Stevie Ray Vaughan & double trouble

Posted by: garyi on 19 May 2002

WOW!

Managed to blag 'Couldn't stand the weather' on record off a friend and also heard another one of his albums down my parents house.

Apparently this guy uses size thirteen guitar strings, (nine being usual) which would apparently give this excellent gritty sound, apart of course from the mans skills which is amazing.

So what else has he done which is good, I could really get into this stuff.

cheers
Posted on: 19 May 2002 by Alex S.
Decided to respond to the 18:02 thread:

The Sky is Dying - posthumous compilation - great amp buzz on the Hendrix track.

Jonathan's got some good vinyl - can't remember what.

I just bought the Live Montreux set on CD but haven't got round to playing it.

All in all, not very useful but I share your enthusiasm.

Alex
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by Alex S.
The sky's 'crying' not 'dying' BTW.

Alex
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by Mario
He plays some cool licks on David Bowies China Girl, and Jennifer Warnes, First We Take Manhattan.
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by Bosh
Gary

Also check his last studio release "In step" especially the track Riviera Paradise, "Texas Flood"

Avoid "Soul to soul" and "Live alive" they are not his best.

The live videos are also excellent and inspirational to any aspiring guitarists
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by Andrew L. Weekes
Every album I've bought has been fantastic, even an early radio broadcast that predates the SRV moniker.

The Sky is Crying is totally awesome though, with 'Little Wing' and 'Chitlins con Carne' rating as most played tracks (when the neighbours are out - needs 'realistic' volume levels!).

A.
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by Rico
Ahhh Garyi, I see the force is growing!

SRV albums - n'er a bad 'un.

quote:
Apparently this guy uses size thirteen guitar strings


the tense is past - SRV sadly departed this world more than twelve years ago.

Not only did he string his guitars with telegraph wires, but they had to be built using frets from Gibson bass guitars... mere mortal frets would be shredded in no time.

The man was a guitar genius.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by greeny
Yes I think if you like Blues/Rock Guitar at all you will like all SRV releases.

I've got most, and even Live Alive which is allegedly his worst, I think is great.
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by steveb
Glad to see that some of you have discovered the sadly departed SRV.
If you are keen get the box set 'SRV', 3 Cd's, mostly unreleased, lots of live which is the best format, studio was not always his best work. Also get a DVD of about 25 mins, live performance and can marvel at his technique. The essay and notes with the box are also excellent.
Steve
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by MarkEJ
Gary;

Wholeheartedly second Andrew W's comment... buy them all. Forget CDs though -- I got Live Alive, In Step, Texas Flood and Couldn't Stand the Weather on used, clean, first press vinyl for a total of 14 quid. They're all easy to find.

Never new it was him on "First We Take Manhattan"; blimey.

If you like SRV, you'll also like Luther Allison and Michael Burks!

Best;

Mark

(an imperfect
forum environment is
better than none)
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by garyi
wow thanks for the information.

The pressing I got is a very nice 180g job so I am well chuffed. I suspect that I saw SRV albums at a second hand record shop on St Albums Road here and thought that he was Country Music.

Although there seems to be a degree of country Blues in the background the music is very fresh, and unlike some guitar based music not cheesy.

so thanks for the recces, I look forward to blouting the record collection a bit more this weekend, do you know I have trebled my record ownership this year, OK I only have around 200 now but they are so cheap, its almost rude!

BTW shame he's dead, tis always the good ones, I was gutted when Frank Zappa died.
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by samo7
I have an album by Lou Ann Barton where SRV plays guitar..he is about siteen or seventeen I think...you could tell he was already a prodigy.Also listen to him on a song called "Oreo Cookie Blues" off an album called "Strike like Lightning" by Lonnie Mack...it alone is worth the price of admission...
Posted on: 23 May 2002 by Dave J
Agree wholeheartedly with the views on SRV. I should have added 'Riviera Paradise' to Nick's thread about tracks that make you tingle

Just wanted to add that there are a couple of good videos worth tracking down: 'Live at the El Mocambo' & 'Live from Austin Texas'.

If you like Stevie Ray you may also like, in a similar vein, Chris Duarte's 'Texas Sugar Strat Magic' and the much less similar but excellent, Chris Whitley, particularly 'Living with the Law' or 'Dirt Floor'.

Cheers

Dave
Posted on: 23 May 2002 by richard goldsmith
I saw this guy play live in 1984. At the time I'd heard about him but not much, and I certainly wasn't a fan. My friend got us tickets in the third row from the stage. I've seen a shitload of great guitar players, but NOTHING prepared me for this experience. Blues-rock in this style is not normally my thing either, but seeing and hearing was an epiphany for me. Absolutely, totally mind-blowingly brilliant. He was an absolute monster. Believe me, as great as some of his records are, they cannot do justice to the live experience I was fortunate to witness.
Posted on: 24 May 2002 by Peter Stockwell
Gary,

I love the first SRV album, I feel this is enough unless you are a blues/rock guitar aficionado. I have a UK Epic LP and the Sony Legacy CD of this, the LP is best but the CD is good enough. I had soul to soul and couldn't stand the weather, and while they had some good cuts, even outstanding, they didn't match the first album. An aside, the song 'It's flooding down in Texas' which is a great cut, if not the stand out cut, from the first album is covered by Willie Nelson and Kenny Wayne Shephard on Willie's Milk cow blues recording. IMHO this version edges SRV's.

Peter
Posted on: 03 June 2002 by Robert Derwae
I had the chance to see SRV live a couple of years before he died and I, too, was completely dumbfounded by how good he was. I'd heard of him previously, but I had no idea... The thing that struck me about SRV was how much his guitar was an extension of his body; I've never seen a guitarist look as natural playing his instrument. And, of course, the music was raging.

The following year I had the chance to see his brother Jimmie Vaughn, expecting something similar. As good as JV is (and, by the way, he played guitar on Lou Ann Barton's earliest commercial LPs, not SRV as previously posted), he was a great disappointment. But, in retrospect, the comparison was unfair...

[This message was edited by Robert Derwae on TUESDAY 04 June 2002 at 03:54.]
Posted on: 03 June 2002 by fred simon
SRV was the real deal. I had the incredible fortune to open a show for him playing in a band with Jerry Goodman (Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist) in Milwaukee. He was shorter than I had imagined, balding under his trademark hat, friendly, and played his ass. There were some amps onstage but more backstage, turned up to 11. If you walked near one your face would melt.

Like many others, I first heard him on the Bowie track, Let's Dance. Very smart move on Bowie's part, but then I heard that SRV quit the road gig because Bowie was only paying him $300 a gig. I always loved it that he quit when Bowie wouldn't give him a raise. Apocryphal or not, a great story.

What's weird is how much SRV borrowed/stole (ref. Stravinsky) from Hendrix. In any other case it would be a drag, but somehow he made it his own even while channeling Jimi. Like I said, he was the real deal.