Release Date: 20 November, 2001
Audio CD
Tracks
- Hide Away
- Rude Mood
- Pride And Joy
- Texas Flood
- Love Struck Baby
- Dirty Pool
- Give Me Back My Wig
- Collins Shuffle
- Scuttle Buttin'
- Say What!
- Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love
- Pride And Joy
- Mary Had A Little Lamb Live
- Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place In Town)
- Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
- Texas Flood
- Life Without You
- Gone Home Live
- Couldn't Stand The Weather
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Rating 4.5
What went wrong in MontreuxThis is my DVD review with in addition a comment to the reviewer who calls the booing audience "French idiots". Montreux is in Switzerland and their audiences come all over the world. I would estimate that up to 50% of the people at the concerts are foreigners.
I've read many accounts of what happened during SRV's first Montreux performance, all of them were wrong. People like to believe that SRV was not appreciated because his color, his age, his clothes, his electric blues etc., I would like to clarify what really happened at Montreux.
He was not booed because of his tatoos, because he was white or because the audience didn't understand electric blues. He was loud. Way too loud for the room he was playing in. He was so loud you couldn't even understand what he, or the rest of the band was playing. The stage sound was so loud that even when the house sound was turned off you still couldn't understand what he was playing. He also appeared to be so "absorbed" in his music that he didn't realize what was happening. Everyone I spoke to at the concert felt that he was on drugs (which later turned out to be a major problem for SRV).
The next day Jackson Brown was playing and during the soundcheck his people repeatedly said "let's keep the volume down because yesterday SRV was booed off the stage because he was so loud".
When SRV came back the 2nd time, he was already a star (or a rapidly rising star) and even though he was still very loud, it wasn't as bad, plus this time he had built a fan base. We all know that stars are forgiven almost everything by their hard core fans.
I saw 15 years of MJF, and can say that the Montreux Jazz Festival audiences are very appreciative of any style of music. They listen attentively both to well known and new artists. However, since they are paying to listen to music they want to al least hear what they paid for.
By the way, another artist was booed before SRV. It was Barbara Mandrell in 1979. It was an evening of country music and I think she didn't come across as sincere.
Another time Champion Jack Dupree was playing at the MJF and since he was surrounded by televsion cameras and the audience couldn't even see him sing and play they started booing the TV people. Unfortunately CJD misunderstood and thought he wasn't appreciated, wrong! The audience loved him!
One of my favorite live setsThis is a terrific set, but not really meant for the casual Stevie Ray fan. This is more geared for the die-hard fans. The shows collected here are amazing, to hear the incredible boing to the triumphant return will give you goosebumps. Here we are shown why Stevie Ray was, and always will be, the consumate professional. THE NEW KID IN TOWNI have to admit that no one is more surprised than I am at how much I loved SRV and miss him. I had only his records and seen a few TV appearances when he was killed; but he was gone and here I was expecting many more years and much more music from him. More "product" as such does not replace the loss.
I also am not a "completist" when it comes to collecting albums-meaning that I don't need every single note an artist put on magnetic tape to feel like I have a fair collection. Thus, as much as I love Hendrix and the Doors, I do not delve much into obscure pressings from...say...Singapore or Denmark. So why show any interest in another "live" album from the SRV archive even though it comes from EPIC-Vaughn's official U.S. label?
"Live" albums in a sense are like wines. The same vineyard growing the same variety of grapes produces different yields and qualities in vintage year to year. Some "live" albums are undistinguished and one can substitute one for another from the same band. Indeed, the reason so many "live" albums fall flat is because anymore one goes to a concert to see the band and not so much to listen to the music. (You try to catch the nuances of the bass playing in a large stadium.) The best however go for some consistent level of excellence for the fans. But, in spite of even the artist's intentions, some shows just catch fire like no other for little apparent reason. Some nights and special occasions are just memorable in themselves. So while an artist may offer three different "live" vintages of the same set list, the flavors of those recordings may be markedly poles apart.
With this release we actually have two "live" performances separated by three years. The first disc presents SRV's first appearance at Montreux where he was greeted with boos and catcalls. This was before SRV's first album and so Vaughn's style and reputation was mainly confined to the state of Texas. The jazz and blues fans at Montreux know what they like and this isn't it. They like the blues sound most closely associated with Chicago; but Texas has it's own blues tradition. SRV also was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix and, in spite of several jazz greats (such as Gil Evans) absorbing Hendrix' music into their own bag of tricks, a large segment of the jazz community will hold it's nose whenever any "Jimi chords" pass by.
The organizers of Montreux have a long tradition of reaching out and booking musical acts that fall outside the jazz community's rigid boundaries. The actual crowd at these events also has a long tradition of trashing these acts; so the brickbats SRV met with were not entirely unexpected. Vaughan's actual set consists of much of the early material that made it to TEXAS FLOOD, his first album. You can practically feel the tension coming off the CD as Vaughan manfully plays against the resentment and calls for him to leave the stage. For fans, this first disc is interesting as a document of this legendary rejection. It is clear that it was not as some claimed that SRV was having a bad night and the audience was reacting to that. The audience didn't know what it was listening to and reacted badly because SRV wasn't living up to THEIR expectations. The silver lining in this disaster was that SRV won the enthusiasm and support of David Bowie.
The second disc tells a wholly different story. Three years later with two smash albums under his belt SRV returns to Montreux like a conquering hero to cheering crowds. This CD booklet shows SRV in a cowboy getup that strikes me as unintentionally funny-but that may just be me. Probably the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show" look is what Europeans think a cowboy really looks like. The enthusiasm of the audience who now knew what to expect clearly set SRV on fire. With the audience so grateful and appreciative of what he had to give naturally Vaughan was more than happy to give them more. As if there was any doubt whether Vaughan belonged on Montreux's special stage, Johnny Copeland graces an appearance on "Tin Pan Alley "-as if to say to the doubters "Yes, this is very O.K.".
There is only a two-song duplication between these two discs but even there the difference is like night and day. Obviously, I prefer the 1985 performance to the earlier 1982 one. While I still like SRV's LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL best, this is a superior "live" recording. If there are more CD releases from the EPIC vault, let's hope that they are all of this high caliber.
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