Hot Number CUTOUT by Fabulous Thunderbirds

Hot Number CUTOUT

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Hot Number CUTOUT

Reader Reviews
Hot Number is the T-Birds follow up to Tuff Enuff. Jimmie Vaughan has said that he didn't like playing on this album because the band used a horn section. Jimmie's rhythm playing had always been the anchor of the band, and though he may have had to sublimate his ego here, allowing the horns to take the spotlight on some songs (he barely plays at all on Streets of Gold), he is still very much in his element. It seems his frustration has carried over into his playing, with great results. His guitar tone is clean, hot and sounds downright angry in most places. This creates a great contrast to the mellowing uptown horns, organ and piano parts on many songs. Listen to How Do you Spell Love, a re-recording of the same song from T-Bird Rhythm. His rhythm part is simple, but the combination of heavy amp tremolo and his biting lead tone make the song snarl with conviction and maybe more than a little frustration. It sounds as if he's trying to take over the band with his sound. It's the same on Hot number, one of my favorite T-Bird songs, where the lead fits the lyrics to a T. There are some obvious carryovers from Tuff Enuff. It Comes to Me Naturally is an example about a guy who can't control himself in any bar full of women, with a typical stripped down and supercharged Jimmy Reed style rhythm part from Vaughan. Jimmie's use of a long scale guitar, a habit I think he picked up from Dave Edmunds (what's Jimmie doing picking up habits from a Brit anyway??), is used sparely but effectively, as in Don't Bother Tryin' to Steal Her Love. Stand Back is an excellent example of the tension between guitar and horns that pervades this record, and it's perfect as the first song. Love in Common is a great song about a relationship between a down home Southern guy and his uptown northerner girlfriend. Wasted Tears is a melancholy song about a broken up relationship with soulfull horn and organ parts and a 1950's sounding tearjerker guitar part. It's great that Jimmy and the guys didn't waste any tears when they made this album. Kim wilson plays harp and sings with perfection. All in all this record has a more uptown, mainstream rhythm and blues feel than other T-Bird albums, but that doesn't take away from the T-Bird sound, it adds to it, and it's good, it's good.

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