Disc of the day
The Neil Cowley Trio - Loud... Louder... Stop!
Brit threesome's second LP serves up jazz for Radiohead fans.
Features Disc of the day
Stevie Ray Vaughan
In Step
(Epic/Sony, 1989)
In the anniversary week of his tragic death, mourned by MOJO messageboarder.
Shortly after midnight on the morning of August 27th, 1990, a group of four helicopters rose into the hazy night around the small town of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, bound for Illinois. One of the passengers aboard the third helicopter was blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who had just finished a two-show run with his band Double Trouble in the nearby village of East Troy. Along with several other musicians and friends, Vaughan was on his way to the band's next show in Chicago. They never made it; less than a mile after take-off the chopper crashed into a steep hillside, killing all five passengers on board. Vaughan was just 35 years old.
Yet the Dallas-born axe-slinger had packed a lot in to an often troubled life. In a career which began at the tender age of twelve, Vaughan's electrifying showmanship, relentless touring and a practically obsessive dedication to music helped him build a huge following of fans, a remarkably accomplished and admired body of work, but also a long and life-threatening problem with alcohol and drugs.
Vaughan openly addresses all these issues on In Step (a reference to the therapeutic steps he was following to overcome his addictions) - the last of the four studio LPs he would produce with Double Trouble during his lifetime, and a perfect snapshot of his musical prowess and growing skills as a singer/songwriter. From the anthemic, pounding rock'n'roll of opening track The House Is Rockin', to the delicate beauty of the instrumental closer Riviera Paradise, the seamless mixture of styles reaffirmed not only the band's talents but the ambition and vitality of their music. Vaughan's vocal craft and growing compositional maturity were never clearer than in the mid-tempo grace and power of songs like Wall Of Denial and Crossfire, the latter going on to become his first and only U.S. #1 single. Emotional and inspired covers of Willie Dixon's Let Me Love You Baby and Buddy Guy's Leave My Girl Alone highlighted not only Vaughan's deep assimilation of the blues canon, but the ways in which he was reworking those elements to create his own unique voice.
The 1999 Sony/Legacy reissue of the album also includes several excellent live tracks from the In Step tour - though, in light of all he had been through, and what would happen in Wisconsin just a few short months later, it is heartbreakingly ironic to hear Vaughan tell his audience, "I'm gonna stop right now, and thank God that I'm alive and well enough to be with y'all today", as he delivers a deeply moving rendition of - prophetically - Life Without You.
Ange Tsibogiannis
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 25/08/2009
Further Listening
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – Soul To Soul (Epic/Sony, 1985)
Jimmie Vaughan – Strange Pleasure (Epic/Sony, 1994)
Susan Tedeschi – Just Won’t Burn (Tone-Cool, 1998)
Previous Disc of the day
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The Neil Cowley Trio - Loud... Louder... Stop!
Brit threesome's second LP serves up jazz for Radiohead fans.
6:00 AM GMT 02/09/2010
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Stephen Stills - Stephen Stills
Soulful, jam-filled rave-up, not as revered as it should be, say we.
6:00 AM GMT 01/09/2010
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Boscoe - Boscoe
It came from the South Side of Chicago. And it was baaaaad, reckons MOJO messageboarder.
6:00 AM GMT 31/08/2010
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Gong - 2032
Messrs Hillage and Allen's first studio collaboration under the Gong banner since 1974...
6:00 AM GMT 30/08/2010
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Gang Of Four - Entertainment!
"Remember Lot's wife. Renounce all sin and vice."
6:00 AM GMT 18/08/2010
-
Fotheringay - Fotheringay 2
Lost album from British folk collective portrays an artist in transition.
6:00 AM GMT 16/08/2010
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Stands the test of time!
A lost piece of the Texas music mosaic.
Best of SRV has a place on all iPods and music collection.
Couldn't Stand the Weather, Texas Flood the list goes on and on . . .
(also an artist featured on George W Bush's iPod)
Posted by Lilyfield Drifter at 11:18 PM GMT 06/10/2009 Report Abuse
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