Customer Reviews

Texas Flood

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

What an amazing album. "Love Struck Baby" starts it off and is one of their most famous songs. "Testify" is one of the greatest songs Stevie ever did. It shows you his rough, lightning-quick style and why so many became imitators of his playing. "Rude Mood" and "Lenny" are great, but are even better on the Carnegie Hall album for arrangement. "Texas Flood" is a great example of classic blues writing and another favorite of the masses. Plus, the five bonus tracks are great. Some live stuff and even part of an interview Stevie did in 1989, which continues on the other re-issued albums. Since this is the debut album, this is a great place to start a collection. And you will start one if you buy this, believe me.

P.S. Try to watch live recordings of the band, where you get to see the energy they play with. Check reruns of Austin City Limits, or buy one of the many videos released.

Way back in 1983 my brother pulled me aside. His voice was nearly trembling with excitement. "You've GOT to hear this", he said, then he put on "Pride and Joy".

Oh. My. Goodness.

That first album was vinyl and we played the spots off of it. When I enlisted in the Navy later that year I had to get my own copy to carry with me, on cassette. Later, we both had to get the CD versions.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is a musician of immeasurable talent and influence. When "Texas Flood" was released, there hadn't been anything like it heard since Hendrix. His tone on that old beat-up stratocaster was hot and brown. (A brief digression on the "brown" sound - Eddie Van Halen said it was the difference between hitting a block of wood with a hammer and hitting an anvil. If you don't get that - don't bother.)

Texas Flood was a stunning collection of upbeat tunes and instrumentals mixed evenly with hair-raising slow blues. SRV wired that stratocaster with cables, (seriously, his guitar gauges were ridiculously thick), then he bent those strings into tortured notes that hit your eardrum the way a bite of your momma's apple pie hits your tongue or the way Catherine Zeta Jones hits the eye.

The title tune is a slow blues jam with Stevie's great vocals mixed in with his guitar solos scorching sound waves - at times he bends strings up TWO half-frets, choking the life out of that strat. The previously mentioned "Pride and Joy" is more uptempo and everything good about guitar-based Blues can be heard on that track. "Mary Had A Little Lamb" takes several children's nursery rhymes and puts them to the 3-chord miracle that was Double Trouble.

I won't bother going over every track - they're all good, and if you're serious about the blues this album MUST be in your collection.

As an aside - I see several outraged reviewers trying to rebut some idiot who wrote "let's face it, this guitar player is awful". I'm very curious if "Bonnie" was serious - because saying SRV was awful would be to say the same about Mozart, or Shakespeare or Johnny Unitas. They're greatness is so obvious that we're not worthy to even attempt to measure it.

Back in 1983, some friends & I headed to Asbury Park, N.J., to the Convention Center to see Marshall Crenshaw & Dave Edmunds on a double bill. Much to our disturbance, we discovered we would have to wait for Crenshaw to come on because there was an unannounced third act opening the show-a band from Texas called Double Trouble ( being unsophisticated Jersey boys, we had no idea what had been going on in Austin.) The group's set commenced with some in the crowd grumbling that they wanted to see Marshall Crenshaw straightaway. Forty minutes later, Stevie Ray Vaughan & his band had finished and the crowd, stirred to utter amazement, would not let them leave. That night I saw a man do things with a guitar with such lightning like bravado, I could not believe what I was seeing or hearing; Bruce Springsteen learned to make a guitar talk, but Stevie Ray had learned to give the six-string swagger. "Texas Flood" is a testament to what rock&blues swagger should sound like, and to what an enormous talent Stevie Ray Vaughan was and still is in the mind's of guitar afficianados everywhere.
From the opening twangs of "Love Struck Baby" & "Pride & Joy," on through to last bonus cut, a live version of "Wham!" you'll be captivated by the sound & the walk-the-walk style of perhaps the greatest guitar talent ever to come out of Texas. If everything is bigger in the Lonestar State, then that includes the sound of blistering blues guitar, which Stevie Ray proves without a doubt on "Texas Flood." This one is a keeper par excellence and one of my favorite guitar albums ever, right next to Jeff Beck's "Blow by Blow." No valid rock&blues cd collection can be without this record. It is certainly one of the greatest of its time & its kind.

I first heard SRV and Double Trouble - probably Pride and Joy - on the radio and I can recall only two other times in my life when I felt so dumbstruck - hearing the Beatles and Hendrix previously.

As a middle aged man who first started playing guitar at a very young age in the 60's, I was always interested in hearing and seeing new players.

On that day, I found out who this phenom was and immediately scoured my back issues of guitar magazines to see if there was any information about him. I also made a point of getting to a local record store that day and purchasing Texas Flood, that was probably played continuously for the next few months. And while I became a disciple of this incredible talent relatively quickly, the love affair was solidified when I was lucky enough to see him at the El Mocombo a short time later (the show that was released as a VHS / DVD).

The title song - Texas Flood - is perhaps one of the greatest blues songs I have ever heard. It's even more remarkable when you realize that the song you're hearing was recorded almost "live" in the studio with a minimum of overdubs and takes.

Jackson Brown allowed the band to use his LA home studio to record this album and if memory serves me correctly, the entire album was recorded in days or a couple of weeks at most. And they essentially played live in the studio which gave it a very authentic feel. It didn't sound polished or slick or too sterile. This was Texas blues guitar played by a man and band that had mastered their craft playing countless gigs in and around Austin, Texas.

Of course, electric blues had been around for many, many years. And some of the greats like the Kings and Buddy Guy and Robert Johnson had had a significant influence on many of the great British players and bands like Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards and many, many others. However, this beautiful genre of music had relatively limited appeal to the "masses".

With this release, the renaissance and rebirth of the blues began. Single handedly, SRV with the release of this and subsequent albums inspired interest in the blues. Suddenly, people like myself, who had been playing guitar and listening to blues for many years, suddenly saw it in a whole new light. My listening, I confess, had been limited to Clapton. After listening to Texas Flood, it became a mission to find out more about the men who inspired this guy.

I realized that in order to really appreciate SRV's music, I had to listen to the men who inspired him to play guitar.

In subsequent years, I've managed to purchase much of the same hardware that SRV used throught his career - SRV signature Strat, Marshall and Fender amps and heavy strings tuned down a semi tone in an effort to try and replicate his sound.

However, I've not even come close. His ability didn't come from his equipment. SRV had a God given gift in his hands and ears. He was put here for one reason and one reason only - to play the blues.

Stevie was once asked what he would like to accomplish with his music. He stated that he wanted to be remembered for taking the colour out of the blues.

He succeeded.

This is an incredible debut album which should be in anybody's collection. Do yourself a huge favour and listen to this blues master.

TEXAS FLOOD is STEVIE RAY VAUGHN'S first album and every song on this album is a hit. Now that it is remastered, the songs are fresher and sound better, and we have some bonus live tracks that show where SRV really earned his reputation, and that is by playing live back in Austin. We have classic tracks such as LOVE STRUCK BABY, PRIDE AND JOY, MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB,I'M CRYIN, which are uptempo blues rockers, and we also have the slower tempo blues classics TEXAS FLOOD,and DIRTY POOL. LENNY, TELL ME, and RUDE MOOD are classic blues instrumentals that are a must listen to. This remastered and reissued album is great and we be enjoyed by all fans of the blues and will be a great way for new fans to be introduced to SRV music

Either this or The Sky is Crying would be the perfect first album for those who don't own any of his work yet. It has most of Vaughan's blues staples on this version- Howlin wolf's Tell Me Tin Pan Alley -Live- Arguably the harshest and most well done blues song of his career in music- Texas Flood- His biggest staple of standard blues- Pride and Joy his most famous and most upbeat blues song- and Lenny his groundbreaking smooth blues instrumental written for his wife. Also Lonnie Mack song Wham! and Mack-hendrix-A.King- influenced istrumentals Testify and Rude Mood. Every song here is a superb example of Vaughan and could be turned into a whole conversation about him. Awesome Hard core blues- Rock- And bluesrock music. Buy it now! You won't be dissappointed.

Why? Is this album full of profanity? No. Is it filled with hateful and violent lyrics? No. Does it contain lewd sexual references? No again. Is it satanic or paganistic? Nope. If you play TEXAS FLOOD in the presence of children, will they try to get you to buy a guitar for them? Don't blame me. You've been warned.

Yep, this album truly is a feast for the ears. All this album contains is a guitar player/singer, a bassist, and a drummer. Which is certainly more than enough when you consider that its SRV and the incredible Double Trouble. The songs range from honky-tonk blues ("Pride and Joy") to Chuck Berry style rock and roll ("Love Struck Baby") to a soft instrumental ("Lenny").

When SRV put this album out, he ceased merely being a great guitar player or even a guitar hero. He became a guitar deity much like Hendrix or Clapton. It doesn't just take years, it takes decades to acquire the level of proficiency that SRV displayed on this album. Every note that came out, either from his guitar or his voice, was put there for a reason. Nothing was wasted. It is especially impressive hearing the solo on the title track. SRV bends the strings in such a bizarre manner that it sounds like the tape was recording at the wrong speed. It somehow makes you of it being as both beautiful and technically impossible.

But sadly, SRV is no longer with us. However, he left us a bunch of great material behind for others to seek inspiration in. Hopefully, these future musicians will show SRV the same respect that he showed his own heroes.

Do you remember the state of The Blues in the early 80's? Of course you don't because it was nowhere. When SRV burst on the nationwide scene in 1983 Buddy Guy's career was over and guess what ... so was Eric Clapton's! How many albums since Stevie Ray has Clapton released that are blues albums? Pretty much all of them. Do guys like Johnny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd have careers if Texas Fllod isn't released? Probably not. Stevie Ray Vaughan is referred to as "the man who saved the blues." Who says so? Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Guitar World Magazine.

Texas Flood is the album that made all of us sit up and reconsider the music that spawned the SRV's spiritual antecedent Jimi Hendrix Stones, The Beatles, Zeppelin, ZZ Top, The Black Crowes etc. and made all serious guitar players everywhwere say "wow, that hurts my fingers just listening."

Stevie Ray did things on this album that has not been successfully and consistently imitated by anyone.

This being the very first studio album of Stevie Ray and Double trouble makes it only that much sweeter. With the album-titled track "Texas Flood", Stevie takes you on a journey of musical mastery and fluid blues stylings that will leave you gape-jawed and wanting more. Take a listen to "Rude Mood" the instrumental, and like myself, you will wonder if maybe Stevie had all 10 fingers on his left hand. This man was inceredible, and a sad loss to the music industry. This being the first album of the blues trio... I would highly reccomend it to any fans!! Added bonus... Stevie speaks from the grave in his interview! Grab this one before it gets away!

Stevie Ray Vaughan. The master of the guitar. Under the wing of Albert King he took the bull by the horns. He picked up his fender and showed the world he was serious. The true intensity and speed of his style has not yet been surpassed. "Texas Flood" and "Pride and Joy", two blues classics that show Stevie at his best. One of the best blues albums EVER if not the best. The money is WELL worth it. Stevie is the biggest influence on me and my guitar and he is to be renouned as one of the greatest guitarist to ever set foot on this earth. This Cd will leave you feeling like you have gained something. The CD is simplily the best and a MUST for any one who plans to pick up a guitar or who just loves great music. One CD that I can listen to the WHOLE THING.