Texas Tornados- Live from Austin, TX [Original recording remastered]

Texas Tornados | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 1, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: New West Records
• ASIN: B000BD1LIG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,327 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #2 in Music > Latin Music > Regional Mexican > Conjunto
  • #30 in Music > Latin Music > Regional Mexican > Tejano

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As the ebullient ringleader of this all-star Lone Star quartet, Doug Sahm tells this 1990 Austin City Limits crowd that "it's rock and roll conjunto time!" Such a description barely hints at the raucous vitality of the band's bilingual, Tex-Mex border music. The set (also available on DVD) finds Freddy Fender resurrecting his country smashes "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," while the tremulous vocals of some of his earlier, regional hits suggest that he is to Tejano music what Aaron Neville is to New Orleans soul. Conjunto accordion kingpin Flaco Jimenez provides rollicking instrumental accents throughout, while singing with Fender on some of the Spanish-language material. From the rock and roll side, Sahm and keyboardist Augie Meyers reprise their hits from the Sir Douglas Quintet's 1960s heyday, with "She's About a Mover" and "Mendocino" steeped in the same musical roots they share with Fender and Jimenez. Such raucous, festive interplay plainly enjoys a home-field advantage in Austin, where the performance finds the foursome hailed as conquering heroes. (The release serves as a memorial to Sahm, who died in 1999 and to whom the album is dedicated.) --Don McLeese

Product Description

The Texas Tormadoes' amazing 1990 Austin City Limits performance is now available on CD. Featuring Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, Augie Meyers and Flaco Jimenez, the Texas Tornadoes Live From Austin, Texas features some songs that were not included in the original broadcast as well as classic songs such as 'Wasted Days and Wasted Nights', 'She's About A Mover' and 'Before The Next Teardrop Falls'. New West. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impossible to find something better than this!!, December 29, 2006

By 

Ronald Van Scherpenzeel (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Texas Tornados- Live from Austin, TX (Audio CD)

I already wrote a review on this incredible musical event after watching
the show on DVD so my opinion on the CD version cannot be different.
The only sad thing about this is that both Doug and Freddy are not with
us anymore but we have their wonderful 1990 Austin Texas concert and
we can either listen to it or watch the incredible musical abilities
of this foursome. The best Conjunto Tex-Mex rock & roll gathering ever!!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tex-Mex At it's Best !!, March 26, 2007

By 

B. J. Taylor "music lover" (The Great State of Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Texas Tornados- Live from Austin, TX (Audio CD)

This is my all time favorite "cheer-me-up" album. As soon as the music starts, I just start smiling. I love the enthusiasm and the great talent that is displayed. The mingling of voices from both north and south of the border is a tribute to our southern society, showing that we all can and do get along wonderfully when we put our minds to it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Que pasa? The Texas Tornados, that's what!, April 9, 2009

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texas Tornados- Live from Austin, TX (Audio CD)

Tex-Mex supergroup The Texas Tornados played rock n' roll, R&B, Mexican folk, swing, boogie, ballads, and smaltzy country weepers with the same enthusiasm.
They were a brand new band when this 1990 session was recorded, a part of the PBS music series Austin City Limits, and they swing their way through a 74-minute set of Tornados tunes and songs from the back catalogues of the various members: "Sir Douglas", the great Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez, and Baldemar Huerta - better known as Freddy Fender.

Backed by an additional fine musicians, the Tornados happily serve up their unique Tex-Mex dish, from the country ballad "Larado Rose" and Doug Sahm's joyous late-60s pop-rocker "Mendocino", to a pretty convincing cover of bluesman Jimmy Reed's (always erroneously titled) "Baby What You Want Me To Do". He sang "baby, why you wanna let go", Jimmy did.
The four musicians mostly take turns performing the lead vocals; sometimes two or three singers will create an impromptu vocal harmony. The band is tight, even if the overall sonic image is perhaps a bit too unvaried, always dominated by either Jimenez' accordion or Augie Meyers' Vox organ. And you can tell that everybody on that night was enjoying themselves, the band included. They swing mightily on "Wasted Days And Wasted Nights", sung in a fragile tenor by Freddy Fender and on the rollicking "Who Were You Thinkin' Of", the old Sir Douglas Quintet-number which had been resurrected on their debut album, released only a few months earlier. We get a joyous rendition of "the San Antonio national anthem", as announced by Augie Meyers, the half-English, half-Spanish "Hey Baby Que Paso". And heads will have been bopping insanely to "Mathilda" for sure, and feet stomping with equal vigour to Doug Sahm's melodic up-tempo romp "Adios Mexico".

Okay, so 74 minutes of this may sound to start a little bit stale if you're not a hardcore fan, sure, and newcomers should probably start with the slightly more accessible "The Best of the Texas Tornados", or the group's eponymous debut album (which is pretty much played here in its entirety anyway).
But those who are fans will find a treasure trove of delightful, spirited performances here, played with passion and gusto by a brand-new band of grizzled veterans!