Despite his mainstream career only lasting seven years, terminated by the tragic helicopter crash that killed him along with four others in 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan had played the clubs and bars of Texas for nigh on 15 years before his big break at 1982 s Montreux Festival, and his appearance on David Bowie s Let s Dance album the following year. But once he did take off there was barely any stopping him and across this short period he built an enormous following from both blues fanatics who had been bereft of a true guitar hero since Jimi Hendrix had passed on more than a decade earlier, and from younger enthusiasts tired of the plastic synth scene that was concurrently tearing up MTV and the Billboard Charts. He had released five studio albums during his short career and tour religiously – interrupted only by his months of rehab in 1986, and for a two year period between 1987 and 1989 when he was unable to record or compose for legal reasons, while his divorce to Lenora Bailey was going through. This 3 CD collection features a triumvirate of live Stevie Ray shows, all taken from FM Broadcasts, performed throughout the period when his star was shining brightest.
The Spectrum, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
August 17th, 1984
King Biscuit Flower Hour Broadcasts
Soundboard recording
The first of these, on DISC ONE of this set, is the early show played at the Spectrum in Montreal, Canada, on August 17th 1984, a few months following the release of his second album, “Couldn’t Stand The Weather”, and thus featuring a number of cuts from that record, but mixing it up too with earlier songs and covers. It should be noted this is a completely different show to that now featured on the Deluxe Edition of Couldn’t Stand the Weather, which is the late set, albeit performed on the same day
01 – Love Struck Baby [00:00]
02 – Tell Me [03:15]
03 – Texas Flood [06:32]
04 – Wham! [15:19]
05 – Stang’s Swang [21:17]
06 – Lenny [24:26]
07 – Pride And Joy [35:37]
08 – Rude Mood [40:04]
The second show, on DISC TWO, is Stevie s complete set played at the Chicago Blues Festival on June 7th 1985, when “Soul To Soul” was all but in the can awaiting release in September of that year. The set list this time however only features a couple of tracks from this forthcoming album, and the selection played is more varied, not unusual when performing in front of a festival crowd.
01 – Testify 02 – Say What 03 – Ain’t Gone ‘N’ Give Upon Love 04 – Voodoo Chile 05 – Mary Had A Little Lamb 06 – Texas Flood 07 – Come On 08 – Pride And Joy 09 – Life Without You
On DISC THREE, perhaps the most interesting of all, features Stevie s complete New Year s Eve show 1986, performed at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, shortly after he d completed rehab and was back in defiant mood and making the party go with a swing. Joined for a couple of cuts by fellow guitar legend Lonnie Mack, this gig is often acclaimed as one of Vaughan’s best ever.
, author Richie Unterberger writes that Yule’s debut was October 4th. Either way, the band’s new member had little time to prepare.
, we can hear what they sounded like during this historic show. Incredibly, Yule already appears to be a good fit. He’s obviously up for the task, coming up with interesting bass lines—even singing background harmonies—on songs that he had just learned. His harmony vocal gelling perfectly with Reed’s during a lovely version of “Jesus” is just one of many cool moments. Reed’s guitar work is also noteworthy, like during the wild and weird middle section of 
, which came out the following year). There’s nothing all that interesting happening here at first (though Yule once again contributes some mighty fine harmonizing); that is, until Reed kicks off the initial solo with a fierce blast of noise. He follows up with melodic lines that resemble what would be heard on the now-familiar album take, but while the guitar tone on the LP version is psychedelic, here it’s all about volume and distortion. During the second and final solo, after a similar melodic passage, Lou lets it rip. At around the 4:52 mark, he goes into hyperactive overdrive, whipping up an atypically riotous, face melter of a solo that’s downright giddy in execution. It’s the sound of a man set free.
, VU’s 1995 boxed set, and to date it’s the only track from the Cleveland concerts to be officially released. In his liner notes for the box, David Fricke is suitably inspired by the rendition, writing that it’s “rich with pyro-fuzzbox spew and climaxes with a staccato rush of tonal destruction over Sterling Morrison’s implacable, syncopated rhythm clang.”
