Track Listing

1. Say What!
2. Lookin' Out The Window
3. Look At Little Sister
4. Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love
5. Gone Home
6. Change It
7. You'll Be Mine
8. Empty Arms
9. Come On [Part III]
10. Life Without You
11. SRV Speaks (previously unreleased)
12. Little Wing (previously unreleased)
13. Third Stone From The Sun (previously unreleased)
14. Slip Slidin' Slim

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10920 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

Amazon.com essential recording
Guitar lovers will flip over this reissue's new bonus tracks: a conversation in which Stevie Ray Vaughan extols the virtues of Jimi Hendrix's playing and then essays them all in a medley of "Little Wing/Third Stone From the Sun." There's also the brief slide-guitar instrumental "Slip Slidin' Slim." What's breathtaking about these and the 10 remastered cuts that were the original 1985 album are the remarkably live amplifier tones. It sounds as though Vaughan's plugged directly into your stereo--especially at the climax of "Little Wing," where his Stratocaster feeds back through a wall of spinning Leslie speakers in a fit of psychedelic bliss. Otherwise, this CD still seems like a creative holding pattern for Vaughan, despite the addition of keyboardist Reese Wynans to broaden his band's palette. Nonetheless, the prophetic "Change It," which foreshadowed Vaughan's recovery from addiction by a year, and his in-concert staples "Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up on Love" and "Life Without You" debut here. --Ted Drozdowski

Amazon.com
This 1985 release, Vaughan's third, marks a fittingly impressive close to his classic period. Reese Wynans' keyboards give Vaughan's sound added depth and pushes the music in a more polished direction, one with stronger elements of jazz and soul. Vaughan's serrated guitar work is stunning as usual, boasting expressive bends, passionate flurries, and pained wails. As on the first two albums, Vaughan opens with a furious instrumental, the groovy "Say What!" "Lookin' Out the Window" has an R&B style and the superb "Gone Home" settles into a mellow jazz mood. The uptempo "Look at Little Sister" and the super-slow "Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up on Love" display Vaughan's mastery of straightforward Texas blues. Vaughan also works up Earl King's "Come On" and shows sensitivity on the ballad "Life Without You." -- Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

****1/2
Stevie Ray Vaughan only lived long enough to release four studio albums and one live CD - everything else has come out after his tragic death in a 1990 helicopter accident.
Here on Amazon, every one of those four original albums are accompanied by at least one review stating that THIS is Vaughan's greatest record. And probably by one saying that it is his worst as well.

Oh well. This is Stevie's third album, originally released in October 1985, and for "Soul To Soul", Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble abandoned their original trio format and included keyboardist Reese Wynans and (occationally) saxist Joe Sublett.

The music hasn't changed too much, though. It's still a superb blend of blues and rock, and even though Vaughan's guitar is perhaps a little less prominent on some songs, his playing is still masterful.
The material is very strong, with only one or two lesser tunes - like the forgettable opener "Say What!". "Soul To Soul" is highlighted by the slow blues ballad "Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love", the swinging "Empty Arms" in 2/4 time, and the terrific rockers "Change It", "Lookin' Out The Window" and "Look At Little Sister" (excellent piano playing on that last one, and a nice saxophone solo as well).

Stevie also covers Howlin' Wolf's "You'll Be Mine", and considering that no-one in the world has yet been able to match the vocal power and ferocious attitude of the Wolf, and probably never will, he does a good job with it.

The three bonus tracks consist of a short interview snippet and two songs. Well, three songs, actually, since Vaughan plays a medley of "Third Stone From The Sun" and Hendrix' "Little Wing".
They're perhaps not quite as interesting as some of the bonus cuts on the other three remastered Stevie Ray Vaughan-albums, but they're not bad by any means, and Vaughan's playing is great as always.

"Soul To Soul" has a very strong track list, and it is highly recommended to any and all lovers of blues-rock and contemporary blues music. It is not Stevie Ray's best album, that would be "Texas Flood", but it is head and shoulders above almost everything else out there.
Modern electric blues rarely gets any better. In fact, it rarely gets this good.

A bigger sound with a new member.
With the addition of Reese Wynans on the keyboards the band get a fuller sound & new inspiration. As Reese adds some great keyboard playing to the music it lets Stevie concentrate on his singing a bit more, with very soulful results. Opening with Say What!, an instrumental on which Stevie plays with two wah pedals, the album goes through every song with a renewed passion for the music. Included on this one are songs like Change it & Come on (part III), but all the tracks on the album are great.

Excellent guitar playing
Soul To Soul features what is probably Stevie Ray's most impressive guitar playing. Say What! is one of my favorite SRV songs, an awesome wah-wah guitar piece. It also has Ain't Gonna Give Up On Love, a SRV original tune which is a fabulous old-fashioned blues song with excellent blues guitar. Great album and a must-have for blues guitar lovers.