Customer Reviews
2 and 1/2 stars : an average record with some good songs 
2007-07-06
i don't understand the five stars ratings for this record, for me it is really average; the bad news first : i don't like his voice and it rather detracts the music than the contrary, plus personally, and that is purely subjective, i think he plays with too heavy strings; 'Little Wing' is a bad endless version, way too repetitive (the fact he didn't understand that playing the same musical theme over and over again was to turn this great song of Hendrix into such a repetitive thing is beyond me); the good news: the sky is crying, May I have a talk with you (raw and bluesy, my favorite track), Life by the Drop (a simple but nice bluesy ballad), the instrumental Chitlins con carne, are good though i find his guitar playing on the excellent 'May i have...' a little bit repetitive, he seems to play the same melodic theme, with some bits of variations over and over again; however the four songs that i quoted are worth a listening.
Left overs from other albums 
2007-06-22
NOT BAD FOR A POSTHUMOUS ALBUM.
These tracks come from recording sessions starting with Stevie Ray Vaughan's second album (Couldn't Stand the Weather) through his last (In Step). They were tracks that did not make it on to those other albums.
You got to ask yourself, why weren't these songs included on other albums? It wasn't like any of Vaughan's albums were too long. They were all under 40 minutes, some around 35 minutes long, and had plenty of room for more songs, even for LP standards. The average LP is 20 minutes a side but could hold up to 30 minutes of music on one side.
Many people are saying this is Vaughan's best album. So, was Vaughan a complete idiot and didn't know how to pick songs for his albums while he was alive?
For a posthumous album, this isn't bad. Many albums that were released after an artist died or a group broke up are a mess of scrapings off of the floor. There are usually odds and sods of novelty songs and incomplete tracks. Unlike those, The Sky is Crying is mostly an album of complete songs, and almost sounds like a normal album.
There are a few glitches in some of the songs, but nothing significant. Probably most notable is the mixing errors in Chitlins con Carne.
There are some very good tracks on this CD, especially the instrumental Chitlin con Carne. This is one of those great slow blues numbers from the Couldn't Stand the Weather days. The instrumental version of Little Wing is also pretty good.
Other songs are not quite as good, being overloaded with the Vaughan cliches of the screaming vocals and running up the guitar screens. I am guessing that some of these songs were left of the original albums because they were just too much of the same thing.
I don't think this CD is anywhere in the class of Couldn't Stand the Weather or In Step, but it is certainly better than Soul to Soul.
RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THE KING OF THE WORLD BLUES REVIEWERS, REVIEWS THE "PRINCE OF THE BLUES!" 
2007-02-01
Shaq's two favorite electric blues guitarist's of all-time are, Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. To ask if I love Stevie... can be answered in a million ways! A simple, right between the eyes answer is: "My personalized license plates are "SRV **"! Besides hearing just about everything by Stevie, watching everything about Stevie, and reading 2 biographies about Stevie... Shaq, "The King Of The World Blues Reviewer" will always give you an unbiased review. I rate this 4 stars, because it's great (and you should buy it!) but it's not one of his all-time classic 5 stars. There are things about a Shaq review, you may not like, but they'll always be the truth, even when there are tears in my eyes and pain in my heart from the loss of Stevie. Brother Jimmie, pieced this CD together, from old studio tracks between 1984 and 1989, after Stevie's tragic death. One of the cuts is "The Sky Is Crying", not the great, longer, live version, but great nonetheless. A touching, poignant, closing, song "Life By The Drop", which chronicles, a fight against addiction, which Stevie knew well. What a way for the last 3 lines of lyrics, on the posthumous, release, of Stevie's CD! It literally "could have been" the last words he uttered on his way to blues heaven: "WE'RE LIVIN OUR DREAMS, MY MIND'S STOPPED ACHIN', THAT'S HOW IT HAPPENS LIVIN LIFE BY THE DROP".
SRV classic 
2007-01-21
One of his best, featuring some great dynamic ballads, alternating from clean with a chorus tone, to blues shredding sustain. The rhythm track is loosely tight, just the way it was meant to be.
The Sky is Falling 2006-08-21
Music triggers memories for me and this disk brought back some wonderful memories about where my life was at that time.
For a album of outtakes, it's very very good (4.5 stars) 2008-04-02
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's posthumous album, The Sky Is Crying, is a rarity in the fact that the outtakes here are of the same high quality of the rest of the band's albums. It's big on the blues cover tunes (all of their albums had a few) but the strong performances show an embracing of the blues rather than just a retread. The fact that no guitarist could play or sing quite like Stevie Ray certainly distinguished them as well. Everything here works as the band breathes even more fire into Lonnie Mack's "Wham", turns the Jimi Hendrix classic into a slow burner that gains in momentum until it reaches its end, and turns their own "Empty Arms", which sounded somewhat sluggish on Soul to Soul, into a joyous shuffle. Stevie Ray also shows his continued love of jazz on Kenny Burrell's "Chitlins Con Carne" and pays tribute to the Yardbirds on his own instrumental "So Excited." The tracks recorded during the In Step sessions are also great as Stevie Ray's wicked slide playing highlights "Boot Hill" and he gives a passionate vocal performance on "Life by the Drop." The remaining tracks, versions of "May I Have a Talk with You" and "Close To You", are also very good. All told, The Sky Is Crying is a great album, sounding much better than a collection of outtakes has a right to.
In Memory 2008-02-18
The Sky is Crying. It's the perfect title to this, the first posthumous release of Stevie Ray Vaughan's material.
It's honestly hard to listen to this album without feeling the emptiness left behind with Vaughan's passing, knowing that this was all there was left. A recording, not an album exactly, of outtakes and seconds that, somehow, manages to be just as strong as any other release by SRV.
Given that these are songs never really intended for release, it's amazing how powerfully they come together. Part of the appeal is in hearing SRV cover classics like "The Sky Is Crying" and "Little Wing," songs that, as many times and by as many artists as I've heard them, I never get tired of hearing, just to see how another guitarist combines the familiar with his or her own unique style. Of course, Vaughan does a fantastic job with them, here, as is to be expected, and they provide that appropriate note of sadness to an album that marks a sad moment.
But it's not all sad tunes, as typically SRV bluesy rockers are found in plenty, as well ("Wham"; "Close to You"; "So Excited"). And there are other songs that are just so full of emotion that I'm amazed that they weren't included in other albums ("May I Have a Talk With You"; "Life by the Drop").
In an album so clearly connected to the loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan, closer "Life by the Drop" seems a fitting finish. Simple, with lyrics that seem to fit the moment perfectly, and then the album is over. Just like that.
I've heard some say that SRV is just white man's blues, and that it doesn't recall the true emotion of the blues. Well, this one does for a good many listeners.
OUTTAKES ? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ! (Some of this stuff is SRV's best) 2007-07-21
The Sky Is Crying (1991) is an album of songs recorded by Stevie Ray Vaughan that weren't used on albums he officially released before his untimely death at 35 on August 27, 1990, in a helicoptor accident. Why, I don't know. There is some really great blues here. The best song on the album is the title track. Originally an Elmore James song, Stevie gives it the full-tilt, wild electric guitar, slow blues treatment (think Texas Flood), and it's as good as he's ever done. His instrumental take on Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing sounds really good, too, and a lot like Jimi. I wish Stevie would have sung on it, too. Boot Hill is excellant electric slide guitar boogie with trademark SRV vocals. May I Have A Talk With You is very good, and Stevie speeds things up with the lusty Close To You. One of the biggest treats on the album is the solo 12-string acoustic guitar Life By The Drop. Stevie sings of being left behind by his best guitar mate, who chose pursuing his dream over drinking his life away (living life by the drop). It's a moving performance of a poignant song. Lovingly put together by his brother, Jimmie Vaughan, The Sky Is Crying sounds as good as any of SRV's albums. While a couple of the instrumental songs are uneven and really nothing new, the album as a whole is very good, and it's essential for the fans of a great bluesman, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Great SRV Compilation CD 2007-07-18
Critics cite Texas Flood and In Step as SRV's bests albums, but this is easily my personal favorite. It's a nice sampling of his unbelievable and seemingly unattainable talents and abilities.
Vaughan's deranged vocals and fiery slide guitar hit you like a freight train on "Boot Hill," the CD's first song. "Chitlins Con Carne" is a wonderful example of his jazz guitar--pure elegance--suitable as a backdrop to a formal dinner. In addition, SRV's "Life By The Drop" is a haunting ballad played on 12-string acoustic guitar--a fitting cap stone to a great retrospective CD and brilliant career.
A real winner! 2007-07-13
This is easily on par with SRV's first three albums. It's, as you may know, a posthumous release of recordings made throughout his career. Many people rave about the "Little Wing" cover--and it is great--but I'm knocked out by the Kenny Burrell cover of "Chitlins con Carne." Every song is a keeper, not a throw-away in the bunch, just a slightly wider variety of SRV's playing than you'd get elsewhere.
