Texas Flood

1	Love Struck Baby 2:24
2	Pride and Joy 3:40
3	Texas Flood 5:21
4	Tell Me 2:49
5	Testify 3:25
6	Rude Mood 4:40
7	Mary Had a Little Lamb 2:47
8	Dirty Pool 5:02
9	I'm Cryin' 3:42
10	Lenny 4:58
11	SRV Speaks previously unreleased / Bonus Track 0:37
12	Tin Pan Alley (AKA Roughest Place in Town) previously unreleased / Bonus Track 7:42
13	Testify Live / previously unreleased / Bonus Track 3:54
14	Mary Had a Little Lamb Live / previously unreleased / Bonus Track 3:31
15	Wham! Live / previously unreleased / Bonus Track 4:20

Barnes & Noble

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded TEXAS FLOOD in three whirlwind days in November 1982 using studio time donated by Jackson Browne at his Down Town Studio in Los Angeles. Overnight, this debut release made the struggling Vaughan a superstar. The album is a how-to compendium of blues guitar, as Vaughan displays thorough knowledge of blues masters while also forging his own uniquely personal sense of passion and urgency. The Larry Davis title track, recorded in one take during the last minutes of the session, is a scintillating slow blues that owes plenty to Albert King. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is pure Buddy Guy; the gorgeous "Lenny" draws deeply from Hendrix's "Little Wing." TEXAS FLOOD introduced a generation of mainstream listeners to genuine guitar-based blues. It also spawned countless imitators, most notably Kenny Wayne Shepherd. After TEXAS FLOOD, Vaughan continued to evolve as an artist and instrumentalist, unveiling his command of Kenny Burrell-style jazz and psychedelic Hendrix rock. His 1989 release, IN STEP, revealed a more spiritual, focused artist at work. None of his subsequent works, however, surpass the raw energy of this debut effort. Bryan Powell

All Music Guide

It's hard to overestimate the impact Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut, Texas Flood, had upon its release in 1983. At that point, blues was no longer hip, the way it was in the '60s. Texas Flood changed all that, climbing into the Top 40 and spending over half a year on the charts, which was practically unheard of for a blues recording. Vaughan became a genuine star and, in doing so, sparked a revitalization of the blues. This was a monumental impact, but his critics claimed that, no matter how prodigious Vaughan's instrumental talents were, he didn't forge a distinctive voice; instead, he wore his influences on his sleeve, whether it was Albert King's pinched yet muscular soloing or Larry Davis' emotive singing. There's a certain element of truth in that, but that was sort of the point of Texas Flood. Vaughan didn't hide his influences; he celebrated them, pumping fresh blood into a familiar genre. When Vaughan and Double Trouble cut the album over the course of three days in 1982, he had already played his set lists countless times; he knew how to turn this material inside out or goose it up for maximum impact. The album is paced like a club show, kicking off with Vaughan's two best self-penned songs, "Love Struck Baby" and "Pride and Joy," then settling into a pair of covers, the slow-burning title track and an exciting reading of Howlin' Wolf's "Tell Me," before building to the climax of "Dirty Pool" and "I'm Crying." Vaughan caps the entire thing with "Lenny," a lyrical, jazzy tribute to his wife. It becomes clear that Vaughan's true achievement was finding something personal and emotional by fusing different elements of his idols. Sometimes the borrowing was overt, and other times subtle, but it all blended together into a style that recalled the past while seizing the excitement and essence of the present. Stephen Thomas Erlewine