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ZZ Top
Phase I: Houston guitarist Billy Gibbons wanted to start a Texas Boogie Rock group and signed up drummer Frank Beard. Beard had been in a band with a bass player named Dusty Hill, and soon the trio was complete. Between '70 and '73, ZZ Top records were huge in the great state of Texas - and no where else. They even managed to draw 80,000 fans to Austin for their First Annual Texas Sized Rompin' Stompin' Barndance Bar-B-Q. With the release of "Tres Hombres" and the song "La Grange" they began to garner a national attention. Their follow up album "Fandango" containing "Tush" cemented their reputation as the premier Boogie Rock band. For the rest of the decade they knocked out classics like "Arrested While Driving Blind" and "Heard It On The X" (a Mexican radio tribute). By the end of the decade their record label, London, put out a "Best Of…" collection. And that might have been the end of the story.
Phase II: ZZ Top signed with Warner Records, who did a better job promoting the group. Second, both Gibbons and Hill stopped shaving which provided the band with their trademark long straggly facial hair (ironically Beard, given his name, only grew a mustache). But everyone wore dark (obviously expensive) sunglasses. A cover of Soul classic "I Thank You" and "Cheap Sunglasses" extended ZZ Top's tenure as FM Rock staples. But the "Eliminator" CD blasted them into the stratosphere. Enhanced production (sequencers, samples and synthesizers) augmented ZZ Top's sound. Also, the great Rockers "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Shape Dressed Man" and "Legs" had the most entertaining videos on MTV. They made Gibbons, Hill and Beard stars. The videos featured a ZZ Top car (a cherry red roadster with lightning bolts) and a key chain. The plot was essentially the same: the semi-rich and powerful are abusing some poor but good-looking people. ZZ Top arrives helping the underdog prevail. The heroes acquire the key chain and drive off in unbridled bliss. Perfect.
ZZ Top followed "Eliminator" with "Afterburner" and continued their relentless touring. But after that the formula flat wore out and ZZ Top went back to their Blues Boogie roots. Too bad they'd already been there and so had their audience.
Phase III: A quartet of 90's albums were solid efforts but failed to gin up much attention. The manic drive and pinpoint precision of earlier releases seemed to elude them. That trend continued with '03 release "Mescalero." But before the dust had even a chance to settle around that album, ZZ Top issued the four CD compilation "Chrome, Smoke & BBQ."
They began work in early '11 on their first studio album in eight years (since "Mescalero"). "I've got a little studio at my house out in L.A.," said Gibbons, "and it kind of takes the load off to be able to leave Texas, go to California, stay there for awhile, and then you get to leave California and come back to Texas."
Albums:
1971 ZZ Top's First Album
1972 Rio Grande Mud
1973 Tres Hombres
1975 Fandango!
1977 Tejas
1979 Degüello
1981 El Loco
1983 Eliminator
1985 Afterburner
1990 Recycler
1994 Antenna
1996 Rhythmeen
1999 XXX
2003 Mescalero
It's truly amazing how durable Texas Boogie guitar is. Or maybe it's ZZ Top. "Eliminator" finds ZZ Top padded with synthesizers for their most popular album. Even with the production the Boogie drives "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs." "Afterburner" is another strong effort. As good as these albums are they're not really what ZZ Top is about. The group's essence is captured on "Tres Hombres" and "Deguello" featuring the fun "Cheap Sunglasses."
"Mescalero" is another of the group's Blues forays. The good news is that it is unmistakably ZZ Top. The group still possesses its core appeal. Not surprising, the most satisfying songs, like "Me So Stupid," are a nod to the group's glory days.
"Greatest Hits" culls songs from the '70s and 80s plus a rousing, nearly straight-faced version of the Elvis Presley chestnut "Viva Las Vegas." "Chrome, Smoke & BBQ" has it all and more, capturing the group's career.
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