|











| |

Alejandro Escovedo
The Boxing Mirror
(Back Porch)
First Appeared in The Music Box, May 2006, Volume 13, #5
Written by John Metzger

Viewed strictly from a sonic perspective, the union of songwriter Alejandro
Escovedo with producer John Cale is a match made in Heaven. In fact, their
collaboration on The Boxing Mirror is so well-balanced and complementary
that anyone familiar with the work of either artist can identify, with the
utmost precision, the seam at which their visions come together as one.
Throughout the set, Cale suitably surrounds Escovedo’s melange of folk, blues,
and punk with an array of emotion-enhancing effects that enliven the
disorienting chaos of transient living outlined on Sacramento & Polk,
exude a bittersweet ache on the reflective I Died a Little Today, and
cast a spectral shadow across Arizona’s tale of death and rebirth.
Since crafting A Man under the Influence, his career-defining set from five
years ago, Escovedo has been reborn. Not only did he manage to defy death, but
he also lost his father, recovered from his addiction to alcohol, fell in love,
and started a family. This is a lot for one man to experience in such a short
period of time, and not surprisingly, everything through which Escovedo has been
of late establishes the conflict that permeates The Boxing Mirror. The title
track references the battle that rages inside his soul, while the outing as a whole
oscillates among dueling pairs of images: inebriation and abstinence, reality
and illusion, life and death.
With so much ground to cover, it isn’t surprising that The Boxing Mirror
suffers under the weight of its issues. Understandably, Escovedo is still trying
to come to terms with everything he has faced, and his confusion can be heard in
both his lyrics and in the disorienting music that he and Cale concocted for
the affair. Escovedo’s attempt to address everything in one fell swoop certainly
is as admirable as it is ambitious, and for a moment, he nearly succeeds.
Ultimately, though, the distillation of his experiences establishes a thematic
arc that is too disjointed to function properly. Despite its missteps, however,
The Boxing Mirror’s songs — which include the unnerving, death-stalked
spasms of Deerhead on the Wall and the mournful elegance of Evita’s
Lullaby — easily rank among the best that Escovedo has ever penned.   ˝
The Boxing Mirror is
available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
Click Here!

Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
|