Best of Sir Douglas 68-75

Sir The Douglas Quintet, Doug Sahm | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 19, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000001FYT
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,680 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The British Invasion of the mid-1960s was so pervasive that it didn't take much more than a modified pudding-bowl haircut and appending "Sir" to your name to make a substantial portion of the record-buying public think you were one of those hip, loyal-to-the-crown blokes just then dominating the airwaves. But "Sir Douglas" was actually Texan Doug Sahm, and the Quintet owed less to the Beatles than to Tex-Mex border sounds--the hybrid of rock, country, and conjunto that Sahm seemingly absorbed like a sponge. This collection picks up after their early regional successes (and the shuffling gem "She's About a Mover"), spanning the period from their national breakthrough, "Mendocino" (with its sparkling Farfisa organ fills by Augie Meyers) through the mid-'70s. In between, Sahm and company mirrored the hippie-driven musical eclecticism of the era in his own idiosyncratic way. In fact, the music herein is the roots of Sahm and Meyers's beloved Texas Tornados, as attested by tracks like "Nuevo Laredo," "Let's Go to Mexico," and "Texas Tornado." If joyous musical border-hopping is your pleasure, look no further. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: SAHM,DOUG & SIR DOUGLAS QUINTE
Title: BEST OF DOUG SAHM & SIR DOUGLA
Street Release Date: 08/14/1990
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost makes me wish I was a Texan.....I said almost., January 31, 2001

By 

David Kinney (San Francisco, Ca. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best of Sir Douglas 68-75 (Audio CD)

Picture this ya'll ; a hippie minivan chopped and channeled lowriding with a '68 Camaro Z-28 front end welded onto it cruising through the Texas border country with a T-Bone Walker-Flaco Jimenez compilation 8 track blasting from the oversize rear speakers. Still with me? I hope so. Of course you'd wanna be along for that ride! Well this is as close as you're gonna get. No compilation short of 10 CDs is gonna capture the magic that was the late great Doug Sahm, but here's a great place to start. From the opening notes on Augie Meyer's Vox organ intro to "Mendocino", through the twin fiddle fun of "Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone",on past naive hippie experiments and honest to god Texas rhythm and blues, Sir Doug was the real deal. His passing last year left a real credibility gap in what passes for American roots music these days. You owe it to yourself to check this man out. When an Okie wishes he was a Texan....well, then some kind of transcendence has taken place. Doug Sahm is that good. Bless ya Doug, and thanks.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is This The Sound of Texas?, April 29, 2003

By 

Jimi Dominguez "music expert" (HOUSTON, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of Sir Douglas 68-75 (Audio CD)

There are varying opinions as to what exactly is "The Sound of Texas", musically speaking. Is it the prototypical rock & roll of Buddy Holly & the Crickets, the psychedelia of the 13th Floor Elevators, or is it the Texas Boogie of ZZ Top? Is it the rich Texas blues tradition of Robert Johnson (his recording sessions took place in San Antonio & Dallas), T-Bone Walker, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Lightnin' Hopkins, Johnny Winter, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, or is it the Western Swing of Bob Wills? Is it the classic country of Willie Nelson, or is it the classic country of Townes Van Zant? Is it the conjunto of Flaco Jimenez, or is it the conjunto of Steve Jordan? Is it the virtuosity of a Van Cliburn rendition of Rachmaninov's 3rd Piano Concerto, or is it Joe Ely's hard partyin' South Plains rockabilly? The truth is that all are concrete examples of the many "sounds" of Texas (notice the plural). However, if there is one specific artist who conveys the myriad Lone Star musical styles, mixes them and serves them up big with loads of Texas flavor like a pound of "carne asada con arroz y frijoles" and lots of salsa & tortillas not to mention an ice cold bottle of Pearl beer, then it's gotta be the late great Doug Sahm.

THE BEST OF DOUG SAHM & THE SIR DOUGLAS QUINTET is a remarkable compilation. If your a newbie to this San Antonio native's artistic genius, then this is the collection you'll want to start out with. It gathers the very best of Doug's golden era, 1968 - 1975. Although the Sir Douglas Quintet story actually begins in 1965 with the Tribe recording sessions produced by the Crazy Cajun Huey P. Meaux, which yielded the classics "She's About a Mover" and "The Rains Came", the SDQ songs captured on this compilation show a more musically mature and much more adventurous band at work, and they show why no label could be ever placed on Doug's music. There are also treasures from his early solo work. "Mendocino" is essential SDQ with Augie Meyers' priceless Vox organ leading the way back to South Texas from San Francisco. "Song of Everything" is reminiscent of what Ornette Coleman might have sounded like at the Fillmore West. "So Glad for Your Sake (But I'm Sorry for Mine)" and "Wasted Days & Wasted Nights", the latter penned by Freddy Fender, show the R&B style that was among Doug's earliest influences. "Be Real", which Doug released in 1970 as a country single in Nashville under the pseudonym Wayne Douglas, shows Doug to be among the finest vocalists that genre as ever seen or heard. Another country song, "Texas Me", drives home that point as Doug vents his pain from being homesick for the Lone Star State. "Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone?", featuring Bob Dylan, is from Doug's all-star album DOUG SAHM & BAND, yet another example of Doug's extraordinary skills as a writer & arranger. Of all the songs in this collection, perhaps this one says "Texas" the most. "The Gypsy" shows that Doug must have been a big fan of Louis Prima, and exhibits yet another element that influenced his style, what Doug called "that stridin' thing". What about the blues? T-Bone Walker's "Papa Ain't Salty" is given a seriously raw but textbook reading from the SDQ, and Doug shows off his scat-guitar skills on the equally raw "West Side Blues Again". He had serious skills at that! "In the Dark" shows off a fantastic and tight horn section, and as blues singer Doug is simply "da man". "Michoacan", from the 1972 motion picture CISCO PIKE, is an authentic South Texas polka and shows why the Chicanos changed Doug's last name to Saldana. A real treat is "I'm Not That Kat Anymore" from 1975 and Doug's brief tenure with Casablanca Records; it's kinda funny when you think about Doug Sahm being label mates with Parliament/Funkadelic and Kiss. It is quite possibly the most difficult song in the collection to even attempt to categorize.

Doug Sahm may have left this Earth, but he lives on forever thanks to compilations like this one, and also thanks to the re-release of his SDQ back catalog available on import as well as posthumous releases of his earliest work as a bandleader in San Antonio, his work with the Texas Tornados, and his last solo album THE RETURN OF WAYNE DOUGLAS. If one had to describe Doug in only a few words, take a line from his song "At The Crossroads", -"You just can't live in Texas if you don't gotta lotta soul..." Doug had more soul than the rest of us could ever imagine. Get this CD and listen for yourself.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You shall be unable to stop listening, February 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Best of Sir Douglas 68-75 (Audio CD)

Notwithstanding the fact that "She's about a mover" and some of their other early hits are left off, this Sir Douglas Quintet album is a fine collection of original recordings. If one can imagine country/western with a psychedelic, yes, sixties flavor, this is what it would sound like. Doug Sahm is still around himself, perhaps better known for the lively music he makes with Freddy Fender, Flaco Jimenez, and the Texas Tornadoes; but this CD should not be left unbought. I was addicted upon my first hearing of "Mendocino" and "Nuevo Laredo," and I am still listening.