Stevie Ray Vaughan was one of the greatest blues guitarists who unfortunately died in a tragic helicopter crash on 27^th August 2014. Vaughan revived blues rock and paved the way for many other artists.

Vaughan was founding member and leader of Double Trouble. With drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon, Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the 1980s. In a career spanning seven years, Vaughan and Double Trouble consistently sold out concerts while their albums frequently went gold. Highly respected by other greats like Albert King, Buddy Guy, Clapton, Santana, Jeff Beck, B. B. King and many others, no guitarist can afford to bypass or overlook this genius who gave us such extraordinary body of work in a short span of his career. Vaughan derived his uniquely eclectic yet intense style from a variety of musical genres. He was influenced by blues musicians including Albert King, Freddie King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters, as well as rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack. His guitar playing, for which he has received wide critical recognition, reflected the pentatonic blues scales.

This album contains his classics like Pride and Joy, Texas Flood, Couldn't Stand The Weather plus two beautiful cover versions of Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing And Voodoo Child. Jimi Hendrix was Vaughan's greatest inspiration. Vaughan declared in an interview: "I love Hendrix for so many reasons. He was so much more than just a blues guitarist–he played damn well any kind of guitar he wanted. In fact I'm not sure if he even played the guitar–he played music."

When you listen to Steve’s guitar playing, you feel he is not playing guitar but some divine, sacred, pure energy is flowing through his fingers. It's such a transcendental thing when one becomes just a vehicle for something undescribable, blissful, intangible experience.

I recommend that you go for all his albums which have other gems like Blues at Sunrise, Live my Girl Alone.. Ah, artists like Steve Ray Vaughan make record collecting such a joy.

Released on Epic Label in 1995

Reviewed by Pilak Bhatt

Pilak Bhatt is a 54 year old Mumbai resident who is still keeping the turntable spinning. Bhatt is one of many avid LP record collectors in the country and also around the world who has a passion for music and collecting LP records. Bhatt has a collection of almost 1 lac LP records. He buys and sells LPs, advises on turntables and has his own Music Circle shop at Kandivili, Mumbai that stocks loads of LPs.  He can be contacted on 9820365979.