Thirteen Years

Alejandro Escovedo | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 14, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Watermelon
• ASIN: B000000FDB
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #399,098 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Thirteen Years Theme

2. Ballad of the Sun and the Moon

3. Try, Try, Try

4. Way It Goes

5. Losing Your Touch

6. Thirteen Years

7. Thirteen Years Theme

8. Helpless

9. Mountain of Mud

10. Tell Me Why

11. Thirteen Years Theme

12. She Towers Above

13. Baby's Got New Plans

14. The End

15. Thirteen Years Theme

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

More often than not, strings have often served as a wet blanket in rock & roll, smothering the rough edges and dampening the enthusiasm. There have been exceptions, though, when a small string section has been used sympathetically on rock & roll songs, sprucing up the rhythms and sharpening the tensions. Perhaps the best examples are the Drifters' "There Goes My Baby," the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," Van Morrison's "Cypress Avenue," Lou Reed's "Street Hassle," and Chic's "Good Times." Alejandro Escovedo's brilliant Thirteen Years is a landmark addition to the latter tradition. Unlike Elvis Costello's "Juliet Letters," which used a string quartet without a rock & roll rhythm section, Thirteen Years marries the dense, sustaining harmonies of the one to the implacable momentum of the other. --Geoffrey Himes

Product Description

Two CD edition of the singer/songwriter's 1994 release, the follow up to his Gravity album. On Thirteen years, Escovedo expanded his musical line up to include cellos, violins and harps, yet kept the rocking element intact. 'Losing Your Touch' features excellent guitar work from musical guest Charlie Sexton. Retroworld. 2009. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing. Roots rock to Soutwestern chamber music, March 22, 2006

By 

Frank Camm (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirteen Years (Audio CD)

Vol 1. Concept album on his reaction to the suicide of his lover and the mother of his children. Harrowing if you pay attention. Unlike anything I have ever heard-like, maybe, chamber music by Gram Parsons. But Escovedo's voice is always more interesting. From powerful, roots-based rock & roll to strings-based whatever, from his own Chamber Southwest group. Standouts: tr 4-Way it goes (Country-rock anthem that grows from a quiet personal statement to something resonant and bigger. Lyric: "God bless the child that don't have a mother to put her to sleep."). tr 5-Losing your touch (slamming, anthemic rocker that might have come from the Midwest (Bob Seger) or the Stones). tr 10-Tell me while (seemingly from country weeper by Gram Parsons into Escoveda Chamber Southwest). tr 13-Baby's got new plans (anthem of personal loss with the resonance of a last Indian tribe in New Mexico). tr 14-The end (Lyric: "I've got some questions that need answering.... This is really the end.") [52:25]

Vol. 2. Tender, acoustic, elegiac tracks, including 4 instrumental takes on Vol. 1 tracks; 3 live versions of tracks not on Disc 1, and a rocking take on "Gravity". Stand-outs: tr 8-Helpless (slow funky strut that makes me think about Peggy Lee or the Blasters). tr 9-Mountain of mind (straight-ahead country rocker). [37:45]

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sad, quirky look at love, lost and found., June 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thirteen Years (Audio CD)

Alejandro wrote this album mostly as a dedication to his late ex-wife. The words and music convey not only the problems she and they may have had but also the love he felt for her.

This was the first Escavedo album I bought and that was at a concert of his. It was the first show I had ever seen where I actually got chills, the music was that beautiful. A cello, violin and traditional rock instruments blended for an incredible evening. From that point I was a confirmed Alejandro fan. This album just made me a lifetime fan. Get it today, along with all his albums, you will not be dissapointed.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most seductive head banger I ever saw - wow!, June 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thirteen Years (Audio CD)

The first time a buddy and I went to see Alejandro Escovedo's Orchestra at OFF BROADWAY in an old south St. Louis neighborhood, we were two of 20 people in the place, counting the band. It was early 1994, not long after BALLAD OF THE SUN AND MOON was released. Alejandro's band consisted of a lead guitar, bass, drums, violin, two cellos, with himself on rhythm guitar and vocals. Wow! He has such a knack for pulling you into his life very smoothly, right before delivering his knock out punch. What songs, what lyrics, what passion, what virtuoso playing, and what instrument selection. During his live shows Alejandro will lead into songs with a little story, like when Bela Bartok and Iggy Pop got involved, and finish the story in song. When last year's three piece band (AE, viloin, cello) played Iggy's DO THE DOG, the entire place was quivering. We have continued to watch Alejandro grow, and suddenly so have many others. All of AE's music is strong, but my first experience with BALLAD OF THE SUN AND THE MOON is still my favorite.