, touching on the nuns, 70's nyc, the loss of friends, his near-death illness and more. I'll be back tomorrow with a full review, for now check out this "behind the scenes" video for a taste.
Even for an obsessive music junkie like myself, sometimes a show slips under the radar. Such was the case with the January 12 and 13, 2007 shows at Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) billed as "Willie Nelson Sings the Blues." Now it is possible that, having seen Willie several times, I saw this listing and let it fade from my memory. Maybe I assumed it would be the same old Willie show, always entertaining but rarely groundbreaking. Or maybe it was the shock of returning to the NYC winter after a month working my family's grove in Florida that made me reluctant to venture out for this show. To be honest I don't recall. In fact, I heard about it for the first time today, while listening to the stream from wfpk in Louisville, KY (one of the web's most eclectic and entertaining radio streams). But whatever the reason for my oversight, it appears to have been a mistake.
The shows turned out to be Willie performing with Wynton Marsalis and members of the JALC orchestra. For two nights Willie, Wynton and the gang grooved through jazz standards, blues classics and Willie's extensive repertoire. The shows were filled with a brand new take on songs one or both of these musicians had played hundreds, if not thousands of times. Luckily for those of us that missed it, Blue Note will be releasing an album recorded during this run, titled "Two Men with the Blues", on July 8th, 2008.
(Click Image To Visit the Site)
Now since I'm not part of the "Media Elite", I don't receive advance copies of CDs mailed to my door. Someday maybe, but for now I have to get by with the free samples available on the website like the rest of you. And based on the offerings there ("Bright Lights, Big City" and "Georgia on My Mind"), we are in for quite a treat. Wynton's band adds a touch of swing and New Orleans boogie to the songs that seems to lift them to new heights. From the get go, it is clear that this was one of those special events where the musicians and mood hit at the same time, leaving spontaneous renditions of classics songs that will be enjoyed for years to come. In a video on the site, Willie makes this comment:
"I think labels were invented to sell music. You had to know what to call it before you could sell it...But some music encompasses it all. So what do you call that? That's pretty much what I like to play."
And that is an apt description of what you'll find in this CD. Music that draws from every corner of the American Musical Lexicon, and mixes these diverse styles into a new gumbo where New Orleans mingles with Nashville. A sublime marriage of the Big City and the Heartland. And these days, anything that crosses that divide is good for all of us.
I am a freelance writer living in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to the work I do for "The Man" as a copywriter, I am also a musician, poet, songwriter, and print maker. I like to think of myself as a low rent Renaissance man for the new millennium. Or maybe I'm just an unfocused, unmotivated man-child that can't make up his mind about what he wants to be when he grows up. I'll let you decide.
Now that we have that out of the way, on to Real Animal which was released on June 24th. Alejandro has always mined his personal life for songwriting material. Real Animal takes his narrative prowess to new level, laying out the blueprint of a life driven by music. And like the best songs often do, these paint such vivid pictures that the album plays like a movie in your head. A movie with the best soundtrack you’ve ever heard.
