Pick of the Week: Stevie Ray Vaughan
Pick of the Week: Stevie Ray Vaughan
July 12, 2010
By Doug Morrissey
iBerkshires.com
Couldn't Stand the Weather: Legacy Edition
The blues is not something that can be learned. Great blues musicians are born, not raised. There is something that needs to be present in their very souls from birth that gives them a deeper connection to the music, which seems to flow from them as easily as breath flows from you and me.
Stevie Ray Vaughan couldn’t help but feel the blues. If you've been living under a rock thrown deep inside a dark cave onto which an avalanche fell, and thus have never heard of this Vaughan guy, just one listen to his guitar and you'll realize that he was meant to do one thing: play the blues. His Texas-style blues was huge, and on "Couldn’t Stand the Weather: Legacy Edition," you get a massive helping.
Tracks
01. Scuttle Buttin'
02. Couldn't Stand the Weather
03. The Things (That) I Used To Do
04. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
05. Cold Shot
06. Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place in Town)
07. Honey Bee
08. Stang's Swang
09. Empty Arms
10. Come On (Pt lll)
11. Look At Little Sister
12. The Sky is Crying
13. Hide Away
14. Give Me Back My Wig
15. Boot Hill
16. Wham!
17. Close To You
18. Little Wing
19. Stang's Swang
20. Testify (tracks 20-32 Live at The Spectrum, Montreal, Canada, August 17, 1984)
21. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
22. The Things (That) I Used To Do
23. Honey Bee
24. Couldn't Stand The Weather
25. Cold Shot
26. Tin Pan Alley
27. Love Struck Baby
28. Texas Flood
29. Band Intros
30. Stang's Swang
31. Lenny
32. Pride And Joy
Genre: Blues
Label: Epic/Legacy
Web site
Source Link What the blues gods have blessed us with is a double album re-release, with Epic/Legacy having remastered the original 8 songs, plus 11 songs that were recorded during the sessions for this album. Now, like all remastered albums that come out, there are some songs you have heard before. If this isn’t your first Vaughan rodeo, you've already heard "Little Wing," "Empty Arms," and "Wham!" from the album "The Sky is Crying." If you bought the 1999 re-release of "Couldn’t Stand The Weather," you will no doubt be familiar with "Look At Little Sister," "Hide Away," "Come On (Pt lll)," and "Give Me Back My Wig."
But, what you haven’t heard are the three previously unreleased versions of tracks that have been found for this set. Given the lack of new material coming from the Vaughan camp because of that whole "being dead" thing, this is stuff to be excited about, even if they are just alternate versions of songs you already know. The three songs are "Boot Hill," "The Sky is Crying," and "Stang’s Swang."
From the opening countdown by Vaughan on "The Sky is Crying," the differences between this version and the original become very clear. His guitar has a much fuller sound than the Texas twang on the previous version. His voice sounds the same – by which I mean amazing. His wonderfully nasal tone seems to come not from his mouth but from somewhere much deeper in his bones. As I said before, the blues cannot be learned. You can’t teach someone how to sing and play guitar with feeling like this.
"Boot Hill" sounds more like a roadhouse version than the previously released song version of the song. Vaughan and Double Trouble rip through this slightly faster version like they are playing for their lives. On "Stang’s Swang" they've removed the saxophone that can be heard playing along with Vaughan's guitar at certain times during the song. Listening to him play an instrumental is like listening to angels sing the blues.
The original album is the stuff of legend and should be in every aspiring blues fan's catalog. The album includes such legendary songs as "Voodoo Chile," "Couldn’t Stand the Weather," "Tin Pan Alley" and the air guitar favorite "Scuttle Buttin." This is Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s second album and their first album to go gold and later, platinum.
The second album in this set is a previously unreleased concert that took place three months after "Couldn’t Stand the Weather at The Spectrum in Montreal, Canada." The set list for it contains a great mix of his first album "Texas Flood," as well as songs from "Couldn’t Stand The Weather." Vaughan and Double Trouble live are an entirely different animal than their studio recordings, partly due to the fact that live blues is the pinnacle of the blues triangle.
Good live blues is, in my humble opinion, Zen. It is the moment where the hands and voice of the bluesmen are linked to their soul. It is one of the most beautiful things in the world, and this live album is no exception, with incredible versions of "Texas Flood," "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)," "Pride and Joy" and an amazing version of "Lenny."
Vaughan is to blues what breathing is to all living creatures: necessary. To be a fan of blues without understanding and enjoying the imprint Vaughan left on it is like being a fan of rum without ever tasting Captain Morgan Private Stock. It’s been 20 years since Stevie Ray Vaughan was taken from this place, but through his recordings he managed to leave part of his soul behind. Evidence of that takes place at 8 minutes and 30 seconds on the live version of "Lenny." Turn it up, sit back and close your eyes, enjoying the shivers that go up your spine.
Key Tracks: "Couldn’t Stand the Weather," "Lenny (live)," "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)."
