The posthumously assembled ten-track outtakes collection
The Sky Is Crying
actually proves to be one of
Stevie Ray Vaughan
's most consistent albums, rivaling
In Step
as the best outside of the
Greatest Hits
collection. These songs were recorded in sessions spanning from 1984's
Couldn't Stand the Weather
to 1989's
and were left off of the LPs for whatever reason (or, in the case of
Soul to Soul
's
"Empty Arms,"
a different version was used). What makes the record work is its eclectic diversity --
Vaughan
plays slide guitar on
"Boot Hill"
and acoustic on
"Life by the Drop"
; he smokes on the slow
blues
of
"May I Have a Talk With You"
and the title track just as much as on the up-tempo
Lonnie Mack
cover,
"Wham"
; and he shows the jazzy side of his playing on
Hendrix
"Little Wing"
and
Kenny Burrell
"Chitlins Con Carne."
But it's not just musical diversity that makes the record work, it's also
's emotional range. From the morbidly dark
to the lilting
to the exuberant tributes to his influences --
on
Albert King
"The Sky Is Crying"
--
makes the material resonate, and in light of his death,
and the touching survivor-story
ballad
are two of the most moving moments in
's oeuvre. ~ Steve Huey