Various Artists – Escovedo 101: Songs of Alejandro Escovedo

The lion’s share of attention has gone to the two-disc model on Or Music, but another Alejandro Escovedo tribute album was recently assembled by an assortment of Canadian artists. Escovedo 101 is a much smaller-scale affair than its American counterpart, and overall is more uneven; yet it has a handful of high points that merit attention, particularly for die-hard fans of Escovedo’s music.

Of historical note is the leadoff track, “Everybody Loves Me”, delivered with brash barroom swagger by the late Ray Condo; given that Condo died in April, it’s likely this was the last thing he recorded. An ad-hoc group billed as the Goods, the Baz & Stumpy Joe — featuring members of the Sadies and Blue Rodeo — turn in an expertly twangy reworking of “Crooked Frame”. Another Blue Rodeo member, steel guitarist Bob Egan, contributes a finely layered acoustic rendering of “Wave”.

But it’s Kevin Kane, formerly of Vancouver popsters the Grapes Of Wrath, who stands head and shoulders above the field here. Selecting a song that no one on the two-disc tribute tackled, he multiplies the rich melodicism of “Follow You Down” exponentially, transforming it into a shimmering atmospheric pop treasure that’s quite possibly the finest moment on either of these projects. The clarion epiphany of the harmonizing trumpets in the song’s coda is almost enough to erase the bad aftertaste of the aptly named Minimalist Jug Band’s atonal version of “Thirteen Years” that closes the disc.