A little OT, but Mark & Rick...
Which Stevie Ray disk would you say is his best?
Fred
Hi Fred:
Sorry I missed this post/question originally! I hope Rick and others jump in here because the following is only my opinion!
It's a tough call for me because honestly I love them all! I'm only going to touch on the non-posthumous releases…
For a casual listener, I'd probably recommend
The Essential..... It has...ummm...all the essential most popular tracks but still offers some variety in terms of style...
Note that the following studio albums have been remastered and had extra tracks added....
His first studio recording,
Texas Flood is just raw and gritty work by the original trio. In the running for my favorite release. Standout tracks for me are Pride and Joy, the title track, Dirty Pool and Lenny.
His follow-up
Couldn't Stand the Weather is more diverse and "polished" than Texas Flood. Has the title track, Cold Shot, Tin Pan Alley and a cover of Hendrix's' Voodoo Chile: slight return) on it. Also in the running for my favorite release.
Soul to Soul wasn't, in my opinion, one of the stronger releases. It has Ain't Gonna Give Up on Love and Life Without You…two tracks that I love. If you stood it on it's own, it would be a great guitar and blues disc. But in comparison to the others, it just doesn't work quite as well for me. This was the first disc that included Reese Wynans on keyboards.
Live Alive is, again, one that doesn't stand up to the others in my opinion. Some nice moments, but it was at the height of the bands' heavy drug use and though I wouldn't call it "sloppy" by a long shot, it's just not as tight as everything else (including other live recordings).
In Step is his most "contemporary Blues" release, bordering on blues-rock on some tracks. This was his first sober release and there's some added horns, etc. It has some of my favorite tracks: Crossfire, Tightrope, Wall of Denial and Leave My Girl Alone. This one also competes for a favorite of mine.
Besides "Best-ofs", some posthumous releases that are worth mentioning are
"The Sky is Crying and
Live at Carnegie Hall
