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All Music Guide

Real Animal is an album about life--both as survival and as the faces and moments that fill our days on this Earth. How many artists could make two masterpieces in a row that are so different?

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PopMatters

Music this rich and evocative should be heard by everyone, and one can only hope that more and more people will hear as Escovedo continues to write his own story.

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Austin Chronicle

For Escovedo fans that have followed the local star through the Nuns, Rank and File, the True Believers, and Buick MacKane, Real Animal bares teeth and soul in rock & roll payback.

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NOW Magazine

I have seen Escovedo’s future, and its sound is rock ’n’ roll.

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The New York Times

The particulars of Mr. Escovedo’s autobiography on this album — his wanderings to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin--may not matter much to those not already following his music. But the songs also tell a larger story: of reckless youth and unrepentant maturity, of time’s ravages and insights.

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Spin

The enthralling Real Animal presents a concise overview of the man's art and life, encompassing the punk fury of the Nuns, the country-rock twang of Rank and File, the rootsy guitar assault of True Believers, and the late-era tortured, string-quintet balladry that showcases his unbearably sad voice.

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Billboard

Sweeping violins and take-no-prisoners guitars co-exist in producer Tony Visconti's gorgeous glam frame for Escovedo's visionary sound.

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Paste Magazine

Even as the songs triangulate the nexus of Marc Bolan, Iggy Pop and Doug Sahm, the album never sounds beholden to rock history. It’s more of an autobiographical undertaking, as if Escovedo is taking stock of his life, his career and his record collection—which are all essentially the same thing. As a result, each song sounds like a new chapter in a larger story and Real Animal like a new installment in an ongoing epic.

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Hartford Courant

On 'Sensitive Boys,' one of several standout ballads, he articulates the album's thematic truism: Done right, rock 'n' roll is a reason for living.

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Uncut

With strong ensemble backing Escovedo alternates gentle, reflective lullabies with incendiary Mott-styled rockers, to marvellous effect. [Aug 2008, p.93]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Leave it to him to fascinate even when he just wants to clear out a few closets and keep on smiling.

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Boston Globe

Taken as a whole, Real Animal shows a man content with the life he has lived, even as the rest of us hope that his final statement is still some ways off.

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Slant Magazine

The production choices are well-matched to the individual songs on both structural and thematic levels--Real Animal works as a testament to the diversity of Escovedo's career and the breadth of his talents--but those individual choices don't necessarily make for a cohesive album.

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Prefix Magazine

This is not his best record, but it does have a couple songs that rank with his best.

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Rolling Stone

Real Animal is one powerful sermon.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

It’s for the Pabst crowd, not the trendy crowd concerned about looking the part. It’s this honesty that permeates everything Escovedo does.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bruce N. gave it a10:
Best record of the year from beginning to end. Excellent songwriting and sujperb guitar work by Escovedo and David Pulkingham backed by the production wizardry of Tony Visconti. I listened to this recording more than any other I've purchased in recent years.

Trabajador S. gave it a10:
His best work yet--and two of his previous are firmly planted on my desert island list.

Jeff P gave it a7:
My first Escovedo album purchase. This is not killer. It is pedestrian rock and roll at best. His voice is interesting as are the lyrics, but honestly aren't these just re-writes of old Sprinsteen and Clapton songs? Produced well enough to rate this score.

D S gave it a10:
This is a great album. It sounds like Southside Johnny, Springsteen, and Joe Strummer.

Adam C. gave it a10:
Killer album. Love. Hate. Hard. Soft. Rock can be great and Alejandro proves it. This is right up there with classics from The Replacements, Vigilantes of Love, and GBV.

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Real Animal

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