Product Description

1985's SOUL TO SOUL was Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's third album and on it, they are joined by keyboardist Reese Wynans whose contributions gives it a funkier edge thanits two predecessors. Vaughan was always respectful of his roots and this time out he chose to included covers of songsby Hank Ballard ("Look At Little Sister"), Earl King ("ComeOn [Part III]") and Willie Dixon ("You'll Be Mine"). Even on songs he'd written himself, the Texas guitar slinger can be heard channeling Albert King's high-bent, string-squeezingtechnique on "Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love", while a JimiHendrix-like combo of squalling leads and wah-wah-soaked rhythm playing saturate the infectious title track.
Wynans fattened up the trio's sound and his use of Hammond organ isa perfect compliment to the Grant Green-like touch Vaughan gave to Eddie Harris' "Gone Home". "Change It" takes on an insistent edge as Wynan's organ swirls around SRV's crunchingriffs. The bonus tracks include a 1989 interview with Timothy White along with the Slim Harpo-flavoured "Slip Slidin' Slim" and a monster medley of Hendrix's "Little Wing/Third Stone From The Sun".

Track Listing

1. Say What
2. Looking Out The Window
3. Look At Little Sister
4. Ain't Gonna Give Up On Love
5. Gone Home
6. Change It
7. You'll Be Mine
8. Empty Arms
9. Come On
10. Life Without You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27471 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-22
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Arguably the finest blues guitarist of his generation, Wisconsin-born Stevie Ray Vaughan initially learnt his chops on his brother--and Fabulous Thunderbirds' mainstay--Jimmie's hand-me-down guitars whilst glued to the works of Albert King and Lonnie Mack. After honing his skills in the late 70s with a variety of lacklustre combos, he was headhunted by David Bowie for 1983's Let's Dance tour, but left early to concentrate on his solo work. On this, his third album, Vaughan's virtuosity is both augmented and accentuated by Double Trouble, a backing band of rare competence, finally allowed to shine after having played a singularly supportive role to Stevie on earlier efforts. From the throbbing mid-tempo blues grooves of "Say What", through the barroom shuffle of "Look At Little Sister" to the head-spinning, flying-finger dexterity of "Empty Arms", Soul To Soul stands as a fitting epitaph to a true master of the blues. --Ian Fortnam

Customer Reviews

An Orgasm Of Sound
This is perhaps SRV's best album. The opening 'Say What!' is the greatest blues-playing ever, and, believe it or not, it was recorded and played live using a wah-pedal that his elder brother, Jimmie Vaughan, got from Jimi Hendrix when he was supporting him in the sixties. Other highlights include the amazing slow-blues of 'Ain't Gone N' Give Up On Love' (which becomes an unbelievably quick blues that would take Steve Vai's breath away when played live. 'Change It' is a great cover of an old blues song, with a great solo. Earl King's 'Come On (Part 3)' is played like the Hendrix version, and whilst Jimi got the better of him here, his cover of 'Little Wing' (one of the bonus tracks) is way better. The closing four-minute guitar solo is too good to be real, and includes some of those amazing noises that Hendrix played in 'Machine Gun'. The closing 'Life Without You' is also excellent.

In short, this is an amazing album, and further proof that Stevie Ray Vaughan was indeed the greatest guitarist ever. BUY IT NOW, along with everything else he ever did. You won't regret it, because you brain, having melted, won't be capable of that emotion.

The finest album of SRV's career
In my opinion, Soul to Soul is the best thing Stevie Ray Vaughan ever did. It is also the most accessible and relaxing album of his legendary repertoire.
His third and penultimate album (not including post-humous The Sky is Crying), this album ranges from everything from straight-ahead blues to jazz to soul/funk.
My favourite tracks are blues anthem 'Look at Little Sister', distorted rocker 'Change It', excellent cover 'Come On' and sensational ballad 'Life Without You'.
Instrumental opener 'Say What' is a great way to get things started, although it lacks the razor sharp appeal of 'Scuttle Buttin', opening track of Couldn't Stand the Weather.
Although I'll be the first to admit this album does have some obvious filler tracks ('You'll Be Mine'), the non-filler tracks are some of the strongest blues songs ever written, all featuring blisteringly-precise fretwork and flawless rhythm.

In conclusion, this is an album you must own if you have any kind of appreciation for the blues, or guitar music as a whole. Even if you aren't that fond of blues, you should try this as it is undeniable '80s classic.

Stevie's Lifestyle has inflections on his playing...
For the Texas Blues veteran of only twentysomething years, Soul To Soul is both the least emotive and the least blue. Attempting to fuse Soul music with Blues and Rock, Stevie Ray created a languid and somewhat disappointing blues-rock album with a few good tunes on it. The highlights are the incredibly fantastically enjoyably brilliant Say What!, a solid return to weeping, tortured blues with Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love, and the dreaming, exquisite, and dainty Life Without You. As well as the others worth mention: Look At Little Sister, a standard but fun blues jaunt, and gone home, a slightly unorganised jazz jam.

But then there are still the the lowlights: the unimpressive and passive Lookin' Out The Window, strangely disenchanting Change It, and the empty-sounding You'll Be Mine and Empty Arms. As well as a decent cover of a great tune, Come on, Pt. 3, which fails to really have the brilliance of covers like Texas Flood and Tell Me.

Stevie's playing remains unchanged and as great as ever, but by Soul To Soul his playing seems to have become a little tiresome and repetitive, especially when there can be heard almost no true feeling in more than a few of the tracks.

For all the low points, it's an album DEFINITELY worth having, if just for the fantastic Wah-jam, Say What! and Life Without you, as well as being an important point in a full catalogue of Stevie's work. Any true fan can't go without it, and any other fan should perhaps go with Texas Flood and In Step instead.