REAL DEAL: GREATEST HITS 2

& Double Trouble. Personnel includes: Stevie Ray Vaughan (vocals, guitar); Tommy Shannon (bass); Chris Layton (drums). Producers include: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Richard Mullen, Double Trouble, Jim Capfer, Nile Rodgers. Compilation producer: Bob Irwin. Includes liner notes by Scott Jordan. Digitally remastered by Vic Anesini (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York). During the seven years he recorded (1983-1990), Stevie Ray Vaughan's mixture of blues, jazz and soul influences revitalized modern blues at a time when its popularity was sagging considerably. Be it shuffles ("Empty Arms"), Grant Green-flavored instrumentals ("Riviera Paradise") or wah-wah driven funk played with his equally gifted sibling Jimmie ("Telephone Song"), Vaughan's musical range makes calling him "a blues guitarist" the equivalent of calling Mt. Everest a small hill. Vaughan was always quick to acknowledge his influences by way of his covering their material. When he wasn't paying homage to blues giants like Howlin' Wolf ("Shake For Me") and Buddy Guy ("Leave My Girl Alone"), Vaughan wandered farther afield in tipping his hat to less obvious heroes like Dick Dale ("Pipeline"), Stevie Wonder ("Superstition") and legend Hank Ballard ("Look At Little Sister"). Like his hero Jimi Hendrix (who Vaughan acknowledges with a devastating cover of "Voodoo Chile [Slight Return]"), the fleet-fingered Texan was as fluid playing rhythm ("Wall Of Denial," "Love Struck Baby") as he was tearing into a fat-toned solo ("Scuttle Buttin'").