Real Animal is a 13-track effort put out on Back Porch/Manhattan Records and is Escovedo at his finest. He is brash and beautiful on the album, plaintive and playful, alt-country, punk rocker, and troubadour. He always writes and sings in a straightforward way and the lyrics are personal stories from a private notebook. On 'Sister Lost Soul' Escovedo sings about the sadness of losing loved ones 'Nobody left here unbroken/Nobody left her unscarred/Nobody here is talking/That's just the way things are/ You had to go without me/You wandered off alone/And all the neon light reflecting off the sidewalk/Only reminds me you're not coming home.'

This album is a lovely effort. It is paced nicely, has a good mixture of rockers and dusty lullabies and the track order keeps things very upbeat and interesting. 'Real as an Animal' is a rocker and so is 'Chelsea Hotel '78' and they are probably the most powerful songs on the album, along with the bouncy 'Smoke.' Escovedo's punk rock background keeps things pounding and joyful, the slow ballads keep things thoughtful and touching and, in the end, Real Animal keeps Escovedo firmly in place as one of the most wonderful songwriters of this era.