Customer Reviews

The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Volume 2

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The original 11-track "Greatest Hits" CD from 1995 didn't do justice to the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan at all, but since it was replaced by "The Real Deal - Greatest Hits vol. 1", all that has changed.

Vol. 1 includes sixteen of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's best and best-known songs, including "Pride & Joy", "Cold Shot", the sizzling high-octane blues "Texas Flood", and the rollicking "The House Is Rocking", and here you get sixteen more.
The quality is every bit as high as on volume one, and if the songs are slightly less well known, they're certainly no less excellent. We get stellar career highlights like the swaggering, piano-driven boogie "Look At Little Sister" and the riff-driven "Willie The Wimp", driving, up-tempo rockers like "Love Struck Baby" and the tough but supremely groovy "Empty Arms", and the intense survivor's tale "Life By The Drop".

This is an exceptionally strong and varied collection of songs, a terrific showcase for the never-overestimated talents of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Its only flaw, if you will, is that it doesn't really work as a proper career overview, so you'll have to get volume one as well! :-)

Ignore the Amazon "review editor." He sounds like a know-it-all purist who apparently either hasn't got the ear for SRV or is...well, at least a teensy bit clueless. This album contains some of the absolute best of SRV and Double Trouble. I thought "Lenny" was amazingly beautiful - and THEN I heard Riviera Paradise." It was astounding, and got better each of the 20-or-so times I listened to it on the headphones the first night I got the CD. When I first heard "Voodoo Chile, Slight Return" I literally stopped in my tracks and said "Holy S&%$T!" for it was the first time I'd heard ANYONE outdo Hendrix at his own game, with his own song. "Pipeline" absolutely smokes. About the only song missing on this CD to make it rate a 6 out of 5 is "Little Wing" off of the "Sky is Crying" CD. The list of songs on this CD is WELL worthy of a second Greatest Hits compilation, in contradiction to "Mr." Ted Drozdowski, la review editor. In fact, all the archivists need do is pull in several of the flaming hot, smokin' bluesy numbers SRV did live at El Mocombo, Austin City Limits, and off of soundtracks or as backing guitarist for other bands/singers and there's EASILY enough for a third Greatest/Best CD!

As with the movies, when the reviewers dis the stuff, it's time to perk up and pay attention. Unless you've already got all this stuff in your collection, GET IT!

If Stevie is new to you, this is likely the best disc with which to start your collection. you say you like over the top guitar pyrotechnics? we've got it(Voodoo Chile, slight return). Dig the blues? We have them, too (Aint gone 'n give up on love). Want to kick back & relax with some of the most soulful guitar ever played? "Lenny" is the song for you. There is little wonder why the record executive had tears in her eyes when Stevie played it for her after a four hour show in a small Texas club. Would you like to go "unplugged?," we've got what you need (Life by the drop.) Like angry blues? Then you better crank the volume knob up all the way when you get to "Leave my little girl alone." The solo 1:10 into the song will blow your mind! It is absolutely incendiary! As a fifteen year fan of this guitarist, I still get chills listening to this new live version. Play this cd LOUD and OFTEN and thank GOD for giving us Stevie, even if it wasn't for long enough.

Stevie Ray Vaughan might have been the only man alive to approach the cosmic heights reached by the legendary Jimi Hendrix. He had the soulful voice, the second-to-none (but tasteful) chops, and the uncanny talent of taking blues standards and making them his own in a way that a second-tier blues guitarist like Eric Clapton can only attempt to emulate. Stevie was the real deal. His unfortunately short career began in 1980 and ended in 1990 with the sad helicopter accident that took his life. Throughout that career, Vaughan reinvented the world of blues guitar and bridged the gap between 12-bar blues and rock 'n' roll. While he wasn't the first to perform this feat, few did it as well.

The two single-disc Greatest Hits compilations available today do a pretty good job of rounding up his best material (both live and studio)--that is, if you don't mind buying them both. However, if you want all of this material without having to buy both discs separately, there's a better way to go. Look for a collection titled "The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble" locally. This is a 2-disc compilation not offered on Amazon that basically bundles together the two Greatest Hits discs. It has almost all the same songs (chronologically ordered too). Of course, you miss out on the rarity Pipeline featuring Dick Dale, but that isn't a huge loss to the casual fan.

Now that I've let you in on that little secret, go forth and add some SRV to your collection. If you're really hooked, seek out the individual studio albums (Texas Flood, Couldn't Stand The Weather, Soul To Soul, In Step) and also check out the several live albums available. Actually, go for the live albums first. Stevie was amazing live, as this compilation's versions of Shake For Me, Willie The Wimp, and Superstition (way better than the Stevie Wonder original!) prove. Also marvel at the phenomenal cover of Hendrix's Voodoo Child (Slight Return). Let's see any living guitarist try topping THAT.

So, in summary, your collection isn't complete without at least one Stevie album. Next to B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and (yes) Jimi, he was the greatest blues guitarist ever. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

Labeling this a hits collection is misleading, since pretty much all of Vaughan's "hits" and well-known songs were on his first Greatest Hits release, but this collection picks up where that one left off, including most of his underrated songs and album cuts, as well as several rare and live numbers. Needless to say, there are some all-time classics here: Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), Lovestruck Baby, etc., but what is mostly here are key album tracks such as Riveria Paradise and Lenny. First go and buy an SRV studio album or two, or perhaps Greatest Hits, and then pick this up.

This album is definately an expansion on the first greatest hits album; although not his most popular songs, Real Deal contains several of his non-hits which were very representative of his persona and his music. Included is the song "Pipeline" which can only be found on the gaudy "Back to the Beach" soundtrack and also the live version of "Leave my little girl alone" from the "Live from Austin, Texas" video. A definite "must have" for the "first timer" and the enthusiast alike.

Stevie Ray Vaughn may have hit the scene a couple decades after guitar heroes were a staple of popular music, but the tracks on this best of album show that Stevie was more then just youre average blues based wannabe. He blasts out the blues so intricately and yet with a force so intense its hard to believe some of these songs were actually written by a human. Take on the lyrical poetry of "Lenny", the startling cover of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and the surprising step into jazz on "Riviera Paradise". The Real Deal proves that Vaughn knew a lot more about the art of playing guitar then the usual blues boogie

SRV is the king of electirc blues guitar if not the electric guitar period. This album is great! It gives a wide range of some of his lesser know hits and even an acoustic song about SRV's struggles with drugs. This CD exempifies all that is right about Stevie's music and all that is wrong with today's cookie-cutter rock-and-roll. Everyone should own this great example of American ingenuity!

Usually when an artist covers a song from another artist it's not as good as the original. SRV's cover of "Voodoo Child" is just as good if not better than the Hendrix version. It is absolutely one of the best pieces of guitar work since the guitar was invented and it sends chills down the spine and it really makes you think as to how talented some human beings are. "Life By the Drop" is a beautiful blues piece that SRV plays on that famous Guild 12 string acoustic guitar he owned. Great lyrics and voice. A lot of SRV albums focus in on just his blues guitar playing but "Riveria Paradise" is one of the most beautiful pieces of solo guitar created. This a great collection for the new SRV fan as I have become and the collection is filled with beautiful guitar solos and blues riffs that will leave the listener in absolute awe. It's a real shame that SRV is no longer with us, taken away on that fateful August night in 1990 but he was so far ahead in his music that people today are still trying to catch up. There are a handful of artists who come along and are so brilliant and so ahead of their time that they are considered immortal and leave this world abruptly and too soon such as Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Elvis Presley. SRV is certainly one of these artists. Highly recommend this collection. You won't be sorry if you're a guitar player.

You either love or hate "Greatest Hits" albums. Most people starting out listening to someone new (to them) will most likely pick-up a greatest hits if available. This gives the listener an insight into what the artist is made of. The Real Deal samples the SRV collection though his career and should tantalize any new fan to purchase the individual CD's. I personally found Vol. 2 better than Vol. 1 because it presents more than just the top hits played on the radio, it shows his depth as a musician. For the die-hard SRV fan why would you want this CD? (1) Because it includes "Pipeline" that is just awesome and is very hard to find, and a promotional kick-butt version of Leave "My Little Girl Alone". (2) If you are lucky enough to get in on the first run of the CD you get a reflective SRV Logo on the front cover. This will become a collector's item as time goes on. For the new fan pick it up, for the die-hard fan pick it up to add to your collection.