** Rock and Roll Reminiscing – VVVV **

Tour2ma

Rock and Roll Reminiscing

08 June 2003 --- Letter Of The Week is “V”

For what this is about and some guidelines please click on the following link:

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7234

Yes, it’s a long post, but please read, if you participate.

This week we are only discussing artists whose last name, and groups whose name begin with the letter “V”.

Note: The word “The” doesn’t count, so for example “The Allman Brothers Band” belongs in the "A's" discussion and not in the “T’s” (guideline #5).

When possible, please supply complete title, format, company, year and catalog number when posting recordings.

And so our 26-week odyssey continues…

Hope you come along for the ride…

Tour2ma

I’ll leave SRV and VH for others and instead cover the obscure talents of a local Texas legend,

Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt – Vinyl reissue (1978 Tomato – TOM-7014)
This is my only album by Townes and it is so good, now I wonder why it’s the only one. This is laid back country/ blues not rock, but it is good stuff. “For the Sake of the Song” opens the album and I like to think of it as his guiding principle. It’s actually a redo off of his first album of the same name.

This is not my first mention of Townes as he was a frequent contributor to Cowboy Junkies recordings. Several of his songs became hits for others, e.g., Willie Nelson with “Pancho and Lefty”. Willie covered Townes’ material on several albums as did Emmylou Harris and many other country performers.

Townes never made it big as a performer, but in his recording life he somehow got almost twenty albums released prior to his passing in 1997. Since his death nearly another ten have made their way to press. From several sites I looked at it seems his 1977 double album release, Live at the Old Quarter (Houston, Texas), is the one to own., And since I don’t, it’s going on my buy list. Best price appears to be at Amazon for a 2001 dbl CD re-issue.

gidrah

While mostly known for their '80s pop stuff (Blister in the Sun, etc), these guys can rock. I saw them a few (closer to 10) yrs back and the whole place just came alive. I would honestly say that a 1/2 the crowd never sat down and that 3/4ths stood up for at least 1/2 of it. Dancing in the aisles, singing, etc. And this was in a small venue in Ann Arbor MI (U of M college town) by 3 guys. How often do you see a trio where people are dancing, yet the bassist is playing an upright?

The song "Black Girls" is a jam. It is one of those songs to test your speakers by.

avelanchefan

Van Halen anyone??

shack

Ok Tour...here goes...

Stevie Ray Vaughan - It should tell you a little about what I think of this artist that the first two SACD titiles that I purchased were Stevie Ray Vaughan albums. I can wholeheartedly recommend his entire catalog. I personally "discovered" Stevie Ray one night while watching "Austin City Limits". He came on performing material from his In Step album. If you have ever watched the show you know that if you come in during the program you they don't tell you who the artist is except at the beginning and at the end. I could not wait for the ending credits to find out who this guitar bluesman was. When I discovered his name I went out and bought In Step the next day. This was the most excited I had been about an artist in quite some time and I bought every CD by him I could find. Tragically he died in a helicopter crash just a few months after I became a fan of his work. I would have really liked to see him in concert. IMO he is one of the best guitar players ever...not so much from a technical standpoint (which is very good) but from the emotion that he emparts when he plays.

His "best of" collections are good (and there have been several since his death and his ensuing popularity) but you might miss some good stuff if that is all you buy. Here is a list of his albums;


Texas Flood - 1983 - (SACD - 2000) His first and arguably his best album. Starts off with "Love Struck Baby" and "Pride And Joy" and just keeps going from there. The original CD ended with a really nice track, "Lenny", but the SACD has some extra tracks.

Couldn't Stand The Weather - 1984 - (SACD - 1999) - "Cold Shot", "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" and "Couldn't Stand Weather" are excellent tracks. This second album was a little more polished but still managed to keep the raw blues quality. SACD also contains extra material.

Soul To Soul - 1985 - Maybe the weakest of his studio albums. "Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love" is classic Vaughan and "Say What" is a very nice lead off track.

Live Alive - 1986 - Live stuff from his first three albums plus "Willie the Wimp", "I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime)" and "Superstition". The live versions are a nice contrast to his studio work.

In Step" - 1989 - My personal favorite...maybe because it was the CD that turned me on to Stevie. The first three cuts of the album "The House Is Rockin' ", "Crossfire" and "Tightrope" are very strong. My favorite cuts of the CD are "Leave My Girl Alone", "Wall Of Denial" and the beautiful instumental "Riviera Paradise" (a real lights off mood piece). A good album from start to finish. **Highly recommended!**

The Sky Is Crying - 1991 - These are all tracks recorded in earlier studio sessions. I was skeptical about this album thinking it was a bunch of junk pieced together to take advantage of his death. However, every cut on this album could have easily been on any of his albums and not hurt them at all. The best tracks are "The Sky Is Crying", a nice cover of Hendrix's "Little Wing", "May I Have A Talk With You", "Chitlins Con Carne" and the album ends with an acoustic track "Life By The Drop" which is a fitting end to his great career.

In The Beginning - 1992, Live at Carnegie Hall - 1997, Live at Montreux 1982 and 1985 - 2001 are nice live albums for the fan but no new material.

His last recorded album before his death was with his brother Jimmy Vaughan (Fabulous Thunderbirds) titled Family Style -1990 - This one was different from all the rest of his albums with a much more polished and light feel. Still a good listen if you are a fan of either brother. "D/FW" and "Hillbillies From Outer Space" are interesting and "Tick Tock" is a nice cut.

I am a SRV fan!

Tour2ma

shack,
Good job my man, good job. I love SRV.

Probably the second music DVD I'll buy will be the complilation of his many (6 or so) ACL appearances. I've seen the video and it's wonderful stuff...

If you can find it, there's a various artists album, Blues Explosion (1984 Atlantic - 7 80149-1), recorded Live on "Blues Night" at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, that includes a 10:22 version of "Texas Flood" that is absolutely killer. Worth the price all on its own.

Last, if you've never seen it, VH1's "Behind the Music" on SRV is a very good watch.

abmarsh

All of Van Halen's albums with David Lee Roth are great! You can keep Van Hagar.

mhw58

I'm also a massive Stevie Ray Vaughan fan. ALong with Hendrix,
he is my favorite guitarist. The Austin City limits dvd is fantastic,
it is actually two different shows, one from 83 and one from 89.
The Live at the El Mocombo dvd is also fantastic, it's a smoldering
performance from 83. The only thing better than listening to
Stevie is watching him play. He was amazing! So sad that
he died so young when he had kicked drugs and was playing
some incredible music. We missed out on a lot with SRV and
Hendrix dying so young.
I agree also with early Van Halen, Eddie was hot. Van Hagar
was okay but that third VH singer was horrendous!
I'm not a huge fan of the Velvet Underground but they did do
some amazing stuff and have been very influential.
Mike

George Grand

The VENTURES man.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

Tour2ma

GG of the NJ surfin' Grands chimes in...

... I've got about a half dozen Ventures' albums in the rack. I searched for a cover to post of my favorite, "Golden Greats", but alas no can find... So I'll just say it involved a blonde and a gold bikini and leave it at that.

shack

Originally posted by Tour2ma
I searched for a cover to post of my favorite, "Golden Greats", but alas no can find... So I'll just say it involved a blonde and a gold bikini and leave it at that.

Tour - You've lost your touch:D . This was soooooooo easy. Just typed

ventures "golden greats"

on my yahoo search engine and the first hit produced this image




BTW - Nice album cover!

Some of their others weren't too bad either!

Tour2ma

Thanks shack... plenty of puberty appeal there..... even if I did not quite understand why at the time...

twobeme2d

Tour2ma wrote: »

shack,
Good job my man, good job. I love SRV.

Probably the second music DVD I'll buy will be the complilation of his many (6 or so) ACL appearances. I've seen the video and it's wonderful stuff...

If you can find it, there's a various artists album, Blues Explosion (1984 Atlantic - 7 80149-1), recorded Live on "Blues Night" at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, that includes a 10:22 version of "Texas Flood" that is absolutely killer. Worth the price all on its own.

Last, if you've never seen it, VH1's "Behind the Music" on SRV is a very good watch.

I am searching for this Blues Explosion Album, if anyone has it can you let me know?

George Grand

Of COURSE we'll make sure a treasured collectible goes to a complete stranger instead of sharing it with someone here who is a participant in our own forum!

Of COURSE we'll send the penguin through the flaming hoop tonight!

Of COURSE we'll play Petrouchka tonight!

Disc Jockey

Hehe