Live One
In the decade followingStevie Ray Vaughan’s passing in 1990, hordes of guitarists savaged their instruments in rank emulation of the Texan. These days, have mercy, the vast majority of those firebrands have faded away, leaving the hot blues-rock guitar field largely to slide specialist Dave Hole. Not that this Aussie is some SRV-fixated holdout, mind you. Rather, he was scalding his strings as far back as the '70s, initially getting noticed on this side of the world in the early '90s. On his first concert album ever, Hole proves that his musical intelligence and his emotional honesty are as formidable as his technical skills. "Demolition Man" lives up to its title, as does "Short Fuse Blues." "Take Me to Chicago" is so good it suggests he spent his formative years in the outback studying under some AussieElmore James. Hole can chill too, wringing sweet truths out of "Berwick Road."--Frank-John Hadley