Alejandro Escovedo - A Man Under the Influence Bloodshot Records BS 064

By William Michael Smith

	An Alejandro Escovedo album is like a still-life painting. But the man's scope and abilities are so large, it probably is more accurate to describe one of his recorded paintings as a still-life panoramic. One of the most respected warhorses on the Austin music scene by other musicians, songwriters and performers and voted as No Depression Magazine's Songwriter of the Decade, Escovedo has managed to always be one step ahead of the musical crowd in a career that spans punk, cowpunk, rock, garage rock and now the incredible Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra, a loose touring assemblage of Austinites who can play anything from slide guitar to cello, folk to alt-country to jazz. Unfortunately, along the way Escovedo has managed to fall victim to the usual rock and roll business hanky panky and a litany of personal life problems, mainly severe alcoholism. Yet music and family members saved Escovedo from the junk heap of music history, and with his latest very personal statement, "A Man Under the Influence," we again find Escovedo making sense of his own history, making sense of relationships lost and found. Those familiar with Escovedo's work know the man doesn't make it easy for his listeners. His songs are deeply personal and inutterably unblinking in their look at the bottom line of relationships, at human foibles and failings. He openly admits that a lot of his material is depressing. But "A Man Under the Influence" is a more easily accessible album than his dark and brooding previous Bloodshot release, "Bourbonitis Blues," which delved the destructive side of alcoholism and the pain side of love. Although "Bourbonitis Blues" was a fine artistic achievement, it was anything but commercial or radio friendly. But Escovedo has never pandered to the public at large. You either get him or you don't. "A Man Under the Influence," produced by Chris Stamey, is much more easily accessible and should do quite well on radio and in record stores. Not that he has lowered his standards. On the contrary, this is another deeply thoughtful, poetic record with multiple textures, adventurous arrangements, and unusual instrumentation. But you won't need a handful of Prozac or a box of Kleenex after listening to the new record. Escovedo's sense of arrangement may be the most highly developed we have on the Texas scene today. His songs are musical without seeming overly pretentious or painfully labored. On what is primarily a singer-songwriter record with extreme embellishment, he utilizes steel guitars and cellos on the same song, uses orchestral percussion instruments, sleigh bells, pump organ, and bowed bass, often creating certain John Cale or Velvet Underground sonic textures to support his stories. Escovedo, whose family now hails from the San Francisco area and includes the noted jazz musician and bandleader Coke Escovedo and Santana percussionist Pete Escovedo, opens this set of songs with 'Wave,' a sparse tune about the pulls on the old family structure that cause us all to separate and seek our separate ways. Escovedo has based the song on his father leaving Mexico City for the States. The song takes the departures concept one step further into waving goodbye to this life for good. As a guitarist, Escovedo has long had a rock following from his days in seminal bands like The Nuns, Rank and File and the legendary Texas three-guitar band, True Believers, which included his brother Javier and another Austin songwriter/guitarist heavyweight, Jon Dee Graham. On the punky 'Castanets,' with its "I like her better when she walks away" repetitive chorus and three-guitars attack (Buick McCane cohort Joe Eddy Hines and Mitch Easter), Escovedo demonstrates once again what the True Believers could have been had their record company stayed the course. Escovedo can burn the strings off any guitar machine he picks up when the mood strikes him, and Hines is no one's second fiddler when it comes to rock guitar. 'Velvet Guitar' finds Escovedo and his studio partners veering somewhere between the garage and power pop, with the emphasis more on the ensemble playing than on hot licks by any given instrument, although on the break the three-guitar True Believers attack overrides all previous restraints of form and the guitar slingers take an extended solo to work off each other. They build to an impressive sonic climax. This is as good as rock gets these days. But for the most part, Escovedo's records today aren't about hot guitar licks, they are about painting song pictures, about making the playing fit the mood the words convey, about finding the inner spirit of the songs. The bluesy laconic love song 'Rosalie' has a hint of Los Lobos about it, and like much of Los Lobos' work, the music and vocal work in harmony to call up a subtle touch of Latin-ness. 'Don't Need You' works the blues from a more dramatic angle with heavier textures, but guitarist Eric Heywood makes the track with some expressive blues licks. Since his days in the first Texas cowpunk band, Rank and File, Escovedo has had a place in his repertoire for various country forms. On 'Rhapsody,' he out-No Depressions the likes of Wilco and Son Volt on an alt-country tune that is just too perfect (I'd like to hear a whole record from Escovedo in this vein). With its Jackson Browne vibe, this may be the most radio-friendly cut on the record. Well look who's crying now I can't forget your name There's plenty of strangers along the way Who'd be glad to pass the blame 'Wedding Day' finds Escovedo in pure country ballad mode, with acoustic guitars and minimalist steel guitar. Of course, you don't hear many country songs with a cello (the amazing Brian Standifer), a harmonium, or a pump organ, but on this cut with the steel guitar leading the way, it all works out wonderfully. With "A Man Under the Influence," Mr. Escovedo may have an album that can match with the record buying public the fervent reverence his concert audiences have long showed for his work. Escovedo may draw the most respectful, quiet, attentive audiences of anyone on the club concert scene, certainly of any in the rock/pop genre. Perhaps the orchestral sounds of the cellos and violins combined with the lyrical complexity of his songs causes this phenomenon. With his latest recording, Mr. Escovedo deserves the same kind of commercial reverence. * Buy Alejandro Escovedo's "A Man Under the Influence" at www.bloodshotrecords.com No mood elevators need be taken when administering this record to your body in recommended dosages. Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

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