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

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

band

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (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. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

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 Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

as the follow-up to the band's critically and commercially successful 1983 album, '' Texas Flood''. 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 generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

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 (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. The album received mostly positive reviews, with

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

giving it a four out of five stars. It received praise for Vaughan’s playing and highlighted songs such as "Voodoo Chile" 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 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.

Reception

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

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

of Allmusic wrote: "

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

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."

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, a blues rock band led by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born in Tucson, Arizona, Shannon moved to Dumas, Texas whe ...

– 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, Te ...

– drums Additional personnel *

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant ...

– rhythm guitar on "Couldn't Stand the Weather" and "The Things That I Used to Do" * Fran Christina – 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 horn, flute and clarinet. He has also written music for television. Harrison released his first solo album ...

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

Producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

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

Executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

– John H. Hammond *

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

– 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) 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, cancer and AIDS research. Care ...

Mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distr ...

– 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)