Real Animal by Alejandro Escovedo

Real Animal, Alejandro Escovedo's 2008 album on Back Porch, puts the Austin rocker together with Tony Visconti in the producer's chair, and it's a fine match. Escovedo had been recording and touring for decades by then, working his way through punk, roots rock and alt-country and making his name in Austin, San Francisco and New York along the way, and this follow-up to The Boxing Mirror sounds like a guitarist with all of that history in his hands.

The songs crackle with scrappy rock and roll energy and warm, weathered melody, and "Always a Friend" is the keeper, a big-hearted, singalong rocker that feels built to last.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.