Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Step (LP)

The irony of 1989's IN STEP lay in the fact that after rebounding from a terrible drug problem, Stevie Ray Vaughan had his new lease on life cut short by a helicopter crash the following year. The record itself features some of Vaughan's most inspired playing and Double Trouble has rarely sounded better. Songs such as "Crossfire," "Wall Of Denial" and "Tightrope" alluded to Vaughan's personal problems with just the right amount of optimism and scathing guitar thrown in for good measure. Blues influences abound whether it's a rollicking cover of Willie Dixon's "Let Me Love You Baby," a smoldering reading of Buddy Guy's "Leave My Girl Alone" or an upbeat take on Howlin' Wolf's "Love Me Darlin'." For all his skill as an interpreter of other people's songs, Stevie Ray Vaughan's originals are just as solid. Of particular note here are the instrumentals "Travis Walk" and "Riviera Paradise." Paced by Chris Layton's militaristic time-keeping, the former finds Vaughan trading solos with Reese W