Stevie Ray Vaughan - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: In Concert, Austin City Limits Studio, Austin, TX, 10-10-1989

Here is the third and last album of guitar wizard Stevie Ray Vaughan performing for the BBC. Sadly, he died a year later. So it's unlikely for there to be more BBC material unless I missed something from earlier. This is a concert.

This one is rather strange for a "BBC concert," because it clearly originally was an episode of the U.S. TV show "Austin City Limits." However, it was also broadcast on BBC radio. You can even find it listed on the BBC website as part of their "In Concert" series. This kind of thing seemed to have happened more than I'd first realized when starting out with my big BBC project. I'm guessing there were times when a musical act was really popular and the BBC wanted to feature them, but they couldn't arrange to record them. For instance, perhaps they weren't going to Britain that year. So instead the BBC would simply buy the rights to someone else's radio or TV broadcasts. 

That's one reason I'm really enjoying gathering this BBC material, because they so often managed to feature musical acts at their commercial and/or creative peaks, because the BBC had the power and money to do that kind of thing. The one glaring exception is when a musical act got so popular that they decided not to do any radio or TV broadcasts at all. That certainly happened sometimes. A classic example was the Beatles stopping all BBC broadcasts in mid-1965, even though they kept touring for another year.

Anyway, I digress. Getting back to this recording, although you can easily find video of this show on YouTube and elsewhere, it hasn't been released in audio format. In fact, I was surprised that I couldn't even find any audio bootlegs of this, only a few songs here and there. So I put it together myself, based on a high quality video source. The sound quality is excellent. But one problem was that there often wasn't enough audience applause at the ends of songs. Probably, there were cutaways to commercials or an emcee talking. So in many cases I patched in applause from the ends of other songs to give adequate space after every song. 

Of course it's a tragedy that he died as young as he did. But it's especially tragic because, in my opinion, he was getting better and better as a songwriter and guitar player, probably helped by the fact that he'd stopped abusing drugs and alcohol. So of the three BBC albums I've posted by him, I think this one is the best.

This album is an hour and six minutes long.

01 The House Is Rockin' (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
02 Tightrope (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
03 talk (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
04 May I Have a Talk with You (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
05 Mary Had a Little Lamb (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
06 Leave My Girl Alone (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
07 Crossfire (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
08 Look at Little Sister (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
09 Superstition (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
10 talk (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
11 Cold Shot (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
12 Couldn't Stand the Weather (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
13 Voodoo Child [Slight Return] (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
13 Riviera Paradise [Instrumental] (Stevie Ray Vaughan)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/1K9ZaGFE

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/S9ykouDU5WbkFrP/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: In Concert, Apollo Theatre, Manchester, Britain, 6-22-1988

Here's the second of three BBC concert albums by Stevie Ray Vaughan that I plan on posting. 

I have to admit this concert isn't particularly amazing. I wouldn't be posting it if it wasn't a BBC concert. The biggest bummer is that it's only half an hour long. But it does have excellent sound quality, just what you'd expect from the BBC. And pretty much any live Stevie Ray Vaughan is impressive.

I thought about adding some extra songs to fill this out a bit, but I couldn't think of anything that fit. For instance, I couldn't find anything from his trip to Britain in 1988. So I'm keeping it short and on point.

This concert is officially unreleased. There were no problems with the recording that needed fixing.

This album is 30 minutes long.

01 You'll Be Mine (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
02 Tell Me (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
03 I'm Leaving You (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
04 Pride and Joy (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
05 Texas Flood (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
06 Love Struck Baby (Stevie Ray Vaughan)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/EhB6STTR

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/wANtIGTEgHs5Cc6/file

The cover photo is from a concert in the Meadowlands Arena on May 20, 1988, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: Reading Festival, Reading, Britain, 8-27-1983

There are still many great musical acts where I haven't even begun to post album from them. Legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan is a case in point. He's only shown up so far by chance at a B.B. King concert I've posted. I have plans to post several stray tracks albums from him. But those take a lot of work to prepare. In the meantime, I've found three BBC concerts he performed. So here's the first of them.

Vaughan first burst into the mainstream in 1983 with his first proper studio album, "Texas Flood." It sold two million copies in the U.S. alone. That led to many opportunities, including a Europe tour, which included this concert at a prominent rock festival. 

I don't think anything from this concert has been officially released. However, it's been frequently bootlegged, due to it being broadcast by the BBC at the time.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 Testify [Instrumental] (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
02 talk (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
03 So Excited [Instrumental] (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
04 Voodoo Chile [Slight Return] (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
05 Pride and Joy [Edit] (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
06 Mary Had a Little Lamb (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
07 Love Struck Baby (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
08 Texas Flood (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
09 talk (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
10 Come On [Part III] (Stevie Ray Vaughan)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PyKfViQk

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/hMaXT2xlc3nRGxN/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. The image was a little rough, but I fixed it up with the Krea AI program.

B. B. King and Friends - A Night of Blistering Blues, Ebony Showcase Theater, Los Angeles, CA, 4-15-1987

Hopefully, if you're a fan of the blues, you'll take a look at the list of artists mentioned on the cover art, say, "Wow!" and download this immediately. This concert mainly features B. B. King, who does all the talking, but his special guests are: Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Dr. John, Etta James, Albert King, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Billy Ocean, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Why did all of these big names of soul and blues get together for this concert? I don't know if there was some special occasion or anniversary, but this show was filmed for a TV special shown on Cinemax, alternately called "A Night of Blistering Blues" or "A Blues Night." I've gone with the former name because it's more interesting.

Generally speaking, King did the lion's share of lead vocals. But he shared vocals with Albert King, Etta James, Billy Ocean, Gladys Knight, and Chaka Khan. I believe Phil Collins played drums on all the songs, along with another drummer. Paul Butterfield did all the harmonica playing. Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan played lead guitar, and on more songs than just the ones they're credited on below. B. B. King and Albert King played lots of lead guitar as well.

This really was a once in a lifetime gathering of musical greats, and they rose to the occasion. I don't know why this has never been officially released as an album. The only flaw is that the last song was a blues jam with all the lead guitarists: B. B. King, Albert King, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. But unfortunately, it fades out after only a minute of guitar soloing from B. B. King. If you watch the video of this on YouTube, you'll see the credits are rolling and the recording ends when the show finishes.

This album is 56 minutes long.

01 Why I Sing the Blues (B. B. King, Albert King, Etta James, Billy Ocean, Gladys Knight & Chaka Khan)
02 talk (B. B. King)
03 Please Send Me Someone to Love (B. B. King & Gladys Knight)
04 talk (B. B. King)
05 The Thrill Is Gone (B. B. King with Eric Clapton & Phil Collins)
06 talk (B. B. King)
07 I'd Rather Go Blind (B. B. King, Dr. John & Etta James)
08 talk (B. B. King)
09 When Something Is Wrong with My Baby (B. B. King, Chaka Khan & Billy Ocean)
10 talk (B. B. King)
11 The Sky Is Crying (B. B. King, Paul Butterfield, Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan)
12 talk (B. B. King)
13 Something's Got a Hold on Me (B. B. King & Etta James)
14 talk (B. B. King)
15 In the Midnight Hour (B. B. King & Billy Ocean with Paul Butterfield & Stevie Ray Vaughan)
16 talk (B. B. King)
17 Ain't Nobody's Business (B. B. King, Etta James, Chaka Khan & Gladys Knight)
18 talk (B. B. King)
19 Let the Good Times Roll (B. B. King, Albert King & Etta James)
20 Take My Hand, Precious Lord (B. B. King, Etta James, Chaka Khan & Gladys Knight)
21 talk (B. B. King)
22 Blues Jam [Instrumental] (B. B. King)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16687605/BBKNG1987_NghtofBlistrinBlusEbnyShwcseThetr__4-15-1987_atse.zip.html

I haven't seen any good photos from this concert. So I took a screenshot from the YouTube video. The quality is rather low-res, but this is all there is. From right to left, you can see: Stevie Ray Vaughan, B. B. King, Albert King, Eric Clapton, and Etta James.