Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Live at the El Mocambo (1983)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

This release shows Stevie just as things were beginning to happen after years on the road of struggling to get his music heard. In Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas, Texas, he was already a "must see", now the world would get to experience one of our Texas Treasures! The high points are Texas Flood, Lenny, and Voodoo Chile. This movie will be a great inspiration to any young (or old) guitar player. Stevie makes it look SO easy. That is his gift! According to Chris Layton: "The band really didn't know that they were going to be filmed that night, they just plugged in and 'floored it'". The incredible thing is that whether it was to 10,000 or just 2 people back in the club days, Stevie gave the same smoking show. He literally plugged into his heart and poured it out on the stage. This is one of MY favorite shows captured. If you like this, you should check out Rockpalast, Live In Italy, Japan, Austin City Limits, Daytona, and the several others available. There is still a lot of really great footage available that hopefully will be released one day. Just like one of Stevie's heroes, Jimi Hendrix, kids today are still talking about him 20 years after his tragic passing.

You'll get exhausted watching Stevie Ray Vaughan crank out this incredible performance long before Stevie does. Sweat pouring off his sparse frame, he delivers heartpounding riff after riff on every song in this movie, leaving you wondering how he possibly had anything left for the next one.My personal favorite is the 9-minute version of "Texas Flood," which includes some of the tightest, fastest playing ever captured on film. And it's captured well by multiple cameras worked by people who knew what they were doing. What a welcome relief from the drugged-out, out of focus zoom work that has marred so many classic performance movies -- the 1973 docu "Jimi Hendrix" is a prime example, though still worth watching for sure.But back to Stevie. He was a little guy, all skin and bones, and hands. Like Hendrix he seemed to be gifted with hands belonging to some other, much larger person. His hands were so big that he used extra-wide guitar necks most of the time. He once described his style thus: "I use heavy strings, tune low and floor it. Floor it." See the results for yourself in this terrific film. Buy the DVD so you can jump right to your favorite tracks.

It took me a couple of viewings to fully appreciate this concert. It sounded like too much of the same thing over and over but, man, it gets better and better with each viewing....and the louder you play it the better it sounds, too! Vaughan and his boys are seen and heard at the El Mocambo nightclub in Toronto in 1983. It was small intimate place and SRV must have made it sound deafening.The first 40 minutes are about as good a rocking time as you ask for, and it makes a great workout video if you're on an aerobics machine. In fact, I can't think of a better workout tape. Visually, the most memorable scenes are probably with Stevie Ray playing the guitar from behind his back and behind his head! The man was talented! The only song I didn't care for was "Third Stone From the Sun," but that was past my 40-minute workout anyway. Earlier, he did another Jimi Hendrix number that was much more preferable: "Voodoo Chile." Vaughn was the only guitarist I've heard that could a decent imitation of Henrix. (There may be more that I don't know about.)

The best live performances are those were not intended to be taped, such as this one. Stevie Ray's in your face, heavy, powerful blues chops are intense and this sweat pouring performance must be seen and heard by blues fans. The selections are amongst Vaughan's best material and it seems that the band is almost completely oblivious to the cameras as they do what they do best -- make great music. This is a rare gem that will not disappoint, and seeing this for the first time is what made me run out to find Stevie Ray Vaughan's material.