Amazon.com essential recording
Guitar lovers will flip over this reissue’s new bonus tracks: a conversation in which Stevie Ray Vaughan extols the virtues of Jimi Hendrix’s playing and then essays them all in a medley of "Little Wing/Third Stone From the Sun." There’s also the brief slide-guitar instrumental "Slip Slidin’ Slim." What’s breathtaking about these and the 10 remastered cuts that were the original 1985 album are the remarkably live amplifier tones. It sounds as though Vaughan’s plugged directly into your stereo–especially at the climax of "Little Wing," where his Stratocaster feeds back through a wall of spinning Leslie speakers in a fit of psychedelic bliss. Otherwise, this CD still seems like a creative holding pattern for Vaughan, despite the addition of keyboardist Reese Wynans to broaden his band’s palette. Nonetheless, the prophetic "Change It," which foreshadowed Vaughan’s recovery from addiction by a year, and his in-concert staples "Ain’t Gone ‘n’ Give Up on Love" and "Life Without You" debut here. –Ted DrozdowskiAmazon.com
This 1985 release, Vaughan’s third, marks a fittingly impressive close to his classic period. Reese Wynans’ keyboards give Vaughan’s sound added depth and pushes the music in a more polished direction, one with stronger elements of jazz and soul. Vaughan’s serrated guitar work is stunning as usual, boasting expressive bends, passionate flurries, and pained wails. As on the first two albums, Vaughan opens with a furious instrumental, the groovy "Say What!" "Lookin’ Out the Window" has an R&B style and the superb "Gone Home" settles into a mellow jazz mood. The uptempo "Look at Little Sister" and the super-slow "Ain’t Gone ‘N’ Give Up on Love" display Vaughan’s mastery of straightforward Texas blues. Vaughan also works up Earl King’s "Come On" and shows sensitivity on the ballad "Life Without You." — Marc Greilsamer