Record Reviews
📝 2096 reviews| Artist | Title | Review |
|---|---|---|
| Various | The Roots Of The Allman Brothers Band | <p>Whether or not these two dozen songs inspired the Allman Brothers or not, this would still be a nice collection, and it's surprisingly varied, including not just blues pieces but also some bluegrass and western swing as well. From the obvious, like Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues," to the less obvious, like Elmore James' "Wild About You Baby" and Blind Willie Johnson's chilling and haunting "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," this set is well worth checking out even without the Allman Brothers angle.</p><p>—<strong>Steve Leggett</strong></p> |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | In Session | <p>Recorded in December 1983, In Session captures an in-concert jam between Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, the latter of whom had become the hot blues guitarist of the year thanks to his debut Texas Flood, as well as his work on David Bowie's hit Let's Dance. Vaughan may have been the new news, but King was not suffering, either. He had a world-class supporting band and was playing as well as he ever had. In other words, the stage was set for a fiery, exciting concert and that's exactly what they delivered. Vaughan was clearly influenced by King -- there are King licks all over his first two recorded efforts, and it was an influence that stayed with him to the end -- and he was unafraid to go toe-to-toe with his idol. King must have been impressed, since In Session never devolves into a mere cutting contest. Instead, each musicians spurs the other to greater heights. For aficionados of either guitarist, that means the album isn't just worth a listen -- it means that it's a record that sounds as exciting on each subsequent listen as does the first time through.</p><p>—<strong>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</strong></p> |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | Soul To Soul | <p>By adding two members to Double Trouble -- keyboardist Reese Wynans and saxophonist Joe Sublett -- Stevie Ray Vaughan indicated he wanted to add soul and R&B inflections to his basic blues sound, and Soul to Soul does exactly that. It's still a modern blues album, yet it has a wider sonic palette, finding Vaughan fusing a variety of blues, rock, and R&B styles. Most of this is done through covers -- notably Hank Ballard's "Look at Little Sister," the exquisitely jazzy "Gone Home," and Doyle Bramhall's impassioned soul-blues "Change It" -- but Vaughan's songwriting occasionally follows suit, as well. Even if only the tortured blues wailer "Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up on Love" entered his acknowledged canon, he throws in some delightful soul-funk touches on "Say What!," the instrumental wah-wah workout that kicks off the album, and the Curtis Mayfield-inspired closer, "Life Without You," captures Vaughan at his best as a composer and performer. It's such a seductive number -- such a full realization of his soul-blues ambitions -- that the rest of the album pales in comparison. In fact, for all of its positive attributes, Soul to Soul winds up being less than the sum of its parts, and it's hard to pinpoint an exact reason why. Perhaps it was because Vaughan was on the verge of a horrible battle with substance abuse at the time of recording or perhaps it just has that unevenness inherent in transitional albums. Still, he has good taste in covers, his originals are sturdy, and there's not a bad performance here, so Soul to Soul winds up enjoyable in spite of its flaws, and it clearly points the way to his 1989 masterpiece, In Step.</p><p>—<strong>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</strong></p> |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | Live At Montreux 1982-1985 | <p>Released in 2001, Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985 was a historically significant Stevie Ray Vaughan recording in purely audio form, but the 2004 DVD release ups the ante by providing video footage of both sets. The 1982 show is essentially the show that got his career started. He met both Jackson Browne and David Bowie after his set, and they were so impressed that Browne volunteered use of his studio (for free!) for Stevie to record what would become his debut album, and Bowie recruited him as lead guitarist for the Let's Dance album and tour (alas, the tour was not to be). However, not everyone was so impressed. In fact, there are choruses of boos that follow nearly every tune. Vaughan was basically a nobody at the time, playing very electric blues at the end of a mostly acoustic program. But he had done enough bar gigs to completely rise above it, and he plays with the passion and hunger of a young musician getting his big chance. He's not really an engaging frontman at this point in his career, but man, can he play that guitar. And he simply never lets up. Even at this stage, his tone and style are pretty close to fully formed, and it's easy to see how he could become the guitar hero he ended up being.</p><p>The 1985 show is quite a contrast. Vaughan had become a star, and it shows in so many ways. He had developed more of a stage persona, with showier moves and infinitely more presence as a frontman. He's also dressed to the hilt, looking like some sort of '80s cowboy-pimp with a ridiculous hat, multiple scarfs, and gigantic earring. Heck, even Whipper Layton is sporting fancier '80s pants and a big earring, and Tommy Shannon's hat is more extravagant than the 1982 show as well. Double Trouble also now included Reese Wynans on keyboards, which, along with Vaughan's addition of a wah-wah pedal, really expanded the sound. Vaughan has many fiery moments on this set as well, but he also loses focus during several solos, and seems more than content to share or even hand over the spotlight to fellow Texas guitar legend Johnny Copeland. Vaughan seems a bit worn out, and it wouldn't be long before he got sober. Even so, there are clear moments of brilliance and this time the audience is fully behind him. Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985 is a vital document for fans, showing the raw ingredients that would make him a star, then comparing it to what happened once he got there. The video is great, with multiple angles throughout (except for the encore of the 1985 set) and there are many excellent close-ups of his playing. It's a great look at the rise of one of rock's most revered guitar players.</p><p>—<strong>Sean Westergaard</strong></p> |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | In Step | <p>Stevie Ray Vaughan had always been a phenomenal guitarist, but prior to In Step, his songwriting was hit or miss. Even when he wrote a classic modern blues song, it was firmly within the genre's conventions; only on Soul to Soul's exquisite soul-blues "Life Without You" did he attempt to stretch the boundaries of the form. As it turns out, that was the keynote for In Step, an album where Vaughan found his own songwriting voice, blending blues, soul, and rock in unique ways, and writing with startling emotional honesty. Yes, there are a few covers, all well chosen, but the heart of the album rests in the songs he co-wrote with Doyle Bramhall, the man who penned the Soul to Soul highlight "Change It." Bramhall proved to be an ideal collaborator for Vaughan; tunes like the terse "Tightrope" and the dense "Wall of Denial" feel so intensely personal, it's hard to believe that they weren't the product of just one man. Yet the lighter numbers -- the dynamite boogie "The House Is Rockin'" and the breakneck blues of "Scratch-n-Sniff" -- are just as effective as songs. Of course, he didn't need words to make effective music: "Travis Walk" is a blistering instrumental, complete with intricate fingerpicking reminiscent of the great country guitarist Merle Travis, while the shimmering "Riviera Paradise" is every bit as lyrical and lovely as his previous charmer, "Lenny." The magnificent thing about In Step is how it's fully realized, presenting every facet of Vaughan's musical personality, yet it still soars with a sense of discovery. It's a bittersweet triumph, given Vaughan's tragic death a little over a year after its release, yet it's a triumph all the same.</p><p>—<strong>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</strong></p> |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble | <p>If you're gonna put out a box set that really offers something to the devoted fans of an artist -- who are, after all, probably bound to have much or all of the artist's other records already if they're interesting in buying a box set to begin with -- this four-CD package is the way to do it. It's not so much a best-of or career retrospective as a very generous pile of career-spanning material that will genuinely add a new dimension to the Stevie Ray Vaughan listener's library, as fully two-thirds of the 54 tracks were previously unreleased. In addition, of the songs that have been previously available, five of those are cuts on which Vaughan was a sideman or partner (for Johnny Copeland, Albert King, Lonnie Mack, A.C. Reed, and as part of the Vaughan Brothers), so the Vaughan collector might have missed those in the past. Each of the first three discs clock in at more than 75 minutes, progressing from 1977 to 1990 and emphasizing live material, from soundchecks and radio programs to arena-headlining gigs and three solo acoustic tunes (one of which was previously on The Unplugged Collection, Vol. 1) from a 1990 MTV Unplugged episode. As music, though, it's uneven. The earliest and leanest cuts are a valuable supplement to Vaughan's discography, since he didn't have much opportunity to record until the early '80s. Yet sometimes these are too-long shuffles and boogies; his songwriting and singing is not nearly as impressive as his instrumental technique; and his occasional attempts to replicate Jimi Hendrix are inessential. A few familiar popular studio cuts like "Pride and Joy" and "Wall of Denial" are here, presumably to entertain the more casual Vaughan fans who need an extra push to spring for the box. More rabid Vaughan followers will likely be so overwhelmed by the quantity of unreleased items that they're unlikely to quibble about the presence of tracks they already own. The fourth disc is a DVD with five never-aired and never-issued performances from an episode of the television program Austin City Limits, recorded on October 10, 1989; the 72-page booklet of essays, appreciative quotes from several dozen peers, and more are other bonuses.</p><p>—<strong>Richie Unterberger</strong></p> |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | Greatest Hits | <p>Stevie Ray Vaughan was a great guitarist, but he had trouble making consistent albums. Greatest Hits rectifies that problem by collecting all of his best-known tracks, from "Pride and Joy" to "Crossfire." Not only is it a terrific introduction, it's his most consistent album, demonstrating exactly why he was one of the most important guitarists of the '80s.</p><p>—<strong>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</strong></p> |
| Venuti & Lang | Venuti And Lang | |
| Vienna Residence Orchestra | Mozart & Johann Strauss Pure Music | |
| Victor Villadangos | Guitar Music Of Argentina | |
| Miroslav Vitous | Mountains In The Clouds | |
| Miroslav Vitous | Universal Syncopations | <p>On his first jazz date as a leader since 1992, Czechoslovakian bassist and composer Miroslav Vitous comes out of the gate with a host of heavyweights on one of the more lyrically swinging dates in modern jazz. Vitous' engaged, pulsing, and deeply woody tone is featured in the company of John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, and Jack DeJohnette. While the crystalline sound of Manfred Eicher's ECM is everywhere here, as is the open-ended speculative jazz that the label is renowned -- and ridiculed for -- Vitous offers some startlingly beautiful twists and turns with his ensemble. Vitous, who has been through every music, from jazz-rock fusion as a founding member of Weather Report to being a classical composer, decided to revisit the skeletal remains of his very first session for the label in 1969. Produced by Herbie Mann the disc was, from a musical standpoint, a contentious, utterly brilliant marriage of ideas both old and new. Bandmembers DeJohnette and McLaughlin were present on those sides as well.</p><p>Universal Syncopations is by turns a return to not the old forms, but rather to the manner of illustrating harmonic concepts in a quintet setting that allows for a maximum space between ensemble players while turning notions of swing, counterpoint, and rhythmic invention on their heads. From the wooly, expressionistic "Tramp Blues," with Vitous vamping around the changes, to the wide-open legato guitar phrasing of McLauglin against the double time in Vitous' bass on "Univoyage," to the simmering undulations of Garbarek's saxophones on top of Corea's intricate melodies and right-hand runs on "Brazilan Waves," all of it propelled, not anchored, by the leader's rich tone and accented and punctuated by Garbarek's tight, loping saxophone lines. This is one of those recordings that feels familiar in tone, but is timeless in concept and execution. Universal Syncopations is one of the most gorgeous sounding and toughly played dates of the calendar year.</p>— <b>Thom Jurek</b> |
| Antonio Vivaldi | The Four Seasons | |
| Antonio Vivaldi | Celebration Of The Baroque | |
| Herbert Von Karajan | Sibelius | |
| Herbert Von Karajan | Adagio | |
| Eric Von Schmidt | Dick Farina & Eric von Schmidt | |
| Eric Von Schmidt | Folk Blues Of | |
| Loudon Wainwright | Album II | |
| Loudon Wainwright | Attempted Moustache |
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