Stevie Ray Vaughan – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Arc Angels – Arc Angels …album review

I started to listen to this album on a recommendation, and I was totally impressed. I started off with one song, but the hell with that, I went on to the complete album. Great rock and roll band with killer riffs and tones. Also, being produced by an E Street Band member doesn’t hurt either! Steven Van Zandt produced this album, and that right there is huge. Also, on keyboards, you have the Small Faces and Faces keyboard player, Ian McLagan. McLagan helped out on this recording, and he sounds great. They walk the line between rock, hard rock, blues, and even throw some funk in there in places. Great musicians on this album, and there is a reason for that.

The band formed right after the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon, the backbone of Double Trouble (SRV’s backing band), found themselves without a frontman after Stevie’s passing in 1990. Instead of leaving the stage, they teamed up with two Austin guitarist-vocalists: Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton. Both were young, rising Texas guitar players with deep musical pedigrees. The name “Arc Angels” referenced the Austin Rehearsal Complex. Although the album was born out of Stevie Ray’s backing band, it sounded different and moved ahead.

The album was recorded in Austin and at Ardent Studios in Memphis (Big Star, The Replacements), and it blended blues, alt-rock edges, and soulful songwriting. Throughout the record, Layton and Shannon play like a unit that has lived many lifetimes together, heavy but never heavy-handed. They aren’t just holding down rhythm, they’re pushing the music forward. Doyle Bramhall II, Charlie Sexton, Chris Layton, and Shannon did most of the writing, along with help from Tonio K.

The opening song is Living In A Dream, and it’s bold and in your face, as the rest of the album is. The second song is Paradise Cafe, which is probably my favorite off the album. That guitar is raunchy as hell, and I love it. They did include a song they wrote in memory of their friend Vaughan called See What Tomorrow Brings. The track Good Times has some cool funk and blues to it. If you have some time, check this album ou.t. I think you will like it. The critical reaction was good for this album, but it got lost in the grunge shuffle that was going on at the time, unfortunately.

For anyone who loves Texas blues with bite, this is a great place to start.

Living In A Dream

If you were mineI’d give you all the worldIf you were mineI’d take you higher girlBut you got me waitingOoh, you’re so coldIt kills me timeOoh and time is all we needBut god knows I’ve tried, I’ve triedTo get you close to me

But tonight when my eyes are closingYou’ll be with me

Just let me beAnd let me believe, you’re mineCause there’s nothin’ wrong hereI’m just livin’Livin’ in a dream

Without a signYou brought me to my kneesWithout a sign,I crossed the lineI beg for sleep

But tonight when my eyes are closin’You will be with me

Just let me beAnd let me believe, you’re mineJust let me beAnd let me believe, you’re mineCause there’s nothin’ wrong hereI’m just livin’Livin’ in a dream

…

Stevie Ray Vaughan – The House Is Rockin’

It was back on a winter’s night in a friend’s (Chris) house that I first heard and saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in the mid-1980s. His house had a sunken living room and a rise that the kitchen table sat on at the end. I was on the rise with my amp, and he called me over to the television. He pushed in an old VHS tape of SRV on Austin City Limits that he recorded. It knocked me out…not since seeing clips of Hendrix did I see such an aggressive guitar player. He was even more aggressive than Hendrix.

This two-minute burst of pure energy was a hell of a single. SRV played guitar not by numbers but by precise feel. Like Neil Young, he played by feel but without the wandering…just powerful, precise notes. In this song, I can hear a lot of Jerry Lee Lewis as well. It was written by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Doyle Bramhall and recorded in Memphis.

This song is on the 1989 In Step album. Vaughan had just gotten sober, and this was his first record at the time. This is the last solo album to be released during his lifetime. He made an album with his brother called Family Style, and it was released a month before his death.

This song peaked at #18 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts in 1989. The album peaked at #33 on the Billboard 100. Tragically, Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash just over a year after In Step was released. But “The House Is Rockin’” still stands as one of his top singles.

I could watch this man play all day long. His playing was so inspired and electric. I play guitar, but not really big solos as much. He took licks and solos to a new level.

The House Is Rocking

Well, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’Yeah, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’If the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother, come on in

Kick off your shoes, start losin’ the bluesThis old house ain’t got nothing to loseSeen it all for years, you start spreading the newsWe got room on the floor, come on, baby, shake something loose

Yeah, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’Yeah, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’Yeah, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother, come on in

Well, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’Yeah, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’Yeah, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother, come on in

Walking up the street you can hear the soundOf some bad honky tonker’s really layin’ it downWe’ve seen it all for years, and got nothin’ to loseSo get out on the floor, shimmy ’til you shake somethin’ loose

Well, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’Well, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother knockin’Yeah, the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother, come on inI said the house is a-rockin’, don’t bother, come on in

…

Max Picks …songs from 1984

1984

We have some mega hits this year and some alternative hits.

Prince – Purple Rain – This is the song that really made me a Prince fan. I will always say that I liked his Around the World in a Day the best but the title song of Purple Rain is great.

Prince and his peers such as Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Michael Jackson were the artists who defined the decade of the 1980s in the top 40. In the late 70s my sister had a single that I would listen to. It was called “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and I didn’t pay attention to the artist. Later on, around the time Purple Rain came out…I looked at the single again and was surprised to see it was Prince. He had chart success before this but this album and movie broke him out internationally.

R.E.M – So. Central Rain – The song was on their Reckoning album released in 1984. REM. avoided the sophomore slump with Reckoning. It’s hard to beat this song as the first single off the album. I always thought So. Central Rain stands as one of the group’s most melodic songs.

The band chose to work with Murmur producers Don Dixon and Mitch Easter. They recorded the album in just a few weeks. Peter Buck told Rolling Stone magazine: “We were going through this streak where we were writing two good songs a week, We just wanted to do it; whenever we had a new batch of songs, it was time to record!”

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – Around this time is when I noticed SRV. I heard his guitar playing in songs and then watched him later on Austin City Limits. His guitar playing was on another level. I’d never seen anyone that aggressive on guitar. I was never a huge fan of many of his songs but I was of his guitar playing. He did an excellent cover of this song.

He covers a Jimi Hendrix song here. This song is like an atom bomb going off. From the first words “Well, I stand up next to a mountain and I chop it down with the edge of my hand” you know Stevie means business.

The song was on his second album Couldn’t Stand The Weather.

The Replacements – I Will Dare -I Will Dare was released in 1984 as an independent single and then included on their Let It Be album. I loved this song in the 80s and after hearing it in the past weeks…it was like the first time I listened to it. Peter Buck from REM is playing the intro to this song. Paul Westerberg wrote the song and plays mandolin. The Replacements were my top band of the 80s bar none.

Let It Be was the third full album by the band’s original lineup: lead singer and songwriter Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars.

This song should have cracked the top 40 but it didn’t…mostly because they were on a small Minneapolis record label named Twin/Tone.

Bruce Springsteen – Born In The USA – Springsteen wrote this about the problems Vietnam veterans encountered when they returned to America. Vietnam was the first war the US didn’t officially win, and while veterans of other wars received a hero’s welcome, those who fought in Vietnam were mostly ignored when they returned to their homeland.

The other song that has someone really ripping the vocals is “Twist and Shout” sung by John Lennon with the Beatles. I remember back in the 80s Chrysler offered Springsteen $12 million to use this in an ad campaign with Bruce… Springsteen turned them down so they used “The Pride Is Back” by Kenny Rogers instead. Springsteen never let his music be used to sell products at that time.

I knew a couple of Springsteen fanatics before this album came out. They loved everything Bruce but after this album…they wanted nothing to do with him. Why? Because he wasn’t their secret anymore. For me, I guess it would be like if Big Star had hit huge…but I would love it!

…

James Brown – Living In America

4th of July memories… I have a few but one of the many stupid things I remember is my sister (who is 8 years older) and I would chase each other around with Roman Candles on the 4th of July.

These fabulous weapons of destruction shot out fireballs and sometimes I landed a great shot. I was 8-10 years old and harder to hit. By some miracle, we were never hurt…bad anyway. Scorch marks yea…but we kept all of our limbs. Sorry…now to the song.

I first heard this song in Rocky IV. It was good to see Brown have a hit song. Living In America was released in December of 1985 and was his first Billboard charting song since 1976. The horns on this song sound incredible. They were called The Uptown Horns who also backed The J. Geils band on the Freeze Frame album and The B-52’s on Love Shack.

This was written by Dan Hartman (“I Can Dream About You”) and Charles Midnight. The song won the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance. The song was a huge hit. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #5 in New Zealand, and #5 in the UK in 1986. The song blends elements of soul, funk, and R&B.

When I saw the lead guitar player on this song I was stunned because I’d never heard of him playing on this. The guitar player was Stevie Ray Vaughan and this was around the time when his career was really taking off. He finished up playing on David Bowie’s album Lets Dance just a couple of years before.

The song’s co-writer Dan Hartman later included his recording of the song on his 1994 album Keep the Fire Burnin’.

Living In America

Yeah, uh
Get up, ow
Ow
Knock it out this
Woo

Super highways, coast to coast
Easy to get anywhere
On the transcontinental overload
Just slide behind the wheel
How does it feel

When there’s no destination that’s too far?
And somewhere on the way you might find out who you are, woo

Living in America (ow)
Eye to eye, station to station
Living in America
Hand in hand, across the nation
Living in America
Got to have a celebration

Rock my soul, huh, ow, huh

Smokestack, fatback
Many miles of railroad track
All night radio, keep on runnin’
Through your rock ‘n’ roll soul
All night diners keep you awake
On black coffee and a hard roll, woo

You might have to walk a fine line (say it)
You might take the hard line
But everybody’s workin’ overtime

Living in America (huh)
Eye to eye, station to station
Living in America
Hand in hand, across the nation
Living in America
Yeah, got to have a celebration, woo

I (I) live in America
Say it loud
I live in America
Wait a minute

You may not be lookin’ for the promised land
But you might find it anyway
Under one of those old familiar names
Like New Orleans (New Orleans), Detroit City (Detroit City)
Dallas, uh (Dallas), Pittsburgh, PA, (Pittsburgh, PA)
New York City (New York City), Kansas City (Kansas City)
Atlanta, woo (Atlanta), Chicago and L.A.

Living in America
Hit me
Living in America, yeah
I walked in and out
Living in America

I live in America
Say it loud, It’ll make you proud, uh
Said, I live in America
Hey, I know what it means, ah

Living in America
Eddie Murphy, eat your heart out

To the bridge, ay

Living in America
Hit me
I said now, eye to eye
Station to station
Living in America
Oh, so nice with your bad self (uh)
Living in America
Whoa, I feel good

Fabulous Thunderbirds – Wrap It Up / Tuff 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

Chantays – Pipeline

The Chantays, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dick Dale, Anthrax, and Lawrence Welk. We will tie all of these artists together by the end of the post.

I thought I might as well continue the surf music theme that was started Thursday and ride the wave into the weekend.

This is one cool classic instrumental. Pipeline was originally the B side and the A side was a song called Move It. As with a few other singles through history…the B side took off and the A side became a trivial question.

Dick Dale also recorded this song with no other than Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1987. They really rocked up Pipeline for the movie Back to the Beach. You want variety? This song was covered by Lawrence Welk and Anthrax (video below). I would be willing to bet not many songs would be in that rare club.

I always wondered what “pipeline” meant…being a Tennessee guy I would not know that first hand. The title “Pipeline” refers to a term in surfing slang, in which a wave closes over your head while you ride it horizontally, so it looks like you’re in a rolling pipe made of water. This maneuver is also sometimes called “shooting the tube.”

Some odd trivia about the Chantays…they were the only rock and roll band to perform on The Lawrence Welk Show (something tells me Anthrax would not have been invited if they would have been around then). The Chantays were also honored on April 12, 1996, by Hollywood’s Rock Walk ,that was founded to honor individuals and bands that have made lasting and important contributions to music.

The song peaked at #4 in Billboard 100, #11 on the R&B Charts, and #16 in the UK in 1963.

From Songfacts

This was surf-rock group The Chantay’s only charting Billboard Top-40 hit. However, it is considered today one of the staples of the surf-rock genre. It was actually the B-side of a single; the A-side, “Move It,” never charted.

The unique sound of this track is partly due to its composition, which is inverted from standard practice. The bass and rhythm guitars are at the fore, while the lead guitar, keyboard, and drums are in the background. Also it was recorded in stereo even though it was going to be released in mono as the typical 45-RPM single record of the day.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that surf-rock tends to have a lot of instrumental work? That’s because it started out as strictly an instrumental form, where speed and precision playing was highly valued. In a way, it fathered the speed metal genre. We have The Beach Boys to thank for bringing vocal harmonies to surf music.

Dick Dale, who earned the title “King of the Surf Guitar,” recorded a new version of “Pipeline” with Stevie Ray Vaughan for the 1987 movie Back To The Beach. The movie reunited Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello 24 years after they starred in one of the first beach movies, Beach Party, which featured Dick Dale’s music.

Dick Dale with SRV

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Willie The Wimp

In 1984 Willie M. ”Wimp” Stokes Jr., described as a Chicago underworld figure who was gunned down on the steps of Roberts Motel at 79th Street and Vincennes Avenue. Such a violent death was not unheard of in Willie the Wimp`s social circles-but the style of his funeral was.

Willie’s dad, Willie Morris “Flukey” Stokes gave his son an extravagant goodbye. He was in the same line of work as his son.

If you want to see the coffin with Mr. Stokes inside… you can go to here “Willie The Wimp and Cadillac Coffin.” I didn’t really want to post that.

Bill Carter and Ruth Ellsworth wrote the song after seeing a newspaper column about the story. Bill Carter released his version on his 1985 album Stompin’ Grounds. Stevie Ray Vaughn started to play the song in concert and it was released on his live album Live Alive in 1986.

Stevie was in the upper echelon of guitar players…right along with Hendrix and Clapton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkUP2gJxc50

Willie The Wimp

Willie the Wimp was buried today,
They laid him to rest in a special way.
Sent him off in the finest style
That casket-mobile really drove ’em wild
Southside Chicago will think of him often
Talkin’ ’bout Willie the Wimp and his Cadillac coffin,
Willie the Wimp and his Cadillac coffin

That casket, it looked like a fine Seville
He had a vanity license and a Cadillac grille
Willie was propped up in the driver’s seat
He had diamonds on his fingers and a smile sweet
Fine red suit had the whole town talkin’
Talkin’ ’bout Willie the Wimp and his Cadillac coffin
Willie the Wimp and his Cadillac coffin

Oh, Cadillac to Heaven he was wavin’ the banner
He left like he lived, in a lively manner
With a-hundred dollar bills in his fingers tight
He had flowers for wheels and a-flashin’ headlights
He been wishin’ for wings, no way he was walkin’
Talkin’ ’bout Willie the Wimp and his Cadillac coffin
Yeah, Willie the Wimp and his Cadillac coffin