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Stevie Ray Vaughan & Friends
Solos, Sessions & Encores
(Legacy)
First Appeared in The Music Box, November 2007, Volume 14, #11
Written by John Metzger
Mon November 19, 2007, 06:50 AM CST
Like a lot of albums that fuse previously issued songs to material that never
was meant to be released, Solos, Sessions & Encores, the latest offering
from the archives of Stevie Ray Vaughan, is a bit of a mess. As it progresses
from track to track, it also moves from studio sessions to concert halls and
back again. Consequently, the results are sometimes jarring and disorienting,
and although there are bits and pieces of the collection that seem to want to
stick together, there really isn’t any flow or overriding organization to the
mayhem that ensues. Yet, for fans of Vaughan as well as the blues, it’s
impossible not to get lost within most of the individual selections.
Over the course of his all-too-brief career, Vaughan never truly received the
respect that he deserved as an artist. Part of the problem undeniably revolved
around his underdeveloped abilities as a songwriter. He never completely found
his voice, and, perhaps knowing this, he augmented his own serviceable
compositions with a steady stream of classic rock and blues cover tunes. The
other side of the equation was that, once he was propelled into the limelight,
his ascent was so rapid and the media attention was so tremendous that many
purists remained skeptical of his intentions. He also, then, found himself
trying to balance his own interests with the inherent limitations and
expectations that mainstream acceptance thrust upon him.
Disjointed as they may be, each track on Solos, Sessions & Encores is
a self-contained nugget that not only provides a glimpse into the past but also
highlights the many angled perspectives from which Vaughan viewed the blues. He
settles comfortably into the flow of the studio cuts, including Marcia Ball’s
swinging, horn-dappled arrangement of Soulful Dress and Dick Dale’s
full-steam-ahead, surf-guitar-style romp through Pipeline. Likewise, his
contributions to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance will make a whole lot more
sense to some folks after they hear the funky refrains of A.C. Reed’s Miami
Strut. In each case, Vaughan is a rather gracious accompanist, and although
he raises the intensity of the material with his fiery guitar licks, he never
steals the show from his hosts.
There is no doubt, too, that Vaughan loved to perform. He was most
comfortable standing on stage, his guitar in hand, sinking into the slipstream
of a song. Not surprisingly, the concert material that is featured on Solos,
Sessions & Encores is nothing short of stellar. Throughout the set, he spars
with and supports his heroes — including Albert Collins (Albert’s Shuffle),
Jeff Beck (Goin’ Down), Lonnie Mack (Oreo Cookie Blues), and the
triumvirate of Albert King, B.B. King, and Paul Butterfield (The Sky Is
Crying). Rather than trying to upstage any of them, however, he engaged his
fellow guitarists in a collaborative effort to push the blues wherever it would
lead, and more often than not, the journey was quite thrilling.  ½
Solos, Sessions & Encores is available from
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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