Fretplay.com Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble CD reviews Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble guitar tabs Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble CD reviews Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble tabs The Sky Is Crying


Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - The Sky Is Crying Audio CD

A fair review of the Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble "The Sky Is Crying" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble reviews here, or go back to the Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble tabs.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble Band: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Title: The Sky Is Crying
Rating:
Release Date: 1991-11-05
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Boot Hill 2: Sky Is Crying 3: Empty Arms 4: Little Wing 5: Wham! 6: May I Have a Talk with You 7: Close to You 8: Chitlins Con Carne 9: So Excited 10: Life by the Drop

Posthumous perfection
There are usually rough demos and half finished bits that someone has gone through and tried to sew together into a viable album. Collections of this sort are frequently uneven and often feel patched together.
This is definitely NOT one of those albums. From start to finish this posthumous collection of SRV's work feels solid and tight, as though it was actually meant to be an album right from the start.
The title track and cover of Elmore James' The Sky is Crying exudes every inch of sadness fans felt at the death of Vaughan. His cover of Hendix's Little Wing is simply sublime and the closing Life By The Drop is a heartfelt and hard earned acoustic tale of alcoholism defeated.
In between those highlights are pieces that are every bit as perfect and every bit as memorable as anything the guitar master ever recorded.
In an odd way this may be may favorite of Vaughan's releases. Perhaps my judgement of it is colored just slightly with his loss to the world, but in truth I think it really does stand up as one of his finest releases. .


Time softens the blow
Some efforts are better than others. Often with artists that pass before their time should have been up, there is a rush to make a few bucks while their memory is fresh in our minds. This CD collects extra tracks and few rarities from the vault and serves them up as a farewell. I think that his record label can indeed be faulted for rushing this out because as good as these tracks are, there was a great deal of material to select from that was ignored.


Life by the Drop
I was wrong. I was hesitant about buying this album when it first came out because Stevie hadn't been dead a year and I figured the record company was probably trying to just cash in on his untimely demise. I don't see how these out-takes didn't make it onto the albums. Especially Life by the Drop, which drew tears the first time I heard it, and has become one of my very favorite songs. Another highlight is Chitlins con Carne, Stevie's homage to jazz great Kenny Burrell. Little Wing has never been played with such soul and grace (sorry Hendrix & Clapton fans). There isn't a bad song to be found here, and plenty of rarities to make it a must have.


For a album of outtakes, it's very good
It's big on the blues cover tunes (all of their albums had a few) but the strong performances show an embracing of the blues rather than just a retread. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's posthumous album, The Sky Is Crying, is a rarity in the fact that the outtakes here are of the same high quality of the rest of the band's albums. The fact that no guitarist could play or sing quite like Stevie Ray certainly distinguished them as well. Everything here works as the band breathes even more fire into Lonnie Mack's "Wham", turns the Jimi Hendrix classic into a slow burner that gains in momentum until it reaches its end, and turns their own "Empty Arms", which sounded somewhat sluggish on Soul to Soul, into a joyous shuffle. Stevie Ray also shows his continued love of jazz on Kenny Burrell's "Chitlins Con Carne" and pays tribute to the Yardbirds on his own instrumental "So Excited. " The tracks recorded during the In Step sessions are also great as Stevie Ray's wicked slide playing highlights "Boot Hill" and he gives a passionate vocal performance on "Life by the Drop. " The remaining tracks, versions of "May I Have a Talk with You" and "Close To You", are also very good. All told, The Sky Is Crying is a very good album, sounding much better than a collection of outtakes has a right to. .


In Memory
It's the perfect title to this, the first posthumous release of Stevie Ray Vaughan's material. The Sky is Crying.

It's honestly hard to listen to this album without feeling the emptiness left behind with Vaughan's passing, knowing that this was all there was left. A recording, not an album exactly, of outtakes and seconds that, somehow, manages to be just as strong as any other release by SRV.

Given that these are songs never really intended for release, it's amazing how powerfully they come together. Part of the appeal is in hearing SRV cover classics like "The Sky Is Crying" and "Little Wing," songs that, as many times and by as many artists as I've heard them, I never get tired of hearing, just to see how another guitarist combines the familiar with his or her own unique style. Of course, Vaughan does a fantastic job with them, here, as is to be expected, and they provide that appropriate note of sadness to an album that marks a sad moment.

But it's not all sad tunes, as typically SRV bluesy rockers are found in plenty, as well ("Wham"; "Close to You"; "So Excited"). And there are other songs that are just so full of emotion that I'm amazed that they weren't included in other albums ("May I Have a Talk With You"; "Life by the Drop").

In an album so clearly connected to the loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan, closer "Life by the Drop" seems a fitting finish. Simple, with lyrics that seem to fit the moment perfectly, and then the album is over. Just like that.

I've heard some say that SRV is just white man's blues, and that it doesn't recall the true emotion of the blues. Well, this one does for a good many listeners.


You can see a complete list of all Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble discography, or go back to the Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

Search guitar tabs

#ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
[ Search tabs | Guitar tabs | Bass tabs |
Easy guitar tabs | Guitar solo tabs |
Acoustic guitar tabs | Guitar chords |
How to read guitar tabs ]
Forum topics
Music forums
- Bands and artists - Songwriting and lyrics - Tablature talk - Promote your band
Instrument forums
- Guitar basics - Gear & accessories - Bass guitar
Community
- The pit - Site Feedback - Reviews
[ User survey | About us | Privacy statement ]