Search - Texas Tornados :: Texas Tornados

You can't lose...

Bradley Nelson | Valparaiso IN USA | 10/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Texas Tornados are like the reverse of the old big-box-containing-a-smaller-box-containg-a-smaller-box joke that your sister pulled on you when you opened your Christmas present. The band presents you with a brightly-colored package (graphically and musically) that seems somewhat modest at first but over time grows into a dear treasure. The songs unashamedly pluck at all the heartstrings with no apologies and you have to laugh at their brazen chutzpah. The musicians' credentials are voluminous and undeniable. The melding of Sahm-Meyers, Fender and Jimenez is a classic case of the whole being more that the sum of the parts. This Tex-Mex album is the AM-radio soundtrack for a sunny spring day driving south on Interstate 25 with the top down and a couple of shots of tequila just starting to warm your gut. Only the most pretentious or dour of listeners will fail to get a spiritual lift from this little gem. Don't cheat yourself-add Texas Tornados to your road collection."

This music will live forever

T. Humphries | Jefferson Texas USA | 06/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With the caliber of musicians in this band this music is destined to live forever. How will any other group hope to mach the diversity of the late Doug Sahms, from down and dirty blues to the twangy pedal steel guitar, this home grown Texas superstar will shine forever. This collection of various Tornado tunes highlights well the sound and soul of the TEXAS TORNADOS."

No man is an island, entire of itself...

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 04/09/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...and not many artists can reasonably be said to _be_ a genre unto themselves. Van Morrison, perhaps, with his inimitable Celtic soul. And these guys. Amazon suggests the tags "alt country" or "roots rock" for this album. but it really isn't either. It's just The Texas Tornados.



Named after co-founder Doug Sahm's 1973 album with the Sir Douglas Quintet, The Texas Tornados were a super group of Tex-Mex veterans formed in early 1990. Freddy Fender, Augie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez, and Doug Sahm form sort of a Tex-Mex "Travelling Wilburys", playing everything from unapologetic pop and country weepers to driving garage rock and Mexican ballads. And somehow it all sounded like it did indeed belong on the same album.



Flaco Jimenez' accordion accounts for much of the album's characteristic sound, and the singers take turns or let their soulful vocals blend together like on the exquisitely melodic ballad "Laredo Rose", or the irresistable Tex-Mex-rocker "Who Were You Thinkin' Of".

Yes, Freddy Fender's "A Man Can Cry" is about as smaltzy as it gets, but his nasal, slightly fragile vocals somehow pull it off anyway.

Doug Sahm provides the driving rocker "Adios Mexico", which rides along in its deep groove propelled by Augie Meyers' Vox organ. And Augie Meyers brings his own "Dinero" to the party, sung by himself in a dry tenor voice.



We also get a delightful "Soy De San Luís", sung in Spanish by Fender and Jimenez, and then in slightly more clichéd English by Sahm, and beautiful renditions of "Baby Heaven Sent Me You" and "She Never Spoke Spanish To Me". And, well, they're all highlights, really.

The Tornados' first album was also their best, an irresistable and unique mix of numerous musical genres, and a clean five stars. There you have it. Saints and sinners all agree: Spanish is a loving tongue!"