Texas Tornado (album)

Last updated
Texas Tornado
Doug Sahm - Texas Tornado cover.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 1973
RecordedOctober 1972
Studio Atlantic Studios
Wally Heider Studios
Genre rock and roll, tejano, blues, jazz
Length37:55
Label Atlantic
Producer Doug Sahm, Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin
Doug Sahm chronology
Doug Sahm and Band
(1973)
Texas Tornado
(1973)
Groover's Paradise
(1974)

Texas Tornado is the second solo album by Doug Sahm, released by Atlantic Records in December 1973. Sahm co-produced the album with Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin. Wexler signed Sahm to Atlantic records after the opening of the label's country music division.

Contents

Sahm recorded with Atlantic during October 1972. Texas Tornado was constituted by the leftover tracks of his debut album, Doug Sahm and Band . Sahm's second album was favored by the critics.

Background

Interested in the development of alternative country, Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler started a Country & Western division in the label in 1972. [1] Wexler signed Doug Sahm among his acts. [2] Sahm recorded material for the label during October 1972 and his debut solo album, Doug Sahm and Band , was released in 1973. [3] Following his move to Austin, Texas Sahm released the leftover material of his Atlantic sessions as Texas Tornado. [4] The album was credited to the "Sir Douglas Band" and produced by Sahm, Wexler and Arif Mardin. [5]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Kansas City Star Favorable
Detroit Free Press Favorable
The Cincinnati Enquirer Favorable
Austin American-Statesman Favorable
Robert Christgau B+
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg

Texas Tornado was released in December 1973. [6] The Kansas City Star delivered a favorable review that stated on the album Sahm "proves just how good a writer, composer and vocalist ... [he] is." [7] Critic Bob Talbert of the Detroit Free Press favored the album, and commented on the variety of musical genres and Sahm's "taste of every musical style." [8] Meanwhile, The Cincinnati Enquirer also remarked the mixture of styles and Sahm's voice changing from "the twangy nasal country sound to the mellow crooning style". [9] the Austin American-Statesman considered the album "more consistent overall" in comparison to Sahm's debut release with the label. [10]

Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B+, and he compared it with previous Sahm releases: "the singing especially has the kind of force and definition he's always rendered irrelevant in the past". [11] AllMusic gave the album four-and-a-half stars out of five. Stephen Thomas Erlewine determined that the album "captures (Sahm) at an undeniable peak and it's undeniably irresistible." [12]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."San Francisco FM Blues"3:30
2."Someday"3:21
3."Blue Horizon"4:25
4."Tennessee Blues"5:34
5."Ain't That Loving You"4:57
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Texas Tornado"2:56
2."Juan Mendoza"2:59
3."Chicano"2:18
4."I'll Be There"2:38
5."Hard Way"2:12
6."Nitty Gritty"3:05

Personnel

Musicians [5]

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References

Sources