Alejandro Escovedo may best be known nowadays as an American roots-rock artist (and a fine one at that), but the San Antonio native has got quite the rock and roll heart as the saying goes. Glam, garage and punk rock form a substantial musical base for him. He’s the kind of guy who readily admits how much he geeked out when he worked with and later befriended noted David Bowie producer Tony Visconti, who worked on three of Escovedo’s solo records (Real Animal, Street Songs of Love, Big Station). Here he shares some of his fave glam/garage rock gems.
Mott The Hoople – “Honaloochie Boogie” (1973’s Mott); “Roll Away the Stone” (1974’s The Hoople)
“They have everything you’d want in a rock song. They bring the joy of being young in your teen years in a way that’s articulate and literary and it’s still packed with hooks and female harmonies along with great arrangements. It’s everything that Mott was when it was clicking.”
David Bowie – “Suffragette City” (1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars); “The Prettiest Star” (1973’s Aladdin Sane)
“I love those because they remind me of Hollywood in the early 1970s and the kind of kids at that time that would hang out and dance at Rodney’s English Disco.”
The Stooges – Raw Power (1973); TV Eye Live 1977 (1977)
“Anything off of these albums is great. The Nuns used to do ‘Search and Destroy.’ It was one of the first songs that I learned.”
Count Five – “Psychotic Reaction” (1965’s Psychotic Reaction)
“It’s like an amped-up version of ‘Satisfaction’ in a way. I love the riff—it’s classic. Once again, it just flooded the airwaves in Southern California when I was growing up and you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing that song. It reminds me of Them.”
Gary Glitter – “Rock and Roll, Part 1” (1972’s Glitter)
“I love it because it’s so silly and fun.”
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