Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Couldn't Stand the Weather

I think the one thing I regret about Stevie Ray Vaughan is that I never saw him.  I'm not some huge fan of his, in fact this is the only album of his I have, but I wish I'd have seen him so I could compare him to some of my favorite guitar players.  Not because I think any one guy is really any better than another, but Stevie Ray was really great and I always liked a lot of his songs.  He could kind of veer off into that super blues Rawk territory sometimes, but I'm from the Midwest, and I can relate to that.  The dude made some great beer drinkin' and hell raisin' music.

I still kind of remember the first time I heard the title track.  Shit, I was in love!  I love the drums, I love the air around everything and I think it's just a terrific song.  Stevie doesn't just have the drummer and bass player hold something down while he wails, he actually sets a mood with them and they hold it for the whole song.  I think that's hard for some primarily Blues kinds of guitar players to do.  They're the star of the show, and especially with a three piece band they can turn things into a major wank-fest.  But Stevie doesn't do that on Couldn't Stand the Weather.  Everyone has a place to be and a job to do, and everyone does it together. I think it's great.

Now I kind of think things become a little more wankish on The Things I Used to Do.  This is probably the kind of song I expected.  That is, a vehicle for Stevie to wail and his fans to hold up their lighters and worship him.  I kind of hate that stuff sometimes.  Not all the time, because I like hearing a guy wail as much as anyone, but too much can be a bad thing quickly.  Since the next song is a Jimi Hendrix cover, I think one would be correct in assuming that things may be about to go bad, soon.

But like Jimi, Stevie stays within the song.  I mean, if you're gonna play Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), and even add the (Slight Return) to the album cover, then I think the assumption of rote imitation is warranted.  That's certainly not the case here.  Stevie plays his ass off, and I guess he'd better seeing as how this is like a signature Hendrix song, but the band is just as important, like Jimi's band was.  It's cool to hear Stevie inject his own style into one of Jimi's signature songs.  This could easily have been pure crap, but it's just wonderful.

The second side opens with my second favorite song on the record, Cold Shot.  I think Classic Rock radio plays it now, and acts like, "Oh yeah, we played the hell out of this back in the day."  Well, they didn't. They played Voodoo Chile and once in awhile Couldn't Stand the Weather.  The guy that doesn't think radio is pure shit in me thinks we should cut them a break for catching up with the fans, but the guy that knows better in me hates the fact that they only play Tim Pan Alley at 4 AM.  I hate even more that they play Tightrope 99% of the time they play Stevie Ray, so their occasional playings of some of these songs is too little, too late.

Hey, Stevie was a nice break in the 80's.  Double Trouble was a great backing band, and this guy managed to make a really rigid formula work for him.  He did it by being himself, and I don't play this all that often, but every time I do, I think one thing.

I should have went and seen Stevie Ray Vaughan play.

Well, my record is nice and flat.  It's probably the original 1984 pressing, and like I said, I hardly ever play it, so it's really quiet and sounds like a million bucks.