Product Description

Presents the band's appearances on Austin City Limits.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: VAUGHAN,STEVIE RAY & DOUBLE TROUBLE
Title: LIVE FROM AUSTIN TEXAS
Street Release Date: 09/02/1997
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4547 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 1997-09-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Live, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 63 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Few guitarists ever mastered the Fender Stratocaster like the late, great Texas bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan, and this priceless digital video disc collects both of the sizzling appearances that Vaughan and his solid band, Double Trouble, made on the PBS concert series Austin City Limits. Combined to form the most popular program in the show's distinguished history, the concerts were taped in 1983 and 1989; both provide a valuable portrait of Vaughan's astounding artistic development. The performances serve as bookends to Vaughan's brilliant career with Double Trouble, showing (in the words of producer Terry Lickona) a striking contrast between "zero self-confidence" and "pure magic," but in both cases you can see a master at work. Songs include "Pride and Joy," "Texas Flood," "Voodoo Chile," "Cold Shot," and "Riviera Paradise." This great-sounding DVD also includes the posthumous music video "Little Wing," featuring clips of Double Trouble and archival footage of blues greats from the 1920s to the mid-1990s. If you're even a part-time blues fan, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Live from Austin, Texas is a must-have disc. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Live SRV & Double Trouble...a real treat
Wow. I had several of their CD's but had never seen a live performance. This video changed that forever. SRV and Double Trouble (DT) appeared twice on Austin City Limits, once in 1983 and again in 1989. The 1983 show highlights SRV as he is beginning to make a name for himself. Already well know to the Austin Blues scene, DT is only three guys but what a sound they put out. SRV is tremendous in Pride and Joy, a powerful Texas Flood (Stevie actually gets Number 1 to growl! ) and his early trademark Voodoo Chile (that's child without the "d"). These three alone are worth the price of admission. The last 2/3 of the tape are from the 1989 show. Now Stevie and the band are cleaned up and keyboardist Reese Wynans adds his extra dimension to the music. Some classic DT tracks are on this portion of the tape. Stevie's solos are mature and entrancing. My favorites in this section are a 7-minute long Cold Shot where Stevie's lead is pure magic, and Riviera Paradise. A bonus at the end of the tape: the Little Wing video with shots of Blues greats from the past and present. Taken all-in-all, this is my most cherished music video. If you're in any way a Blues fan, you'll come to love this video too. Definitely Five Stars!

Great Performances, Disappointing Production
There are some incredible performances on this DVD, but unfortunately, I saw the Austin City Limits programs they were taken from. How the producers decided to keep the songs they kept and cut the ones they cut is beyond me. Why not offer one or two DVDs with the entire Autin City Limits programs intact? All of the songs in both of the original performances were "keepers". Any "chaff", if there was any, had already been cut by the Austin City Limits folks. Any further editing could only diminish the final product. And it did.

Another gripe is that the sound on this DVD has been compressed in a way that makes me constantly wish my ears would pop. Why the producers thought this was necessary is another mystery. The sound of the televised performances was, if not perfect, MUCH more realistic and listenable than the sound on the DVD. This is downright sad because the DVD medium is capable of so much MORE than TV sound and in this case you get less.

My 3 star rating is not meant to say anything about Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble, who were one of my favorite bands and arguably one of the best of all time. It is rather a complaint against the tone-deaf, musically challeged folks in the record industry who feel they have to leave their substandard mark on an otherwise stellar piece of artistic material.

If the music buying public is lucky, someday someone will re-release the SRV Austin City Limits pieces in their entirety with professionally engineered sound tracks.

If you're a dyed-in-the-wool SRV fan, you will want to own this DVD anyway, but if you're not buying everything that Double Trouble ever released as a matter of principle and want something truly representative of how good the band could really be, I can recommend "Live At The El Macambo" without reservation. It's one of the best live performances, by anyone, ever captured on video.

HIS SPIRIT AND MUSIC LIVE ON
The first song "Pride and Joy" starts off with Stevie playing a red guitar, wearing red shoes and playing RED HOT! WOW! From start to finish this is an AMAZING performance. Actually you get two, count 'em, TWO shows. One from 1983 (the first four songs) and then songs five through twelve are from Stevie's final performance in Austin City Limits, in 1989. I love both concerts but there is something extra special in the 1989 show. Stevie really CONNECTS to his audience, the band, and seems so full of joy. He makes a dedication of the gorgeous ballad "Riviera Paradise" to "all the people out there who are still suffering in any way."

I love every single song but my favorites here are "Pride And Joy", "Texas Flood", "Tightrope" (he really gets into this one, lemme tell ya--LOVE IT!), "Leave My Girl Alone", "Crossfire", and "Riviera Paradise."

Musically speaking, my impression is that he has an ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR style, PRESENTATION and PRESENCE. His use of pianisimos, crescendos, fortes and stops is the best I think I've ever heard outside of an orchestra. His voice is perfect with his music; he sings and plays simultaneously, yet EFFORTLESSLY. He FEELS every note and his phrasing and ATTACK of EACH note is PHENOMENAL. Stevie is nothing short of BRILLIANT to watch. It is like witnessing him step into another realm of reality!

I will never tire of music that is this passionate, intense and expressive. Oh what a loss that he is gone! But indeed his music and his spirit TRULY LIVE ON!

I must mention Reese Wynans, the keyboardist. He is the most brilliant keyboardist I've ever seen. What a team he and Stevie made! WOW! The bassist and drummer were great too! What a band! Also the Bonus Video Clip "Little Wing" is fantastic.

THIS IS ESSENTIAL FOR ANY SRV FAN! BUY IT NOW!

Mr. King himself sums up Stevie best: "I would describe him as a guitar master. He had made up his mind the guitar wasn't going to master him--he was gonna master it. And he did just that."

"Can I hear an amen?" Dan Forte

AMEN!