First, let me concur with the favorable reviews of the DVD/CD left by the reviewers who apparently thought this page was for that product rather than the book(hey, as long as they're SRV fans, it's all good.) Most fans know the legendary first performance started Stevie's journey to well deserved stardom in spite of the crowd's unfavorable response. However, I have met some uninitiated people who mistakenly believe that he played poorly due to nerves or because he was in an altered state of mind. So, for those who don't know, rest assured his performance was FANTASTIC. In fact, the version of "Texas Flood" won a grammy!!!! Although some have conjectured that the crowd reaction was due to Stevie being so loud or because he didn't fit their image of a bluesman, the fact is their booing is completely inexplicable and unwarranted. As for the second performance, Stevie was well established by that time. The crowd gave him the respect he deserved, and this recording shows he gave another of his characteristically astounding performances.
Which leads into one of the reasons why this book of transcriptions is so excellent. Obviously, the music has to be great to begin with before anyone would be interested in trying to explore how it was accomplished. Although I definitely haven't had the time to go through the entire book (with my capabilites, that will take YEARS :-), I have picked out licks here and there that I am anxious to learn. The book has given accurate transcriptions of those particular passages. Also, one of the three transcribers is Jesse Gress (the other two are Pete Billman and Jeff Story),who also did the transcriptions for the "Texas Flood" and "Couldn't Stand the Weather" recordings. I have found those books to be outstanding. If you have those and like them, you will probably feel the same about this Montreux book.
Be aware that the book only transcribes the songs on the CD. So the DVD-only tracks ("Look at Little Sister" "Cold Shot") do not appear. This is a minor point since transcriptions of the studio versions are available and, even without them, there's plenty of material here to keep any aspiring guitarist busy.
These performances include most of Stevie's famous songs, plus he played extended versions in concert, so this book is as good a place as any to begin a quest to get some of Stevie's brilliance under your own fingers. Best of luck to my fellow Stevie Ray admirers!!!!!
