Double Spending

Legacy's second reissue of Texas Flood, the 1983 debut from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, now expands the album to two CDs, adding a complete concert given at Ripley's Music Hall in Philadelphia on October 20, 1983, four months after the record was released. On the first disc, an early version of "Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place in Town)" is added to the original album but that is the only carry-over from the 1999 expansion. That disc also had three live cuts, but those were taken from a different 1983 concert, so this 2013 30th Anniversary Edition offers something completely new: an entire radio broadcast featuring SRV and Double Trouble at the peak of their power.

It's hard to overestimate the impact Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut, Texas Flood, had upon its release in 1983. At that point, blues was no longer hip, the way it was in the '60s. Texas Flood changed all that, climbing into the Top 40 and spending over half a year on the charts, which was practically unheard of for a blues recording. Vaughan became a genuine star and, in doing so, sparked a revitalization of the blues. This was a monumental impact, but his critics claimed that, no matter how prodigious Vaughan's instrumental talents were, he didn't forge a distinctive voice; instead, he wore his influences on his sleeve, whether it was Albert King's pinched yet muscular soloing or Larry Davis' emotive singing.

It's hard to overestimate the impact Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut, Texas Flood, had upon its release in 1983. At that point, blues was no longer hip, the way it was in the '60s. Texas Flood changed all that, climbing into the Top 40 and spending over half a year on the charts, which was practically unheard of for a blues recording…