Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Couldn’t Stand The Weather: Legacy Edition
Sony Music/Legacy
www.legacyrecordings.com
By George W. Harris

You may not know this, but Hendrix-inspired guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan was one of the last “discoveries” of impresario John Hammond, whose long list includes Basie, Holiday, Goodman, Aretha Franklin, Dylan and Springsteen. No mean feat.

This double disc, released on the 20th anniversary of Vaughan’s untimely death, includes not only the stellar second release by Vaughan, but a plethora of unreleased material, as well as a SWINGING live Canadian gig in 1984 that has the band going through the best of their first two albums in ferocious manner.
Hard to appreciate in retrospect, but at the time Vaughan was a breath of fresh six stringed air-a guy who wasn’t afraid to rock, boogie, shuffle and swing with abandon when most guys thought that this kind of music was passe’. Vaughan and his team of Tommy Shannon/b and Chris Layton/dr form a power trio that sounds like what Hendrix would play if he were a redneck from Texas. A mix of Stratocaster beer gut boogie and psychedelic sonic strumming make songs like Hendrix’s own “Voodo Child” and Hank Ballard’s “Look At Little Sister” fit together absolutely perfectly. The original album tunes like “stang’s swang” and “Tin Pan Alley” still sound crazy after all these years, while the added studio bonus take of “Little Wing” is finger lickin’ good. The concert takes of “Pride And Joy” and “The Things (That) I Used To Do” are ferociously fresh, making this a fitting testament to Vaughan and the fearless Fender.