Live Alive [Vinyl]

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble: Stevie Ray Vaughan (vocals, guitar); Reese Wynans (keyboards); Tommy Shannon (bass); Chris "Whipper" Layton (drums). Additional personnel: Jimmie Vaughan (guitar). Producer: Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble. Engineers include: Dave Richards, Gary Olazabal, Kurt Kinzel. Recorded live at Montreux Jazz Festival on July 16, 1985; Austin Opera House on July 17-18, 1986; Dallas Starfest on July 19, 1986. Stevie Ray Vaughan is a red-hot talent whose fiery playing and passionate delivery have seen him heralded as the future of the blues, alongside such notables as Robert Cray. For 1986's LIVE ALIVE, three albums into his career, Vaughan added pianist Reese Wynans to the Double Trouble duo of Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton, fleshing out an already-potent sound. Originals like "Change It" and "Say What" find Wynan's rollicking playing gilding Vaughan's unusually funky playing, while Wynans and Vaughan play off one another in percolating covers of material by Stevie Wonder ("Superstition") and Hank Ballard ("Look At Little Sister"). As always, Vaughan pays tribute to his elders-Buddy Guy ("Mary Had A Little Lamb"), Howlin' Wolf ("I'm Leaving You [Commit A Crime]"), and Jimi Hendrix ("Voodoo Chile [Slight Return]"). Although this Hendrix version lags a bit, Vaughan's playing is exemplary on the shuffling "Cold Shot" and downright playful on "Love Struck Baby," where older brother Jimmie joins in the fun.

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop