ZZ Top by Cornelius de Groot

Just wrapped up the ZZ Top challenge. First i went over to Wikipedia and got my self back on track with the history and the discography. I always liked ZZ Top, but when i was given the challenge i realized really quickly that i know nothing about their regular albums other than the 2 big ones, tres hombres, and eliminator. All i realized i knew was the greatest hits. So that will bring me to my list of how i listened to ZZ Tops career.

-ZZ Tops first album 1971
-Rio grand mud 1972
-Tres hombres 1973
-Fandango! 1975
-Tejas 1976
-Deguello 1979
-El loco
-Eliminator 1983
-Afterburner 1985
-Recycler 1990
-Antenna 1994
-Rhythmeen 1996
-XXX 1999
-Mescalero 2003
-La futura 2012
-Double down live 1980
-Live from Texas 2007
- Billy Gibbons first band Moving Sidewalks- Flash 1969

That is how i listen to it, the next person to take this challenge has a guideline. You can do more if you can find it, but you can't do less.

OK so ZZ Top comes out of the gate 1,2,3, bluesy, dirty, rocking, three really good albums. Their first album sounds great, the guitar is spot on and comes with a side of  really nice bass. I will pick my favorite song off each album, and this first one is back door love affair. They really lock on out of the gate in this album, they are on point and have a great swinging Texas country blues groove.

Rio grand mud is more of the same great sound, with more of the same dopey fun lyrics that make you want to high five and get drunk in the sun. This album was not a fave of critics, says Wikipedia, but i am on board with this one. My favorite song on this album is Bar-B-Q, Gibbons is a joy to listen to and when they rhythm section locks on and he gets going, it's all good.

Now, the first of there best known albums, Tres hombres. This is the one that everyone knows, and for good reason. starting off with waitin' for the bus, into Jesus just left Chicago and then following beer drinkers and hell raisers. by the way, not listening to waiting for the bus, and Jesus just left Chicago, back to back, is as big a sin, as not playing livin lovin maid after heartbreaker. I'm just saying. favorite song is la grange. I can see why this album was such a break through for the band. Most of the songs ended up on the better, best ofs for the band. also this seems to be where gibbons really took a step towards making more noises with his git. maybe the begging of the 80s sound, or maybe its still to early to say that.


after that, you get some more of the same old Texas charm beats, with some nice weird vibes from the git and the slow introductions of synthes and drum machines, or an electric kit. fandanjo! tejas, and deguello. are all ok albums, they all have good songs with blue jeans blues, tush, arrested for driving blind, ten dollar man, manic mechanic, and cheap sun glasses. all good songs to look forward to while listening. but even with really good parts in all theses album,s they all still seem to fall flat compared to the first three albums, and this is the lead up to the that eighty's sound that you were wondering where they were hiding.

then in comes el loco. holy shit! what the fuck zz top! way to just throw us in at the deep end. we all could hear it coming but did you have to record a album of you learning how to play the synths. tube snake boogie is the first song and where as it dose suck, it can be fun to listen to, but man what a change. this is the album that the band said they liked groovy little hippy dad, or pad, whatever. its a hilarious song and needs to be listen to multiple times just for the awesome weirdness of it. who is this band? but it is awful. pearl neck less is on this one if that's your style. this albums wiki page talks about the introduction of a recording engineer named linden hudson. so this is who taught them how to synthes and electric drum. it also marked the first time they all recorded separately. it seems to me that this is where zz top either sells out or jumps the void between real zz top and what we know zz top to be today.

now to the big one and prob there best in this vein, that is the eighty vein. eliminator. you can immediately tell the production on this record was huge. its very clean and come right out with my favorite song of the album and possible my favorite song of zz top, give me all your loving. its a huge guilty plusher of mine, this song is fun and if you cant enjoy a eighty's rock anthem like this then, man, sucks to be you. this is a song i would not hesitate to dub one of the best pop songs ever written. follow that with under pressures and sharp dressed man and you got pop album started. the rest of the album is great and just as head bopping at the begging as it is at the end. although there is a controversy that zz top did not write this album, and had a great deal of help from linden hudson,. hudson goes on to sue the band for copy rite and wins for 600,000 after 5 years. he was only ever able to prove that he wrote thug. so did zz top get lazy and steal this guys music? it would explain how they went from el loco to eliminator in just two years. oh well, who cares you just have to be your own judge.

unfortunately its more of the same for the next two albums after burner and ryecycler, what a unfortunate album title. the sound is the same but there are a few more ballets on them and many attempts to replicate the sound from eliminator.but it never quite comes. good tracks to look for are stages, Velcro fly, maybe concrete and steel, im still not sure if i like that song or not. tracts to watch out for burger man. wow what a song. both of theses albums suck and only have minim groove.

now we come to the nineties, and it still seems like zz top is two steps behind, antenna is truly bad. its one of those albums that songs break into good parts and then they are gone into the nineties new wave attempt. god, some one need to take the drum machine away from theses guys. also they need a smack in the face to refresh them, with such a large catalog now its hard to over look how much these new songs try to bite on their old bad ass a songs from the first 4 albums. but again its all swept up in electric drums and syinth noise.same goes for rhythmeen and XXX oh and mescalaro. every few song it seems like a good song is starting but its just gets cheesed up and it starts to suck. also another down side to these albums after eliminator is that they started to get longer. there albums started in the 36 min rage and when they get to the 90s its in the 50 min range, like they thought more crap would make it better, well all it dose is make it boring and frustrating to listen to.good songs from theses albums include...i cant remember off the top of my head, but there are a few good ones.

and then they last studio album la futura, i like the first two songs off this album, only because they sound like, exactly like, old zz top songs, see if you can guess them. this album is good because it short compared to there 90s albums, but it is way over compressed, that's rick ruben for you. all i can think of when i listen to this album, is that zz top will never get back to where they were, and that maybe that's a good thing, they seemed to be getting lazier and lazier as their career went on. listing to there live albums will definitely show that.and its actually quite amazing. the fist one on my list, the double live album shows just how tight this band is, and just how good they can sound. this is one of the best live albums i have ever heard, and deserves more credit among live albums, with lots of jams and really good songs. it was before eliminator so none of that crap was in there, just pure rock and roll zz top style. nothing beats the old rock star mentality of zz top around the early 80s. just pure fun. now listen to their 2007 live album, back in Texas, and be amazed with how lazy this band is. Gibbons cant even be bothered to hit half his notes right, they straight up sound like shit, no way this was the same band.


one more thing. flash. this is a album from billy gibbons first psychedelic rock band moving side walk. even though it has nothing to do with zz top, it is a really fun album to listen to, with lots of homage to Hendrix, Pink Floyd , and, lets go with, insert you favorite psychedelic band. its a great pallet cleanser after all the garbage that came out after eliminator, even though it came out way before it. i still wanted to count it in the list. you can listen to it in order, or do it they way i did.

OK, so this is the first thing i have written for real since college. so please excuse any spelling an grammar issues, because i don't care, because this is a music challenge, and a good one. so I'm glad i got to do zz top and i was surprised to find a lot of new good music i thought i already had covered in their best of. and here is the shout out for all the good crap they put out too, i will let you be the judge on that.

i look forward to reading your comments, and my next challenge!

Cornelius de Groot