''Couldn't Stand the Weather'' is the second studio album by American

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

band

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

and Double Trouble. It was released on May 15, 1984, by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

as the follow-up to the band's critically and commercially successful 1983 album, ''

Texas Flood ''Texas Flood'' is the debut studio album by the American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, released on June 13, 1983, by Epic Records. The album was named after a cover song featured on the album, " Texas Flood", which wa ...

''. Recording sessions took place in January 1984 at the

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

in New York City. Stevie Ray Vaughan wrote half the tracks on ''Couldn't Stand the Weather''. The album reached No. 31 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and the music video for "Couldn't Stand the Weather" received regular rotation on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. The album received mostly positive reviews, with

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

giving it a four out of five stars. It received praise for Vaughan’s playing and highlighted songs such as "Voodoo Child" and "Tin Pan Alley", but received criticism for the lack of original songs. In 1999, a reissue of the album was released which contains an audio interview segment and four studio outtakes. In 2010, the album was reissued as a ''Legacy Edition'' containing two CDs with a previously unreleased studio outtake and selections from an August 17, 1984, concert at The Spectrum in Montreal, Canada, originally recorded for the ''

King Biscuit Flower Hour The ''King Biscuit Flower Hour'' was an American syndicated radio show presented by the D.I.R. Radio Network that featured concert performances by various rock music recording artists. History The program was broadcast on Sunday nights from 1 ...

'' radio program.

Recording and production

During January 1984, Vaughan and Double Trouble spent 19 days at the Power Station recording studio in New York City. John Hammond was executive producer and supervised the sessions. The album was produced by the band along with Richard Mullen and Jim Capfer. The album was engineered by Mullen and Rob Eaton. Graphic artist Holland MacDonald designed the album cover art with assistance from Shostal Associates for the tornado image, a photograph of the 1957

Fargo tornado During the late afternoon and evening hours of June 20, 1957, a violent, "long lived" (it was later confirmed that it was a tornado family) and deadly F5 tornado commonly known as the Fargo tornado, struck the north side of Fargo, North Dakota ...

Reception

The album was another commercial success for Stevie Ray Vaughan, selling 1,000,000 copies within five weeks. In a retrospective review,

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

of Allmusic wrote: "

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

wrote in his review that "Though he comes close sometimes, this Texan ain't Hendrix. But between earned Jimi cover and lyric refreshment, album two is almost everything a reasonable person might hope from him: a roadhouse album with gargantuan sonic imagination." Frank-John Hadley gave the 2010 reissue 4 stars in

DownBeat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

. He wrote, "The package now has a second disc that debuts a torrid set with his Double Trouble band at Montreal’s Spectrum the same year. In studio and onstage, he morphs pitch-bending into a visceral art form".

Track listings

Original release

Details are taken from the 1984

album liner notes; reissues show several different songwriter credits.

1999 reissue bonus tracks

"SRV Speaks" is from a studio interview with Timothy White for

Westwood One Radio Westwood may refer to: Companies and brands *Westwood, Baillie, 19th-century engineering and shipbuilding company, London *Westwood One (1976–2011), a former American radio network based in New York City *Westwood One, an American radio and medi ...

. The remaining bonus tracks are studio outtakes from the sessions for the album.

2010 ''Legacy Edition'' 2-CD reissue

Personnel

Double Trouble *

– guitar, vocals *

Tommy Shannon Tommy Shannon (born Thomas Lafitte Smedley; April 18, 1946) is an American bass guitarist, who is best known as a member of Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble, a blues rock band led by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born in Tucson, Arizona, Shannon mov ...

– bass guitar *

Chris Layton Christopher Layton (born November 16, 1955), also known as "Whipper", is an American drummer who rose to fame as one of the founding members of Double Trouble, a blues rock band led by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born and raised in Corpus Christi, T ...

– drums Additional personnel *

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Lawrence Vaughan Jr. (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was a founding member of The Fabulous Thunder ...

– rhythm guitar on "Couldn't Stand the Weather" and "The Things That I Used to Do" *

Fran Christina Francis Anthony Christina (born February 1, 1951) is an American drummer known for his work in Texas blues band the Fabulous Thunderbirds (1979–97). He was also the founding drummer of Roomful of Blues (1967–1971).''Sound Waves'' Interview w ...

– drums on "Stang's Swang" *

Stan Harrison Stan Harrison (born December 8, 1953) is an American saxophonist who is also accomplished in playing other woodwind instruments, namely the French horn, flute and clarinet. He has also written music for television. Harrison released his first solo ...

– tenor saxophone on "Stang's Swang" Production *

Producers Producer(s), The Producer(s), or co-producer(s) may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *Producer, a stakeholder of economic production * Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes t ...

– Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Richard Mullen, Jim Capfer *

Executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

–

John H. Hammond John Henry Hammond Jr. (December 15, 1910 – July 10, 1987) was an American record producer, civil rights activist, and music critic active from the 1930s to the early 1980s. In his service as a talent scout, Hammond became one of the most in ...

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

– Richard Mullen *Assistant engineer – Rob Eaton *Cover art – Holland MacDonald *Photography – Benno Friedman 1999 reissue *Producer – Bob Irwin *Executive producer –

Tony Martell Tony Martell (June 23, 1926 – November 27, 2016), also known as T.J. Martell, was an American music industry executive and philanthropist. He was the founder of the T.J. Martell Foundation, the music industry's largest foundation for leukemia, ...

Mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

– Vic Anesini *Tracks 10–13 mixed by Danny Kadar *Dialogue edited by Darcy Proper *Research assistants – George Deahl, Al Quaglieri, Matthew Kelly, Jon Naatjes *Art director – Josh Cheuse *Editorial director – Andy Schwartz *Liner notes – Bill Milkowski 2010 ''Legacy Edition'' issue *Photography – Jean Krettler, Robert Matheu, James Minchen III *Liner notes – Andy Aledort

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1984 albums Stevie Ray Vaughan albums Epic Records albums Albums recorded at the Spectrum (Montreal) Albums recorded at Power Station