Alejandro Escovedo
Burn Something Beautiful
Release Date: Oct 28, 2016
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Record label: Fantasy
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Album Review: Burn Something Beautiful by Alejandro Escovedo
Excellent, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 9/10
He's never achieved the commercial recognition his incredible body of work has deserved over the past three decades, but few artists have scored as much peer respect as masterful Texas-based singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo. Those comrades rallied in support during his near-fatal battle with hepatitis C back in 2004, and now two musical kindred spirits play a big part in Burn Something Beautiful; though billed as a solo album, it features huge contributions from Peter Buck (R. E.
Based on rating 8/10
Born in 1951, Alejandro Escovedo is at an age where most rock musicians are happily coasting on their past accomplishments, if they're still making new music at all. Thankfully, Escovedo is and always has been a maverick, and he's eagerly overhauled his sound and approach with his twelfth studio album, 2016's Burn Something Beautiful. After making three fine albums with producer Tony Visconti and a band anchored by guitarist Chuck Prophet, Escovedo has taken a creative left turn and crafted Burn Something Beautiful with a new set of collaborators.
Based on rating 7/10
On his 12th album, Burn Something Beautiful, Alejandro Escovedo says a couple of times that he’s “got nothing left to say”, or that “there’s no stories left to say”. It isn’t true, of course, or else he and co-conspirators Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck would have put out a bland instrumental album. What we do find with Escovedo here is a sense of coming to the end, of putting down guitars and wrapping up loves and saying farewells.
Opinion: Fantastic
No matter the trappings of individual songs, from a lone fiddle or cello to a 15-piece orchestra, Alejandro Escovedo always based his music on the sound of a guitar. Burn Something Beautiful follows 2012's Big Station with guitar sounds unlike any he's used previously. Credit the fact he co-wrote these 13 tracks with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and the Minus Five's Scott McCaughey, two other guitar freaks looking for fresh ideas who receive producer credit.
'Burn Something Beautiful'
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