Doug Sahm & Band – Self-Titled / Sir Douglas Band – Texas Tornado

Three years ago this pair appeared as a limited edition set from Rhino Handmade titled The Genuine Texas Groover with added alternates and outtakes. These are straight reissues, and it’s actually nice to hear them exactly as they were conceived and completed at the time. Doug Sahm And Band has the more consistent overall feel. Even with an array of big-name guests (Bob Dylan, Dr. John, David Bromberg) coming and going, there’s an inviting sense of camaraderie throughout. Twin fiddle here, horns there, it’s held together by Sahm’s penchant for nearly every style of music that wafted across the airwaves of Texas while he was growing up. Texas Tornado included tracks left over from the previous album plus new songs recorded with different players in San Francisco. Such a scenario has been a recipe for truckloads of half-baked cakes from a wide range of acts, but that’s not the case here. Leaning more toward horn-driven blues and jazz, the disc is also a showcase for Sahm’s writing; he penned eight of the eleven tunes (compared to two on the other).