Customer Reviews

Texas Tornados- Live from Austin, TX

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!!!

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.

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!

I loved Doug Sahm,Augie Meyers,Flaco Jiminez and Freddie Fender (Baldemar) and missed those now departed. I highly recommend this performance if you love Tex Mex music, Texas roots rock or just these musicians!

i bought this and several others. had a chance to see them live..awesome..the best of texmex..give them a try..you won't be sorry..

This CD is wonderful and you simply canNOT sit down while listening to it! Makes you want to grab a partner and dance the night away! Love it-Love it-Love it!!! Every song is one you want to memorize and sing into the night. Ha! Ha! Um, oh and the Texas Tornadoes are awesome!!!

Not only is this one of my favorite cds, I found this band entirely by accident while looking for Los Lobos/Mavericks side projects (Through the Super Seven). Initially I bought "The Best of" and made this purchase based on that. I've purchased no less then 3 copies of this cd because 95% of the people who've heard it have wanted it. I now own all of their stuff and am saddened there will nothing else from these brilliant Tex Mex technicians! The other live TT available here on Amazon, has a lot of the same songs, but there's a slightly different "feel" to the recording and performance. They're both fantastic for different reasons but in a pinch, go with this live release.

Sound was fine but it wasn't formatted properly or something - I couldn't pick out any song in particular that I wanted to hear; it would only play in sequence if at all.