Street Songs of Love

Alejandro Escovedo is a classicist, weaned on punk verities, schooled in American roots music. Now pushing 60, he's making some of the fiercest music of his career. His latest evokes Eighties heartland rock: "Anchor" feels like a long-lost radio hit; Ian Hunter adds scruffed harmony on "Down in the Bowery," and Bruce Springsteen duets on "Faith," a swaggering New York Dolls-ish rocker about rock & roll survival, something the two men know a bit about.