Arguably the most influential guitarist of the last twenty years this set manages to capture what made Stevie Ray Vaughan such a great artist. The Texas native Vaughan managed to take his influences such as brother Jimmie, rocker Jimi Hendrix, bluesman Albert King and jazzman Kenny Burrell and weave them into something unique and exciting. Vaughan burst upon the scene with his combination of ferocity, feeling and touch. Whether playing a cover of "Voodoo Child" a funky take on Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", or the tortured blues of Elmore Jame's "The Sky Is Crying", he was always able to make the song his own. His singing could be both tender and heartfelt as in "The Things (That) I Used To Do or raucous as in "The House Is Rockin'". Sometimes he could be funky as in "Say What" or more jazzy as in "Lenny". The influence of the jazz/blues organ trios like Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff led Vaughan to add organist/keyboardist Reese Wynans to his band Double Trouble. Almost all of his essential cuts are included and the set contains more songs than "Greatest Hits Vols 1 & 2". I am especially glad overlooked cuts like Hound Dog Taylor's "Give Me Back My Wig", Buddy Guy's "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Willie The Wimp" were included. I have a couple of minor quibbles with the song selections. "Ain't Gonna Give Up On Love" is frustratingly absent as well as the slide guitar spotlight "Boot Hill", a kinetic cover of Lonnie Mack's instrumental "Wham" and an inspired cover of Howlin' Wolf's "I'm Leaving (Commit A Crime)". Everyone has their own personal favorites. It is a testiment to Vaughan's will that he was able to overcome his drug addiction and still make vital music. Like Hendrix and many of his blues and jazz idols he died before his time. However, you can still discover his legacy with this "Essential" 2 cd set.

First of all, yes, there are more Stevie Ray Vaughan compilations out there than original studio releases. But there are only a few of them which are really any good, and this is one of them.

There are 33 tracks here, excactly one more than on the obvious alternative of "The Real Deal: Greatest Hits vol. 1" and "The Real Deal: Greatest Hits vol. 2" combined. And almost all of Stevie Ray's must-have songs are here: The swaggering "Pride And Joy", the scorching blues "Texas Flood", the melodic "Cold Shot", the rollicking boogie of "Look At Little Sister", the wonderful riff-rocker "Willie The Wimp", and several other career highlights, including the intense and touching acoustic "Life By The Drop", and a sizzling cover of Hound Dog Taylor's "Give Me Back My Wig".

The slow blues tunes "Dirty Pool" and "Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up On Love" are missing, however, and the delightful rocker "Lookin' Out The Window" is, too, and that's a minus for this one and a plus in the "Real Deal" column. (Which one did I choose? Well, I have all of the original albums, so I don't really need a compilation on top of that, but now that "The Real Deal vol. 1" has replaced the original lousy 11-track "Greatest Hits" album from 1995, I might be tempted to lean towards the "Real Deal" vol. 1 and 2 double. But it's damn close!)

I would've given a clean five stars here if those three songs that I just mentioned had been included, and I almost did anyway, because the stuff that _is_ here is excellent, absolutely stellar. You'll rarely find a 33-track compilation which maintains such an amazing level of quality all the way through, nor such a varied and yet completely cohesive collection of songs. And if you don't want to invest in the even more fabulous "SRV"-box set, you should either go for this one or the two "Real Deal" CDs right away.

Yeah, I read the review below by a 'music fan' who says there are an overabundance of Vaughan comps and while that's true, this one has one thing that the earlier Greatest Hits doesn't have: VALUE.

This two CD set comes in at a price considerably cheaper than if you bought the two earlier Greatest Hits CDs, separately.

And unless you are a Vaughan completist who HAS to have the four studio albums, the 'live' stuff plus "Family Style" with Jimmie or the SRV box, then this one is a pretty good value, price-wise for a beginner new to Vaughan's work.

This is all a part of Sony's 'Essential' series that's coming out during 2002-2003 year and for them not to do an 'Essential comp on SRV would, I believe, be quite noticed by SOME fans out there. After all, SRV was an important artist for Columbia/Epic in the 1980s and that's what this series is about.

Except I'll probably need to hear all of the 'In the Beginning' set now that I've heard the opener of this collection. 'Essential' seems to be the two Greatest Hits collections minus the inessential Beatle cover that opened Greatest Hits #1. As a blues populizer Vaughan was perhaps an even bigger deal than Eric Clapton was when Clapton came up. Vaughan had great taste in songs and worked very hard to sing them as well as he could. He was the ultimate riff machine with a bag full of embellishments that could be tossed in endless combinations at startling speed. He was a faithful student of Albert King and also Jimi Hendrix. For me Vaughan's abundance of technique often got in the way of the music. Vaughan was almost feathery when playing slower solos and harmonically not very interesting. But that's quibbling. The music was consistently very good and the Double Trouble rhythm section versatile and reliable. And many of Vaughan's rhythm parts were jawdroppers. And the best of it's here for dirt cheap.

I remember how startled I was to hear Vaughan on the radio playing behind David Bowie. What a sound!

hey srv fans if your only looking to buy one cd and this is the one. it does a pretty good job of summing up the 4 studio albums and live album he released during his life it even includes tracks from his posthumous album that was released after his death and some tracks he recorded with his brother.i know all fans have personal fav. they would have liked to see make it but thats just how these things go. so whether your looking for a good retrospective or are just a casual fan looking to dig a little deeper this is the set for you. also of intrests for fans looking for extra live or unreales tracks is the 3cd srv box set