In Step
In Stepembraces blues and rock without compromising the primal joys of either. This is Stevie Ray Vaughan's best studio album and the first he recorded sober. "Travis Walk" offers a heady rush of flat-picking, "The House is Rockin'" is full-tilt roots-boogie, "Let Me Love You Baby" and "Leave My Girl Alone" are sweet blues epiphanies, and the nine-minute instrumental "Riviera Paradise" is a truly soulful mix of blues and jazz. By now, just a year before his untimely death, Vaughan had also tamed his bawling voice into a rich instrument. In short, this 1989 session is Vaughan at his artistic peak. And the four compelling live performances added to this reissue--"The House Is Rockin'," "Let Me Love You Baby," "Texas Flood," and "Life Without You," all from theIn Steptour--prove there was no studio trickery involved. It's raw blues-rock perfection.--Ted Drozdowski