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Rating: "Sometimes what appear as failures, are really successes in disguise"
So reads the quote by Tommy Shannon placed on the cardboard back of this posthumously released double live album; which somewhat summarizes the two experiences and the time that will elapse between them. Some necessary premises need to be made to frame periods and contexts: in July 1982, during the first European descent of good Stevie and the merry double/triple brigade, Texas Flood had not yet been released; so there couldn't be any familiarity with the sound, unless some daring European had followed him to America.
Switzerland is not Texas - unfortunately - in every sense. The Montreux Jazz Festival, although one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, is not one of those endless series of sweaty, beery, and provincial Blues festivals scattered across the United States, where Stevie was the new king between the late '70s and early '80s; thus, this Texan arrived on the old continent like an alien just landed from another planet, in every sense. Stevie is not relaxed, and it shows, he is not rampant and not fiery as witnessed by incendiary live performances - especially bootlegs - prior to that 1982 which earned him the nomination as the new prophet of Rock Blues guitar on the field.
"Hide Away" by his hero Freddie King launches a fearful, intimidated, detached Stevie. It seems as if something is trying to release energy trapped between the strings of his guitar, a shot that remained in the barrel. Things slightly improve with "Rude Mood", although the grit that the piece would have in future years is something distant, so much so that Stevie tries to extend it with a reprise of "Hide Away". Even a simple Jack & Coke requires the right primary doses. "Pride and Joy" represents the real launch pad of the album. From this moment on, there is a slight but significant crescendo that manages to place Stevie in the right dimension. After all, "Pride and Joy" remains a faithful companion, a flagship of the very first hour in which even Layton and Shannon seem to find their shine again after the initial lack of conviction.
Another grandly fired bullet is "Texas Flood" in all its slow. Stevie was certainly not a singer, but the way he dirty the songs was exactly what those songs demanded from a voice. "Love Struck Baby" never betrays in all its cool Rock and Roll mood, an energy that begins with greater intensity to reconcile Stevie more and more with his baby and his sound. The torrential and introspective "Dirty Pool" leaves humidity in the air, typical of certain shades of Stevie's sound. His sounds have a lot to do with his places and the weather linked to them. The Boogie Rock of "Give Me Back My Wig" leaves a sparkling trail that prepares to flow into the final piece, "Collins Shuffle". Thus concludes the first experience of Stevie on the Old Continent, an experience that will in some ways open doors for Our. The Jackson Brownes, David Bowie will arrive, Mick Jagger sponsors him, that old fox, John Hammond Senior, has everything ready...
We are in 1985. We no longer have the Texan who came a few years earlier with all his enthusiasm and who was trying to conquer the European continent with blows of Stratocaster. No, now there's Stevie Ray Vaughan, two awards at the "W.C. Handy National Blues Awards" in the categories "Entertainer of the Year and Blues Instrumentalist of the Year" for the first time ever awarded to a white man and unanimously consecrated as a living legend. Champion of a genre not in vogue in the '80s, but thanks to him, it managed to carve out an important slice in people's tastes, navigating between metallic sounds and dark synths, somewhat the musical synthesis of the '80s. It is already clear that the music has changed just from how Our is greeted by the presenter, certainly of quite a different caliber than three years earlier.
The frantic riff of "Scuttle Buttin'" opens the dances in all its splendor, Reese Wynans’ - recent acquisition - smooth organ strokes and the faithful rhythm of Shannon and Layton bring Stevie to "Say What!", where he bites the Blues in all its wah-wah. "Ain't Gone 'N Give up on Love" brings Stevie to a relaxed and enticing territory, just like in the backroom times of Antone's, where the Soul nuances of Stevie's voice and the alternating piano/organ of Reese manage to put the cherry on top. The legendary accompaniment to Layton's hi-hat, where he does what you wouldn't expect in normal Blues. "Pride and Joy" could not stay out of the game, and indeed it manages in all its groove to give the artistic coordinates of Stevie's career. Buddy Guy's "Mary Had a Little Lamb", a piece dear to Stevie, does not betray expectations; but here comes the great Johnny Copeland, who offers all his vocal and guitar expertise on a poignant "Tin Pan Alley", one of the classics of deep America, which enchanted a young Stevie during the days when it came out of the old juke box at Antone's. The most famous wah-wah strumming in music history foretell "Voodoo Child", where Stevie's guitarmanship reaches high peaks, but here a separate discussion would be needed for the comparison between the Master of Seattle and the Master of Oak Cliff.
Even "Texas Flood", by now a consolidated and trusted classic, is part of the set, but Wynans' contributions are not to be underestimated, one of the main reasons for the success of this second live. "Life Without You" slightly re-dimensions the evening, and perhaps that was necessary, kept until then with the expected zest. "Gone Home" manages, also with Reese's help, to explore those Bluesy/Jazzy boundaries of Joe Pass, T-Bone Walker, and Wes Montgomery so dear to Stevie. We reach the epilogue, "Couldn't Stand the Weather", a great piece and the title track of the eponymous album released the previous year, bids farewell to the magnificent experience with all its Funky fury.
The curtain falls on this second Swiss experience of Stevie, reaching the peak of his career and excesses that will lead him in 1986 to give a twist to his lifestyle. Unfortunately, these attempts to give meaning back to his human life will prove futile in the face of the destiny that will present the bill a few years later.
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