Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - Live From Austin, Texas
by Gary Menotti
from Sony
Few guitarists ever mastered the Fender Stratocaster like the late, great Texas bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan, and this priceless digital video disc collects both of the sizzling appearances that Vaughan and his solid band, Double Trouble, made on the PBS concert series Austin City Limits. Combined to form the most popular program in the show's distinguished history, the concerts were taped in 1983 and 1989; both provide a valuable portrait of Vaughan's astounding artistic development. The performances serve as bookends to Vaughan's brilliant career with Double Trouble, showing (in the words of producer Terry Lickona) a striking contrast between "zero self-confidence" and "pure magic," but in both cases you can see a master at work. Songs include "Pride and Joy," "Texas Flood," "Voodoo Chile," "Cold Shot," and "Riviera Paradise." This great-sounding DVD also includes the posthumous music video "Little Wing," featuring clips of Double Trouble and archival footage of blues greats from the 1920s to the mid-1990s. If you're even a part-time blues fan, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Live from Austin, Texas is a must-have disc. --Jeff Shannon
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985
from Sony
By the summer of 1982 Stevie Ray Vaughn was already a veteran of the Southern blues circuit. Desperately searching for his big break he was asked to play "Blues Night" at the annual Montreaux Jazz Festival in Montreaux Switzerland. Playing like his life depended on it Stevie put on a fiery performance - full of future SRV classics like "Pride and Joy" and "Love Struck Baby." The audience could have cared less. Every song Stevie played was greeted by an increasing wave of boos and hisses and he left the stage bewildered and heart-broken.As fate would have it the would be the most important single show Stevie ever played. In attendance at the festival were two figures who would prove instrumental in Stevie's subsequent rise to stardom: David Bowie and Jackson Browne. They immediately recognized Stevie's raw talent and limitless passion. Asia result Jackson Browne offered Stevie the opportunity to record (free of charge) at his own studio the tapes would be Texas Flood - Stevie's first studio album for Epic Records. In addition Stevie was asked to play on Bowie's hugely successful Let's Dance album and tour.Three years later when Stevie was invited back to headline "Blues Night" at the festival the crowd now familiar with Stevie's songs and albums treated him like the conquering hero. And Stevie again played like his life depended on it because as we all came to recognize and respect that was the only was he knew how.Format: DVD AUDIO Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS Rating: NR UPC: 074645863092 Manufacturer No: E2D58630
If you have even a passing interest in Stevie Ray Vaughan's peerless mastery of urban blues guitar, you must own Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985. Spaced almost exactly three years apart, these concerts (60 and 93 minutes, respectively) represent the Texan blues god at his fiery best, with Double Trouble (drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon) laying the solid foundation upon which SRV built a Fender-driven sound as fierce as it was perfectly refined. The '82 show was truly "success in disguise," because despite booing from a festival audience lulled by a day of acoustic blues, and the stunned dejection that SRV felt after persevering through a uncompromising set, this was the turning point in SRV's career, leading to post-show encounters with Jackson Browne and David Bowie, who proved instrumental in bringing Stevie's music to an appreciative global audience.
When Stevie, Chris, and Tommy returned to Switzerland three years later, with organist Reese Wynans adding rich new dimension to the Double Trouble sound, the Montreux crowd was primed for a rip-snorting set, and SRV's jubilant response is a joyous thing to witness. One of SRV's favorite bluesmen, Johnny Copeland, appears for a three-song triumph in a set that's uniformly superior and ecstatically energized. Basic three-camera coverage is all you need, although guitar students--for whom this DVD is a godsend--will surely wish for more emphasis on SRV's picking and fretwork. Recording quality is superb in the Montreux tradition, with 5.1-channel remixes that surpass the original masters. A splendid 23-minute documentary features retrospective interviews with Layton, Shannon, Browne, and John Mayer, and the accompanying booklet includes a heartfelt reminiscence from Bowie. Stevie Ray may be gone, but Live at Montreux ensures that his gold-standard legacy will endure. --Jeff Shannon
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - Live at the El Mocambo 1983
from Sony
In 1990, Texas bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan was just emerging from a long period in which drugs had taken their toll: the previous year's In Step album was the first he had made drug free, and the results were a marvel. But then, after sharing a stage with Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, and Eric Clapton, he boarded a helicopter to Chicago. It crashed, and the career of one of the great blues guitarists was ended.
Rewind to 1983 and here is Stevie Ray at the beginning of his fame, his first album with his backing band Double Trouble, Texas Flood, having just been released to critical and popular acclaim. The venue is the El Mocambo club in Toronto, a dark, smoky joint with a laid-back but appreciative clientele. Vaughan, drummer Chris Layton, and bassist Tommy Shannon share the tiny stage. The guitarist, bedecked in trademark hat and alligator-skin boots, is pale of complexion, sweating from the heat and physical exertion, and physically much smaller than Shannon, who towers over him. But Vaughan dominates, as much by the magnetism of his flamboyant personality as his guitar playing. And what playing: by turns fiery, funky, then limpid and surprisingly graceful. Here is an authentic blues artist captured in the throes of living through his music. At this early stage in his career he was still very much in thrall to Jimi Hendrix (the flower-power shirt gives it away), as covers of "Voodoo Chile" and "Third Stone from the Sun" (the latter a Hendrix-inspired guitar-abuse session) indicate. The highlight of the show, however, is his rendition of "Texas Flood," which turns out to be an amazing essay on the art of blues guitar. This is a raw, intimate, and spontaneous record of a one-time event. All fans of the blues will be grateful to those who had the foresight to capture it on film. --Mark Walker
Antone's Home of the Blues
by Dan Karlok
from Koch Vision
Renowned club owner and blues aficionado Clifford Antone s life and career are celebrated in this extraordinary film. Performances by blues legends Buddy Guy B.B. King Stevie Ray Vaughan Albert Collins Pinetop Perkins and more ignite the stage along with contemporary and archival footage that capture the magic that famed Austin blues club Antone s bottled on a nightly basis for over 29 years. In addition to the musical performances Antone s: Home of the Blues also includes interviews with Clifford Antone as well as B.B. King Willie Nelson ZZ Top s Billy Gibbons Buddy Guy Jimmie Vaughan and much more in this exciting glimpse into the magic of the blues.System Requirements:Running Time: 91 MinFormat: DVD AUDIO Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS UPC: 741952638094 Manufacturer No: KOC-DV-6380
Backstage Pass - DVD Concert Collection Vol. 01
from Sony
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