It's hard to imagine a better place for
the Texas Tornados to record a live album than Antone's in Austin, Texas, where the Tex-Mex superstar act performed in December 1998. The group draws heavily on its 1990 debut album, performing six of its ten tracks. Since they never really improved on that set, that's fine, and they add to it by including member
Freddy Fender's hit "Wasted Days, Wasted Nights" and members
Doug Sahm and
Augie Meyers's
Sir Douglas Quintet hit "Mendicino." The club atmosphere is perfect for the group, which exhorts the enthusiastic crowd to sing along, a request that is lustily satisfied. ~ William Ruhlmann