*** STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN & DOUBLE TROUBLE, “Live at Carnegie Hall,” Epic
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With the late guitarist’s following as rabid and intense as Deadheads or Hendrix acolytes, Epic could have unleashed a Texas flood of live and archival releases in the years since the guitarist’s 1990 death in a helicopter crash. But other than the 1991 release of a 1980 radio concert as “The Early Years,” this is his first posthumous live set, and it’s a solid, if atypical, starting point.
Rather than the standard lineup of Vaughan, bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton, this 1984 performance has the trio augmented by Dr. John on keyboards, the Roomful of Blues horn section, singer Angela Strehli and, as a guitar foil, older brother Jimmie Vaughan.
Still, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s fretwork is always in the spotlight, from the flashy runs of the opening instrumental “Scuttle Buttin’ ” through his comping and leads on Albert King’s “C.O.D.” Vaughan’s playing at this point was still more about style than substance--something he only transcended shortly before his death--but it’s a masterful display nonetheless.
The highlight for real fans, though, is the finale, a medley capturing Vaughan alone with his Stratocaster, as intimate and personal as if he were sitting in his living room picking for a few friends rather than appearing on the nation’s most renowned stage.
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