SOUND CHECK.SPOTLIGHT ON... Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist. His broad appeal, combination of unbelievable speed, precision, energy, passion and emotion and constant expansion of his Blues style into Funk, Jazz, and Double Trouble/``SRV'' (Epic/Legacy) There's such an abundance of posthumous Vaughan material available you'd almost believe the fiery Texas blues-rock guitarist was simply in hiding, churning out a couple of albums a year. In truth, Vaughan was constantly in recording mode and tape machines ran at countless gigs. This excellent career-spanning box features three discs of mostly previously unissued material, plus a DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. of unaired performances from a 1989 episode of TV's ``Austin City Limits'' and a richly designed 72-page booklet. Covering the years 1977 to 1990, ``SRV'' chronicles everything from Double Trouble's earliest sessions through their last performance at Alpine Valley, minutes before a helicopter crash took Vaughan's life. Highlights are many, starting with a 1977 track showing Vaughan's apprenticeship with Paul Ray & the Cobras, moving through flamethrowing stage performances, blues covers, Hendrix tributes and collaborations with, among others, Albert King, Lonnie Mack and Jeff Beck (where the sizzling siz·zle intr.v. siz·zled, siz·zling, siz·zles 1. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat. 2. To seethe with anger or indignation. 3. riff-trading of ``Goin' Down'' may be worth the price of admission alone). ``SRV'' is one of the best box sets of the year. Four stars - Fred Shuster St Germain/``Tourist'' (Blue Note) With the glut of mediocre sound collage albums floating through hip cafes and public-radio airwaves, it's easy to dismiss the genre entirely. But then French electronic music producer Ludovic Navarre returns to the scene after a five-year hiatus, and you remember the music's mind-bending, foot-tapping possibilities. St Germain's first album, ``Boulevard,'' invented jazz-house, but ``Tourist'' goes beyond the sampling straightjacket, creating an incredible blend of performance and programming. Standouts include the irresistible ``Morning Becomes Eclectic'' favorite ``Rose Rouge,'' ``Sure Thing,'' which builds on a John Lee Hooker riff, and the melodic, Latin-tinged ``So Flute.'' Navarre's crack six-piece band gets into the groove beautifully, but the real star is unsung Jamaican guitar great Ernest Ranglin. St Germain appears Wednesday at the El Rey Theatre. Four stars - Glenn Whipp Waco Brothers/``Electric Waco Chair'' (Bloodshot blood·shot adj. Red and inflamed as a result of locally congested blood vessels, as of the eyes. bloodshot Vox populi adjective ) Like his fellow Mekon Sally Timms, Jon Langford is one Brit with a felicitous fe·lic·i·tous adj. 1. Admirably suited; apt: a felicitous comparison. 2. Exhibiting an agreeably appropriate manner or style: a felicitous writer. 3. facility for twang. With Milwaukee's own Dean Schlabowske, Langford co-heads the Waco Brothers, and weaves a nice lacing of working- class punk snottiness into the band's hard-rocking honky tonk. Rousing, angry and poetically dextrous dex·trous adj. Variant of dexterous. Adj. 1. dextrous - skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands; "a deft waiter"; "deft fingers massaged her face"; "dexterous of hand and inventive of mind" screeds like ``Dragging My Own Tombstone'' and ``Walking on Hell's Roof Looking at the Flowers'' fit nicely here with the more introspective in·tro·spect intr.v. in·tro·spect·ed, in·tro·spect·ing, in·tro·spects To engage in introspection. [Latin intr likes of the badly lived life lament ``Circle Tour'' and a bar-busting version of the traditional ``When I Get My Reward.'' ``Electric Waco Chair'' sounds like a Clash album that's been abandoned in the West Texas desert with only some agave plants to keep it company. Three and one half stars - Bob Strauss Neil Young/``Road Rock Vol. 1'' (Reprise) When you release something close to 722 live albums over four decades, there's bound to be some stinkers. Always at his best simply accompanying himself on acoustic guitar (see 1993's superb ``Unplugged''), the schizoid schizoid /schiz·oid/ (skit´soid) 1. denoting the traits that characterize the schizoid personality. 2. Young instead insists on filling stage time with long, sludgy jams that bury songs in anonymous feedback-drenched quicksand quicksand State in which water-saturated sand loses its supporting capacity and acquires the characteristics of a liquid. Quicksand is usually found in a hollow at the mouth of a large river or along a flat stretch of stream or beach where pools of water become partly filled . ``Road Rock Vol. 1'' takes this sloppy approach to new depths. A look at the song list appears promising - an 18-minute ``Cowgirl in the Sand,'' a 10-minute ``Tonight's the Night Tonight's the Night could refer to one of several things: Musicals
n. A narrow, ribbonlike strip of dried dough, usually made of flour, eggs, and water. [German Nudel. his way into head-throbbing oblivion. Meanwhile, his - and your - sideburns side·burns pl.n. Growths of hair down the sides of a man's face in front of the ears, especially when worn with the rest of the beard shaved off. [Alteration of burnsides. grow another inch. Oh well, there's always No. 723. One and one half stars - F.S. Tom Mabe/``Revenge on the Telemarketers, Round 2'' (Virgin Nashville) Anyone in need of a quick hit of redneck comedy could do worse than this amusing and inspirational set of phone pranks pulled on unsuspecting telemarketers. Kentucky jingle writer Mabe's highly satisfying one-man battle includes telling callers he doesn't own a phone, impersonating an answering machine, and getting into long one-sided conversations about conjugal visits at the local jail. Rib-tickling stuff but not for repeated listening. Two stars - F.S. CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1) no caption (Stevie Ray Vaughan) (2 -- 5) no caption (CD covers) |
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