Band Members on record : Stevie Ray Vaughan - (Guitar / Vocals), Tommy Shannon (Bass), Chris Layton (Drums).
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble : Texas Flood Year Released : 1983 (2016 repress) Produced by John Hammond, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Richard Mullen, Double Trouble Label: Epic/Sony Music Price Range: $25-40 Speed: 33 1/3RPM Album Before : Nil, Debut Album After : Couldn't Stand The Weather (1984) Further Listening : Lucille - B.B. King (1968) LP : 1 x Black LP Mood for enjoying: Hot summery night by a woodfire , spirits in hand or some really big roast/cook up. It's an uplifting and smooth feeling album and a must listen to pick you up if you're feeling down. Track Listing:
LP Side A
Love Struck Baby - 2:24
Pride And Joy - 3:40
Texas Flood - 5:21
Tell Me - 2:49
Testify - 3:22
Side B Rude Mood - 4:40
Mary Had A Little Lamb - 2:47
Dirty Pool - 5:02
I'm Cryin' - 3:43
Lenny - 4:57
What's in the Sleeve ?
Simple paper sleeve with poly insert
"Well it's floodin' down in Texas, All of the telephone lines are down." ~ Texas Flood - Side A
Welcome to Spin #8 - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble : Texas Flood
I know, Slipknot are brutal and I hope that everyone has had time to recover from last weeks spin from all the headbanging. I felt bluesy tunes were required lately with the end of the warmer weather coming and a nice relaxing recovery session was just what was required.
Welcome to our 8th Spin! This week we have chosen the debut 1983 album from Mr Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble : Texas Flood.
For this weeks review I used the set up from our back room, however still set up in our sun room towards the front of the house. We enjoyed it so much and the portability of the bluetooth Audio Technica turntable and Marshall Woburn II speaker help with the easy transition. Boil the ketta (as our 3 year old says) and make yourself a cuppa as we drop the stylus on this blues blockbuster!
Drop the Needle (of course means place the stylus nicely on your wax):
I bought this record on a whim back in 2016 when I was exploring a lot of Blues, Soul and Jazz artists. I stumbled across Stevie Ray Vaughan and instantly enjoyed the style of music and his voice. The artwork was interesting too as it reminded me of the Gunslinger depicted in the Stephen King series, 'The Dark Tower'. If I can take you further back to 2010, I enjoyed my short trip to the States and Canada with my sister. One of the highlights of that trip was getting to experience the blues/jazz bars in Chicago and really just sit back and take in the atmosphere. Every time I listen to this style of music I instantly get transported back to that moment in Chicago.
As I take the record out of its paper/poly sleeve I notice the quality of the record repressed in 2016 by Epic and Sony Music. The back of the record sleeve has the band photo and track list but sadly no lyrics insert included for this press. As this turntable is fully automatic, I need to make sure the stylus cover is off before hitting the start button. It plays at 33 1/3 speed and if you play this one at the wrong speed you will have all the band laughing at you on the back cover.
The crisp start of first song, 'Love Struck Baby' comes through the speaker with the guitar being strummed fast before the bass of Shannon and drums of Layton come in. This song was released as a single off the album and its an enjoyable tune. Vaughan and Double Trouble just jam together so well and you can't help but tapping your foot along to this one. "Well I'm a love struck baby I must confess, Life without darlin' is a solid mess". The song ends before rolling into the second song on Side A.
'Pride And Joy' has a distinct bass line that carries the song and allows Vaughan to get lost in the music. Its short and punchy and has some easy lyrics to sing along with (such a shame there isn't a lyric sheet included with this record though as I am having to look up as writing this). I'm enjoying the mastering of this record and that the instruments are layered well. So many albums drown out the bass and it's nice to see the 'drama free' member of the band represented so well on this one. I think these two songs are long enough and get the listener drawn in straight away. They have chosen the track listing well by putting these two up tempo numbers at the beginning of the record. Both are original compositions by Vaughan before leading into the cover of song three, 'Texas Flood'.
With this cover of Larry Davis 1958 song, Vaughan brings the pace way way down compared to the first two songs. It's the longest song on the record and it's unusual that the record would be named after a cover. 'Texas Flood' has the right mix of up beat music with sad lyrics, classic country style writing. It flows extremely well throughout and this cuppa is going down way too smoothly. Just watching the world pass by from our front sun room and the music is just washing away anything that has been troubling us. This song has a bit of Vaughan showing off his impressive guitar playing ability and is so far the favourite track for me. The song ends with a wind up of instruments before song four begins, 'Tell Me'.
"Well now tell me, what in the world can be wrong" - well in real life we ask ourselves this question a lot but in the song ' Tell Me', the band is picking up the pace once again with this quick number. This one in particular is making me want to go to my local record store and flip through to find more of the bands records.
It's the lead up song before the instrumental ending to Side A, 'Testify'.
Its a groove - a - thon and I bet anyone you wont be able to get through this one without either.
A) shaking your hips
B) bopping your head
C) tapping away with your hands on your thighs
D) putting out your pout rock lips like Mick Jagger
E) All of the above.
Our son has just run down to the front of the speaker and put one hand on his hip and one hand in the air as he bops along. Priceless.
Side A is over in a flash and the tone arm on the turntable is returning itself to the cradle. Now it's time to flip over the LP to Side B and bring on some more of those Blues!
The first song on Side B, ' Rude Mood' is fast.....OOOWWWWWWW the guitar at the start is just what the doctor ordered. Just when you think the album couldn't get any better this graces your ears. Another instrumental by the band that they nail to perfection. Easily the fastest technically on the record so far and the same bet whilst listening applies for this one as above. I lost straight away.
The instrumental 'Rude Mood' leads into the song, 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. It's a blues take on the classic nursery rhyme that doesn't feel out of place on this record. I feel as the record goes on that Vaughan is just flexing his playing ability more and more which is good to see. I like the pace and parts where the music just stops....then picks up, very enjoyable. This is similar to Jimi Hendrix and the Experience, in the same sense that a very talented guitarist is surrounded by complementing and capable in their own right musicians on drums and bass.
The next song is 'Dirty Pool' which sounds very different to everything so far. Vaughan is singing differently and almost sounds like a blues / Spanish song in the way the guitar is being played. "True love is gone, I's been played for a fool, I'm turnin' the tables on you, You've been playin' dirty pool". I can just picture our 3 year old running around like Sonic (arms straight out behind him) to some of these songs as he says "I'm too fast". He has run off into the other room now. Such a different song for the album but can't fault it. Actually the only thing I can fault on this record so far is the text colour choice on the spine of the sleeve - Red text is just difficult to read over an image. Still not as bad as that Eagles text choice (check out Spin #3 and look at the images)
The second last song of the record is called 'I'm Cryin' and returns back to the sound from earlier on the record. Not a standout but probably one of the weaker songs on the record. It's lyrically a very sad song and if you research the lyrics you will see just why. "Yeah I've loved her for such a long time to end it all this way, Sittin' here so lonely, tears be fallin' just like rain. So I'm cryin'. why do I have to feel this way. If I can't love my baby, I can't live another day".
The last song on this debut album is called 'Lenny' and its a real slow jam. I mean that in the best kind of way. Sometimes you just want to close your eyes and sink into the song. This is the closest song to a Hendrix number in the way his guitar sounds. You will see what I mean as you spin this one. Both Side A and Side B end with instrumentals and I can easily see why this record was such a hit (and still is today).
It's time to take the LP off and put it back in the sleeve. As the record ends I still find myself looking out the window, sipping on the cuppa and feeling sad that Vaughan died in a helicopter crash at the age of 35 in 1990. I hope that you join me in saying thank you for this record by adding it to your collection in the near future.
If you enjoyed listening along or just reading through this Spin with us then give us a like/heart on our social pages. To the people that purchased the mugs I hope that you enjoy many cuppas and spins with them and we appreciate your support for what we are doing here. I absolutely love Music and always up for a chat all things related. Hopefully soon our pod-chat will be up and running after we iron out the kinks.
Until our next Spin everyone, Be Kind to your local barista who makes your coffee and Be Kind to your Wax!
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