Jimmie Vaughan – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

This album is like a bag of chips; you can’t stop at one song. Hence, the reason I dropped the one song and just went on to the complete album. These guys deserve some attention for more than their two hits.

When I heard these guys in the 1980s, I loved what I was hearing. Tuff Enough hit, but the one that got me was Wrap It Up. Now I’ve gone back and started to listen to some of their other music, and it’s just what I expected. It’s tough, tight, and with a blues edge. What surprised me (it shouldn’t really) was who the producer was on this album. Nick Lowe strikes again in the middle of this tough R&B band. He really shows his versatility with this album.

Instead of trying to reshape the Thunderbirds, Lowe just pointed the microphones in the right direction and let them go. The production is warm and lean, nothing fancy, just that gritty barroom sound. He kept that edge to the music that the Thunderbirds would give.

I was disappointed when I didn’t hear any more songs by them on the radio. I should have known that there would not be much more in the 1980s. Guitar-driven rock/blues just wasn’t in as much. This band didn’t just hit out of nowhere. They formed in 1974 with original members Jimmie Vaughan, Kim Wilson (singer), Keith Ferguson, and Mike Buck. Austin vocalist Lou Ann Barton also performed occasionally with the group during its early years.

I’ve heard the phrase it’s The Groove That Won’t Quit before…Well, I will apply that to this album. Tracks like My Babe and Diddy Wah Diddy sound like they came out of a 1956 jukebox, but there’s nothing nostalgic about it. They gave life to R&B music in their own style and as contemporary as you could be in an era that wasn’t screaming for it. Every single note on this album feels road-tested.

One of my favorites off the album is How Do You Spell Love. It’s built like a tank and comes straight at you. Another favorite is Can’t Tear It Up Enuff, Jimmie Vaughan’s Telecaster stings and swings, and Kim Wilson tears through the vocal. This is the album that put them on the map. A few years later, they would be headlining tours and having hits.

This album was released in 1982 and rock critics were paying attention. The grouchy Robert Christgau wrote: “both sides open with fetchingly offhand ravers, Kim Wilson works his shoo-fly drawl for gumbo lilt, and the mysterious J. Miller contributes the irresistible ‘You’re Humbuggin’ Me’, which had me tearing through my Jimmy Reed records in a fruitless search for the original.”

Can’t Tear It Up Enuff

I’m in the mood to tear it up
I’m in my prime for tearing it up
I dig tearing up that stuff
I just can’t tear it up enuff

Don’t want no full time love
Baby let me be
I need a whole lotta part time love
To satisfy me
Don’t want no hand-me-downs
Got the biz rags on my back
I don’t need no used car
I got a brand new Cadillac

I’m dying to tear it up
I ain’t lying, I’m gonna tear it up
I dig tearing up that stuff
I just can’t tear it up enuff

I’ve got the finest weather
Living in this town
I’m sitting on top of the world
Nobody gonna get me down
I’ve got a diamond ring with
A gold bracelet to match
Baby, I got everything
With no strings attached
When it comes to having a party
I can’t be beat
Baby, just stay out of my kitchen
If you can’t stand the heat
You got to move, let’s go
I ain’t gonna wait for you
Got lots of places to go
And a whole lotta things to do

I’m in the mood to tear it up
I’m in my prime for tearing it up
I dig tearing up that stuff
I just can’t tear it up enuff

…

I couldn’t pick between these two songs from The Fabulous Thunderbirds so I thought we would have two songs today. I love the riff that kicks off Wrap It Up. It was a minor hit for The Fabulous Thunderbirds in 1986. The band featured Jimmy Vaughan on guitar who was the older brother of Stevie Ray Vaughan. This band helped a blues revival in the 1980’s that included Robert Cray and SRV.

I must admit when I heard these songs for the first time I liked them a lot. I thought the band would have more hits.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds didn’t just hit out of nowhere. They formed in 1974 with original members Jimmie Vaughan, Kim Wilson (singer), Keith Ferguson, and Mike Buck. Austin vocalist Lou Ann Barton also performed occasionally with the group during its early years.

These two songs were on their 5th album Tuff Enuff, produced by Dave Edmunds. The album peaked at #13 on the Billboard Album charts, and eventually went platinum. It was their breakout album and one they could not duplicate.

Tuff Enuff and Wrap It Up received heavy airplay on MTV. That was the secret of success in the 1980s…if you have MTV pushing… you would probably be alright.

Tuff Enuff peaked at #10 in the Billboard 100 in 1986 and Wrap It Up peaked at #55 in the Billboard 100.

They are still touring today with Kim Wilson (lead singer) the only original member left. Jimmie left the band in 1990 to work with his brother. Stevie and Jimmie made an album together that was released in 1990 called Family Style. It was released on September 25, 1990, and Stevie died a month before on August 27, 1990.

Stevie Ray Vaughan talks about his older brother Jimmie:

“Jimmie would leave his guitars around the house and tell me not to touch ’em. And that’s basically how I got started. I actually wanted to be a drummer, but I didn’t have any drums. So I just go into what was available to me at the time.”

“I was little brother, especially then”

“What happened was he was moving ahead a little faster than me and I guess I was dragging it down a bit, so that didn’t work out too well. But I think with any brothers there’s a period of time when the little brother always gets in the way. That’s just brother-to-brother shit. It wasn’t anything between us that lasted. Hell, now we can’t see enough of each other.”

After being told that Jimmie brags on him in interviews Stevie said…”Well, I think he’s the better guitar player – so there.”

Eric Clapton just announced a tour with Jimmie Vaughan later this summer in the US.

Wrap It Up

I’ve been watchin’ you for days now baby
I just love your sexy ways now baby
You know our love will never stop now baby
Just put your lovin’ in my box now baby

Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it

Well no more will I shop around now baby
I know I got the best thing in town now baby
I’ve seen all I want to see now baby
Bring your lovin’ straight to me now baby

Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it

Well I’m gonna treat you like the queen you are
Bring you sweet things from my candy jar
You’ve got tricks you ain’t never used
Give it, give it to me, it won’t be abused

I’ve been watchin’ you for days now baby
I just love your sexy ways now baby
You know our love will never stop now baby
Just put your lovin’ in my box now baby

Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it

Wrap wrap
Wrap wrap
Wrap

Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it

Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it
Wrap it up I’ll take it

Tag: Jimmie Vaughan

Fabulous Thunderbirds – T-Bird Rhythm …album review

Fabulous Thunderbirds – Wrap It Up / Tuff Enuff