In 1983, Stevie Ray Vaughan was looked upon as the next great
\nhope for the blues world. In a matter of months, he and his band
\nDouble Trouble became the first unsigned band to play the
\nprestigious Montreux Jazz Festival, and they caught the ear of
\nlegendary A&R scout John Hammond (who was also responsible for
\nbringing the world Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen). It seemed like
\nVaughan’s star could go nowhere but up.<\/p>\n
So why, 16 years later, do I still find myself mildly
\ndisappointed by Vaughan’s debut album
\nTexas Flood<\/i>? Maybe it’s because the young guitarist didn’t
\nquite know how to translate the energy he put into playing live
\ninto the studio setting – not an unusual thing for any band to
\nface. With the recently remastered edition, including some live
\nbonus tracks, it seems like my beliefs have been confirmed.<\/p>\n
Now, I realize that
\nTexas Flood<\/i> has a whole bunch of songs that would become
\nclassics for Vaughan, like “Love Struck Baby”, “Pride And Joy” and
\n“Mary Had A Little Lamb”. And there are moments on these songs
\nwhere you can hear the sheer brilliance of Vaughan’s guitar
\nplaying. But, even these sound a bit sterile, especially when
\nyou’ve heard live versions of the same songs that are so hot they
\nmake the paint blister off the living room walls.<\/p>\n
Often, it just sounds like Vaughan was a bit intimidated by the
\nstudio setting, and while he really could have turned up the volume
\non tracks like “Testify,” “Dirty Pool” and the title track, he
\nregrettably holds back. Vaughan finally lets the floodgates go on
\nthe closing instrumental “Lenny,” which is five minutes of sheer
\nemotion poured into a six-string. Prior to the bonus tracks being
\nadded to this album, this was a perfect way to close the disc, even
\nif one was left wishing that there had been more fireworks.<\/p>\n
\nTexas Flood<\/i> is bolstered by the inclusion of five bonus
\ntracks. The short interview segment is actually one where I wish
\nthat we had heard more of Vaughan’s insight to his music; if
\nanything, this debut disc is one that begged for the inclusion of a
\nlonger interview from Timothy White. The studio outtake, “Tin Pan
\nAlley (aka Roughest Place In Town)”, is not the greatest selection
\nI’ve heard from Vaughan, and seems to be dragging too much.<\/p>\n
Then, the live cuts hit – and Vaughan’s true power is finally
\nunleashed. The renditions of “Testify” and “Mary Had A Little Lamb”
\nrelease a power that isn’t heard in the studio efforts, while
\nVaughan’s cover of Lonnie Mack’s “Wham!” simply brings the house
\ndown. (It seems natural that Vaughan would be chosen by Mack to
\ncontribute to Mack’s “comeback” album,
\nStrike Like Lightning<\/i>, a short time later.)<\/p>\n
\nTexas Flood<\/i> is still an interesting first glimpse of a
\ngenius in the works, but it is not the best example of Vaughan’s
\nguitar prowess. As he matured as a musician, he would grow more
\ncomfortable with the studio, and would allow his power to shine
\nwherever he happened to strap on his Stratocaster. But this first
\neffort shows a younger, rawer musician – and doesn’t capture the
\npower we all now know he had.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5991],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39260","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-stevie-ray-vaughan-double-trouble","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39260"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}