Texas Flood
Stevie Ray Vaughan was already an underground hero in blues circles and had begun earning national attention for his hard-edged-but-tasteful playing on David Bowie'sLet's Dancealbum when this solo debut arrived. Produced by legendary talent scout John Hammond, the CD captures the rising guitar star tending fields seeded by earlier legends Buddy Guy, Albert King, and Jimi Hendrix. His own "Lenny," a tribute to his then wife, suggests a jazz-inclined complexity that would emerge in later recordings. But overall this album is the kind of raw double shot of blues and rock that made Vaughan one of the 1980s' best in-concert performers.--Ted Drozdowski