Texas Flood
| Texas Flood | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble | ||||
| Released | June 13, 1983 | |||
| Recorded |
November 22–24, 1982 Down Town Studio (Los Angeles, California) | |||
| Genre | Blues rock, Texas blues, electric blues | |||
| Length | 38:48 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Richard Mullen | |||
| Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Texas Flood | ||||
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Texas Flood is the debut album of American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, released on June 13, 1983 by Epic Records. The album was named after a cover featured on the album "Texas Flood," recorded by blues singer Larry Davis in 1958. Produced by the band and recording engineer Richard Mullen, it was recorded in only three days at Jackson Browne's personal recording studio in Los Angeles. Vaughan wrote six of the ten tracks on Texas Flood. Two singles were released from the album. A music video was made for "Love Struck Baby" and received regular rotation on MTV in 1983. In 1999, Texas Flood was reissued with five bonus tracks including an interview segment, studio outtake, and live performances.
Background
Vaughan and Double Trouble had performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1982 and caught the attention of musician Jackson Browne. He offered the band three days of free use in his Los Angeles recording studio. During Thanksgiving weekend, they accepted Browne's offer and recorded a demo.[1] It was heard by record producer John H. Hammond, who had discovered artists such as Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen among many others.[2] He presented the demo to Greg Geller, head of A&R at Epic Records, and arranged a recording contract.[3][4]
Recording and production
Since the first day of production largely involved setting up equipment, Texas Flood was recorded in two days.[5] In early 1983, subsequent to the band's signing with Epic, they were given an advance of $65,000 to re-master the recordings.[3] Vaughan's vocals were recorded at Riverside Sound in Austin, Texas.[6] The album was mixed and mastered in New York City.[3] The recordings were released as Texas Flood in June 1983.
Bassist Tommy Shannon recalls of the sessions, "It really was just a big warehouse with concrete floors and some rugs thrown down. We just found a little corner, set up in a circle looking at and listening to each other and played like a live band."[5] Vaughan used two Fender Vibroverbs and an 150-watt Dumbleland Special owned by Browne. Engineer and co-producer Richard Mullen says of his production techniques:
| “ | Just one mic on everything. I used two Shure SM57s on his guitar amps—one on a Fender Vibroverb with a 15-inch Altec Lansing speaker, and one on a Dumble 4x12" bottom (with Electro-Voice speakers) connected to a Dumble head. Stevie played through two Vibroverbs, but I only miked one of the speakers in one of them. I positioned the mics about three or four inches off the cabinet at about a 45 degree angle to the cone. The only effect he used was an Ibanez Tube Screamer. | ” |
| —Richard Mullen, [7] | ||
Touring
Vaughan and Double Trouble toured North America and Europe in June–December 1983 to support Texas Flood. On July 11, 1983, they performed at the El Mocambo in Toronto and a film was released in December 1999 by Sony named Live at the El Mocambo on DVD. A performance from Austin City Limits was also released on the video Live from Austin, Texas. On August 22, 1983, the band performed a sold-out concert at The Palace in Hollywood.[8] The show was broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour and three tracks were included on the reissue of Texas Flood.[9] The tour continued on through Europe and the band appeared at the Reading Festival in England.[10] They went back to the United States and opened 17 shows for The Moody Blues.[11]
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [12] |
| Robert Christgau | (B)[13] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B+)[14] |
| Guitar World | (favorable)[15] |
| Rolling Stone |  1983[16] 2004[17] |
| Texas Monthly | (favorable)[18] |
| Virgin Encyclopedia | [19] |
| Yahoo! Music | (favorable)[20] |
Texas Flood was released on June 13, 1983, with two singles released from the album—"Pride and Joy" and "Love Struck Baby". "Pride and Joy" peaked at #20 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Texas Flood" was nominated for Best Traditional Blues Performance and "Rude Mood" was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The album was mostly well received by critics. A five-star Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine described it as a "monumental impact" and said it "sparked a revitalization of the blues". Despite many positive responses, it also received some negative criticism with Rolling Stone criticizing Vaughan's originality and claiming that he didn't possess a distinctive style.
Texas Monthly gave the album a positive review, calling Vaughan "the most exciting guitarist to come out of Texas since Johnny Winter".[18] In a less enthusiastic review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau felt that the album lacks "momentum and song form", which he cited as both the essence of rock and roll and the reason his attention wanders "after the kickoff originals 'Love Struck Baby' and 'Pride and Joy.'"[13] The album peaked at #38 on the Billboard 200 chart immediately after its release. It went platinum in Canada and double-platinum in the United States, selling over 500,000 units.
Track listing
- "Love Struck Baby" (Stevie Ray Vaughan) – 2:24
- "Pride and Joy" (Vaughan) - 3:40
- "Texas Flood" (Larry Davis, Joseph Wade Scott) – 5:21
- "Tell Me" (Howlin' Wolf) – 2:49
- "Testify" (Ronald Isley/O'Kelly Isley, Jr./Rudolph Isley) – 3:25
- "Rude Mood" (Vaughan) – 4:40
- "Mary Had a Little Lamb" – 2:47
- "Dirty Pool" (Doyle Bramhall, Vaughan) – 5:02
- "I'm Cryin'" (Vaughan) – 3:42
- "Lenny" (Vaughan) – 4:58
Note: Many releases of the album errorneously attribute songwriting credits of "Testify" for Parliament members who have written an unrelated song of the same name. However, the song is an Isley Brothers cover, the original recording features Jimi Hendrix on guitar.
Bonus tracks
- "SRV Speaks" - 0:37
- "Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place in Town)" (Robert Geddins) - 7:42
- "Testify" (live) - 3:54
- "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (live) (Guy) - 3:31
- "Wham!" (live) (Lonnie Mack) - 4:20
Personnel
- Double Trouble
- Production
- Produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Richard Mullen, Tommy Shannon, and Chris Layton
- Executive producer - John H. Hammond
- Production assistant - Mikie Harris
- Engineered by Richard Mullen, assisted by James Geddes; Vocals on "I'm Cryin'" recorded by Lincoln Clapp
- Mixed by Lincoln Clapp, assisted by Don Wershba and Harry Spiridakis
- Mastered by Ken Robertson
- Cover art by Brad Holland
- Tray card photo by Don Hunstein
- Art direction by John Berg and Allen Weinberg
- 1999 reissue
- Executive producer - Tony Martell
- Produced by Bob Irwin
- Mastered by Vic Anesini
- Track 12 mixed by Danny Kadar
- Dialogue edited by Darcy Proper
- Research assistance by George Deahl, Al Quaglieri, Matthew Kelly, and Jon Naatjes
- Art direction by Josh Cheuse
- Editorial direction by Andy Schwartz
- Liner notes by Michael Ventura
Release history
| Region | Year | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1983 | Epic Records | LP | 38734 |
| 1990 | CD | |||
| 1999 | Epic/Legacy Recordings | 65870 | ||
| Japan | 2005 | Sony Music Entertainment | CD | 636 |
Notes
- ↑ Gregory August 2003, p. 74
- ↑ Kitts September 1997, p. 7
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Gregory August 2003, p. 78
- ↑ Prial June 2006, p. 295
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Guitar World October 2008
- ↑ Austin Records, Inc. 2006
- ↑ Guitar World February 2004
- ↑ Los Angeles Times August 1983
- ↑ Texas Flood album notes March 1999, p. 6
- ↑ Noble January 1996
- ↑ Moody Blues Tourbook 2000
- ↑ Allmusic 2009
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Christgau 1983
- ↑ Schinder April 1999
- ↑ di Perna October 2008, pp. 98–106
- ↑ Loder August 1983
- ↑ Hoard November 2004, pp. 844–45
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Plowman September 1983, p. 192
- ↑ Larkin March 2002
- ↑ Yahoo! Music 2011
References
- Loder, Kurt (August 18, 1983). "Texas Flood Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original
|archiveurl=requires|url=(help) on October 2, 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- Don Waller (August 24, 1983). "A Towering Display of Bluesicianship". Los Angeles Times.
- Christgau, Robert (September 27, 1983). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Plowman, Pepi (September 1983). "Blues at his fingertips". Texas Monthly (Emmis Communications) 11 (9). Retrieved February 24, 2011.
- Noble, Douglas (January 1996). "SRV's rhythm section remember". Guitar & Bass Magazine (Anthem Publishing) 6 (2). Retrieved February 25, 2011.
- Kitts, Jeff (September 1, 1997). Guitar world presents Stevie Ray Vaughan: from the pages of Guitar World. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0-7935-8080-4.
- Texas Flood (booklet). Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. New York City: Epic Records. 1999. p. 6. EK 65870. http://aln2.albumlinernotes.com/Texas_Flood.html.
- Schinder, Scott (April 2, 1999). "Studio album reissues". Entertainment Weekly (Time Inc.) (479). Retrieved February 24, 2011.
- "1983 Tour". Moody Blues Tourbook. 2000. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
- Larkin, Colin (March 1, 2002). Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Edition 4. Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-923-0.
- Gregory, Hugh (August 1, 2003). Roadhouse blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Texas R&B. Milwaukee: Backbeat. ISBN 978-0-87930-747-9.
- Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard, ed. (November 2, 2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Fourth edition. New York City: Fireside. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- "Austin Records History". Austin Records, Inc. 2006. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
- Prial, Dunstan (June 27, 2006). The Producer: John Hammond and the Soul of American Music. New York City: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-11304-9.
- di Perna, Allen (October 2008). "The Rising Tide: Texas Flood". Guitar World (Future US).
- "100 Greatest Guitar Solos: 13) "Texas Flood" (Stevie Ray Vaughan)". Guitar World. Future US. October 21, 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- "Texas Flood Review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- Quaintance, John (2011). "Texas Flood Review". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
External links
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