The series of Stevie Ray Vaughan concert albums that began with Live Alive (1986) and continued after the guitarist's 1990 death is far from the catalogue-bloating cash-in you'd expect from the record company of a platinum seller cut down at a career peak. Instead, each disc gives a distinctly different view of the Texas blues-rocker's stage strengths. Where Live Alive captured Vaughan and his band Double Trouble in full arena roar and In the Beginning recorded a looser early club gig, Live at Carnegie Hall finds the outfit broadening its range with guest shots from Dr. John and the Roomful of Blues horn section. Rather than overpowering Vaughan's signature tautness, the bigger band makes for an entertaining switch-in effect allowing a fresh look at his R&B roots. -Rickey Wright The series of Stevie Ray Vaughan concert albums that began with Live Alive (1986) and continued after the guitarist's 1990 death is far from the catalog-bloating cash-in you'd expect from the record company of a platinum seller cut down at a career peak. Instead, each disc gives a distinctly different view of the Texas blues-rocker's stage strengths. Where Live Alive captured Vaughan and his band Double Trouble in full arena roar and In the Beginning recorded a looser early club gig, Live at Carnegie Hall finds the outfit broadening its range with guest shots from Dr. John and the Roomful of Blues horn section. Rather than overpowering Vaughan's signature tautness, the bigger band makes for an entertaining switch-in effect allowing a fresh look at his R&B roots. [+]

Ray Charles Live brings together two concert LPs recorded at 1958's Newport Jazz Festival and a 1959 Atlanta stadium show. Capturing both the inexorably cathartic (an impossibly slow "Drown in My Own Tears") and effortlessly blasting (several bluesy big-band tunes) natures of the era's Charles gigs, it's another must- own for his fans. -Rickey Wright.

Clapton had already established himself as a guitar legend by the time he released Slowhand. His heroin habit long behind him, Clapton's songwriting mastery was fully evident on the album, particularly in the stunning ballad "Wonderful Tonight". It fully actualised all of the potential hinted at in his earlier "Promises", and Clapton trusted himself enough to slow things down. Some of his most expressive guitar work can be found throughout this album, not just within "Wonderful". Ironically enough, Slowhand is probably best known for the hit "Cocaine"-built upon a simple repeated riff, the song had Clapton's trademark smooth voice with its wear around the edges, and yet another stellar guitar solo. Flashy runs and licks were never the most integral part of Clapton's catalogue, his blues background being the primary source for his sound. Slowhand, with its phrasings, both guitar and vocal, established Clapton as the possessor of one of the most extensive vocabularies in rock. -Steve Gdula.

Predictably, given the drug problems which preceded its release, Clapton's second solo album proper seems to come and go in an opium haze of its own making. Oddly though, it suits him. As the history of rock attests, if you're going to get into one hard drug then you may as well make it heroin. Whereas cocaine feeds the ego and destroys judgement, heroin sublimates it and allows the artist to regress into his music. Which pretty much describes where 461 Ocean Boulevard is at. Because tracks like "Steady Rollin' Man" and US chart topper "I Shot The Sheriff" sound like they have all the time in the world, they make light work of putting the listener in a similar frame of mind. Best of all though is "Let It Grow", for many the kind of tender, foetal balladry which finds Clapton at his most quintessential. Inevitably, he cleaned up his act and sporadically attained similar heights. But for sheer mood and sense of moment, 461 Ocean Boulevard remains his masterpiece. -Peter Paphides.

The series of Stevie Ray Vaughan concert albums that began with Live Alive (1986) and continued after the guitarist's 1990 death is far from the catalogue-bloating cash-in you'd expect from the record company of a platinum seller cut down at a career peak. Instead, each disc gives a distinctly different view of the Texas blues-rocker's stage strengths. Where Live Alive captured Vaughan and his band Double Trouble in full arena roar and In the Beginning recorded a looser early club gig, Live at Carnegie Hall finds the outfit broadening its range with guest shots from Dr. John and the Roomful of Blues horn section. Rather than overpowering Vaughan's signature tautness, the bigger band makes for an entertaining switch-in effect allowing a fresh look at his R&B roots. -Rickey Wright The series of Stevie Ray Vaughan concert albums that began with Live Alive (1986) and continued after the guitarist's 1990 death is far from the catalog-bloating cash-in you'd expect from the record company of a platinum seller cut down at a career peak. Instead, each disc gives a distinctly different view of the Texas blues-rocker's stage strengths. Where Live Alive captured Vaughan and his band Double Trouble in full arena roar and In the Beginning recorded a looser early club gig, Live at Carnegie Hall finds the outfit broadening its range with guest shots from Dr. John and the Roomful of Blues horn section. Rather than overpowering Vaughan's signature tautness, the bigger band makes for an entertaining switch-in effect allowing a fresh look at his R&B roots. [+]

Ray Charles Live brings together two concert LPs recorded at 1958's Newport Jazz Festival and a 1959 Atlanta stadium show. Capturing both the inexorably cathartic (an impossibly slow "Drown in My Own Tears") and effortlessly blasting (several bluesy big-band tunes) natures of the era's Charles gigs, it's another must- own for his fans. -Rickey Wright.