![]() Maybe the groovers should be heroes, too. Soloists such as Stevie Ray, Eric Clapton and the three Kings (Albert, Freddie and B.B.) may be the guitar heroes, but the rhythm guitarists such as Jimmie, Keith Richards and James Brown’s Jimmy Nolen anchor the best bands. The solos win the ovations, but the groove makes the music feel good. But this rapprochement merely highlighted how differently they’d played for most of their careers.Īnd that put a light on the different ways modern musicians and audiences interpret the blues. For this project, produced by Chic’s Nile Rodgers, the two siblings moved toward each other’s styles, with Stevie Ray playing fewer solos and more twangy riffs in the style of Lonnie Mack, and Jimmie playing more single-note solos in the style of Freddie King. The Real Deal: Greatest Hits, Vol.Just before he died in a helicopter accident in 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded Family Style, a long-dreamed-of album, with his older brother Jimmie as the Vaughan Brothers. But like Hendrix he could do the other stuff too. Hence Live Alive, the perfect place to go with the torrent. Like Hendrix he put sound before notes and playing before writing. ![]() Vaughan was the greatest traditional guitarist of his generation, his true mentor Jimi Hendrix even if Johnny Copeland and Albert King were hands-on. #Stevie Ray Vaughan Full Discography Torrent torrentLive and unfledged, 4/1/81-blues as a barely controllable torrent of electric sound ("Shake for Me," "Tin Pan Alley") *** A-Įlmore James with chops-too many sometimes ("Boot Hill," "Close to You") *** Essential that the leadoff "House Is Rockin'" keeps on boogieing on-and that on the mood-jazz closer he escapes the blues undamaged for the first time in his career. If the music was preachy or wimpy this would be a disaster, but not till I perused the lyric sheet did I even notice where his homilies got their start. As a bonus, he ends up by reminding his yahooing Texans about Africa: "I may be white, but I ain't stupid"-vamp, vamp-"and neither are you." A-īelieve it or not he's writing blues for AA: "Wall of Denial" and "Tightrope" fall into ex-addict jargon like it was natural speech, which for ex-addicts it is. His material blooms with a little weeding, his big throaty moan gathers head under a spotlight, and the dumbfounding legato eloquence of his guitar rolls mightily down his band's expert arena-boogie groove. But Vaughan wasn't made for the studio-live is the only concept he has any feel for. B+įormally, this is generic live double: four prev unrec tunes, most of the ten remakes a minute or two looser. This moves along right nice, especially on side two-until Vaughan elects to close with a long slow soulful one that only gets going with a Hendrix coda. But he's still not a great or even commanding artist, because the classic album he has in him, Jimi Boogies, keeps getting ruined by installments of Stevie Ray Shows Off. Unlike most Hendrixites he can step a sharp shuffle, and unlike most Texas boogiemen he's a great guitarist. B+Īll right, all right-he's a great guitarist, and an intermittently commanding vocalist. But between earned Jimi cover and lyric refreshment, album two is almost everything a reasonable person might hope from him: a roadhouse album with gargantuan sonic imagination. Though he comes close sometimes, this Texan ain't Hendrix. The exception that proves not a damn thing is Jimi Hendrix, the finest guitarist in any idiom ever. The problem with guitar virtuosos is that most of them wouldn't know a good musical concept if they tripped over it, which happens just often enough to keep everyone confused. I think rock and roll's essence inheres in momentum and song form, and find my attention wandering after the kickoff originals "Love Struck Baby" and "Pride and Joy." B ![]() People who think white guitarists with the blues are the essence of rock and roll never fully account for Alvin Lee, not to mention Robin Trower. ![]()
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