ZZ Top: C/D

Totally fucking undeniably classic - check the archives dude, I asked ILM if I should buy the box set about a month or two ago (I did - worth every penny!!)

My dream band would certainly include Billy Gibbons on guitar.

CLASSICCLASSICCLASSIC

I searched the archive for threads about ZZ Top and found nothing...

totally worth getting, for the first two and a half discs alone

Convince me not to shell out $70 for the ZZ Top box set
ZZ Top's "Deguello" - C/D, S/D
Is there a non-"remastered" version of ZZ Top's Tejas available on CD?
ZZ TOP: Eliminator and Afterburner
POX:ZZ Top

Oh, and very much classic.

Related, but off topic...

Bubble Puppy. If you haven't, there's a cheap remaster. It's good.

Point Blank. First album, way beyond "brown period" ZZ Top. Shotgun pointed at your head. Completely unacceptable beat-yer-wife-and-the-liberals-too crashing boogie on Arista. Never remastered -- except for my special "Sludge in the Seventies" series. "The Hard Way" is also good. That may still be in stock in various places.

Best Album: Tres Hombres

I been bad, I been good,
Dallas, Texas, Hollywood.
I ain't askin' for much.
I said, Lord, take me downtown,
I'm just lookin' for some tush.

Take me back way back home,
not by myself, not alone.
I ain't askin' for much.
I said, Lord, take me downtown,
I'm just lookin' for some tush.

- Frank Beard, Bill Gibbons & Dusty Hill

Classic.

http://www.cjnetworks.com/~leis/album/zztop/tejas.jpg

this might be the best album ever made

Got to see these guys when they played the Beacon Theatre in NYC a month or so back. They fucking tore the walls down. Tremendous.

It's getting hard to see the white lines rollin by...

What a totally classic band. I'm depressed I missed the Beacon show.

Customizer behind CadZZilla dies

http://www.havill.net/hobby/galaxie/images/cadzilla.jpg

I am itchin' to find out what Rick Rubin does with them. Itchin', I tell ya.

All acoustic covers of new wave acts.

But seriously, I'm into this idea.

I mean, the idea of ZZ Top ELECTRIC with Rick Rubin.

Yeah, I don't think even Rubin would unplug them. That would be Rubin self-parody.

oh man if he wants them to take it back to tres hombres this could be great news indeed....

Arguably the world's greatest living bluesman, Billy Gibbons

arguably, yes.

Why not Billy Gibbons? Fucking Brown Sugar off their first album, what an awesome blues song.

Just Got Paid may be my favorite song of all time.

I fucking love this band.

I'd be surprised if Rubin could jackhandle them into producing an album as interesting as Mescalero. The band was so down-tuned for half the numbers you could almost hear the strings scraping the pickups. Plus they did Lowell Fulson's "Tramp," which makes about half an album worthwhile all by itself.

However, I'm one who has liked ZZ Top's last couple of albums. XXX was a little off but Rhythmeen was singular in its wall-of-guitar tone. Check Vincent Price Blues, as per one sample.

ZZ Top and their 1st-RioGrandeMud-TresHombres period are like the American blue-collar worker and $20 buck/hour wages. The paradigm is gone and not coming back. If Rick Rubin gets people to pay attention to 'em a little more, that's fine.

What's exactly is there -to do- with ZZ Top if you're a producer, anyway?

Everything ZZ Top has done in the last ten years has been R&B as hard rock and blooz as jokey semi-heavy metal and vice versa. It's not been a bad way of writing for them.

The last revolution in tone they went through came with Eliminator when Billy started playing through Rockman equipment, Frank Beard was laced to sequencing and a click track and gated reverb was used on all the drums. Plus Dusty was singing a lot less.

They dumped all that when they went to RCA for Antenna. Rusty still isn't singing as much as he used to, though.

ZZ Top and their 1st-RioGrandeMud-TresHombres period are like the American blue-collar worker and $20 buck/hour wages. The paradigm is gone and not coming back.

What paradigm is that? When was ZZ Top ever defined by the year they were recording in? I know you're talking about sound here -- too narrowly, I think -- but either way, that seems like a blank argument.

What's exactly is there -to do- with ZZ Top if you're a producer, anyway?

I don't know what line of work you're in, but I hope it's not producing records. What exactly can you *do* with 4/4 time and 12 bars? It's just so limited...

I know, maybe my hopes are too high. But there's a lot of ZZ Top to work with. There's some serious raw blues, as was said, and their affinity for pure sonics, which was all-time greatness on a couple albums before it got a little out of hand and cloudy, and there's always that genius/weird sense of humor that produces songs like "Cheap Sunglasses," which is a joke with no punch line, so instead of being funny, it decides to just fuckin' rock. There are a lot of places for ZZ Top to go or go back to, which of course is Rubin's speciality.

And while rationally I know better, I want to believe that there's such a thing as Huge Fuck-Off Beard Magic, and that Rubin and Billy and Dusty all have it in spades.

With all the southern rock haters I've seen on ILX I'm surprised at how positive this thread is.

This is the first band I can remember liking. Ecstatically at that. A tape of Eliminator that I think belonged to my dad.

Kenan, I made the same mistake with the new Stooges album.

:(

I'M BAD

I'M NATIONWIDE

They dumped all that when they went to RCA for Antenna.

There's still silly polish and f/x all over their last few records, including Antenna.

They need to release a for-real live album. I saw them at the Beacon Theater late last year and had my brain yanked out and hurled around the room.

I've heard they can still dominate live. No news on any of the old shit being remastered like fandango and 3 hombres, right? Too bad, I'd love to upgrade the first two.

No, none of the others are on the Rhino remaster list, as far as I know. You're right, they definitely should remaster the first two - hell, I'd like remasters of everything up through Eliminator (which is coming as a 2CD deluxe edition later in the year).

I sprang for the box set which has fabulous sounding remasters of the early records (and the rest too).

I burned the box set from a friend, it only made me hungry for more.

Some of the real early Moving Sidewalks stuff is great. Salt Lick is a fucking jam.

yeah, there are days where I think Tres Hombres is the only record by anyone I'll ever need, so I know what you mean.

that seems like a blank argument

A yawn is a silent shout.

ZZ Top haven't exactly been making bad albums. Other than name value on the marquee and in the press, having Rick Rubin working with you is no guarantee of anything. I would buy their next CD regardless of whether he had anything to do with it.

The reprints, such as they exist, of the first two albums get a bit of bad rap, particularly if one reads about the original ZZ Top box, not the Chrome Smoke and BBQ anthology of a few years ago. There are a number of customer reviews on Amazon of the original 6-LP-on-3-CD thing that are fairly vituperative.

But you can get it cheap now as used merch and if you turn the discs up loud they do sound great. The complaints stem from the replacement of the Seventies ambience in the mixes with something of a Nineties sheen here and there, most noticeably on the remix of Tejas.

However, I went back to it this year after I noticed distortion on my copy of the deluxe reissue of Fandango.

The newest Fandango sounds fine for most buyers but it is pushed a bit and mine has some digital clipping. The old remaster from the box does not and while it's not printed as loud, this is remedied by turning it up. Which is how I always listen to it, anyway.

There's still silly polish and f/x all over their last few records, including Antenna

That's a matter of taste. Mescalero is raw and brutal throughout much of it. Rhythmeen is a wall of guitar. And they definitely aren't doing the Eighties Rockman sound -- which is how most of the people who bought the hit records know them.

After reading reviews of all the RCA albums, I think Rhythmeen is the one I need. And I believe the complaints about the ZZ Top Sixpack (their first six albums, except Degüello, which was the best one post-Tres) stemmed from the replacement of the original 70s drum tracks with programmed rhythms to make 'em palatable to fans of Eliminator and Afterburner.

Mescalero is raw and brutal throughout much of it.

I'm sorry but there is nothing raw and brutal about any ZZ Top record from the last, what, 25-30 years? Which isn't a bad thing. I'm a huge fan of their 12" dance remixes. But those terms, regardless of relativity, don't seem accurate.

I was listening to them pretty closely, Phil, and all of the drums don't sound horribly butchered to me. My subjective opinion was that in remix they sometimes used the same reverbs they used ca. Eliminator and Afterburner, maybe indeed to make the rhythms sonically more in the same vein as the latter albums for the mass fans. And Tejas may have had some of its original drums yanked out -- it's on this LP that the changes are most apparent -- but if they were all redone for every LP, I can't tell. Much of it still strikes me as adequately vintage.

On balance, I'd still recommend it to someone who wanted a lot of ZZ Top on the cheap.

Re brutal and Mescalero:

But those terms, regardless of relativity, don't seem accurate

Green! No -- red! Purple! No, dammit, mauve! Warn off some more, quick!

You describing a recent ZZ Top record as raw and brutal is still the better joke.

boys, where is the love?

I think I'll give the newer records a try. I've held off thus far.

I'm re-listening to Mescalero right now. It's kind of absurd, really. Post-80s Gibbons has become obsessed with adding little gimmicks in order for the band to somehow sound "modern" and "hip." I'm mean, what the hell was he listening to when making this record -- nu metal?

Now I don't mind some gimmicks, but ZZ Top has to back it up with real rocking; that's what they excel at. Ever since Deguello (which I like, not love), the rock-to-gimmick ratio has slowly been shifting. I do like some modern ZZ Top. They're always reliable for a decent groove or two or a fun pop song (Antenna ain't bad). But these recent records don't touch the band's early output. And I wouldn't mind hearing ZZ Top try to match that again. I think they do have it in them.

I've seen ZZ Top twice in the last 10 years, and they delivered live. But I don't think that intensity is on the more recent albums.

yeah, based on that alone I'm stoked to hear a Rick Rubin-produced ZZ Top record.

The last revolution in tone they went through came with Eliminator when Billy started playing through Rockman equipment, Frank Beard was laced to sequencing and a click track and gated reverb was used on all the drums.

Among drummers, Frank Beard is a Stepford Wife.

I like to watch drummers doing little domestic chores. ;)

Pleasepleaseplease call it Licensed to Ill.

The only album I ever thought about pitching to 33 1/3 series, the only thing I could even fathom listening to 10000x times, was Tres Hombres.

I just saw that ZZ Top is opening for Aerosmith this summer. High potential for the headliner getting blown off the stage.

so fucking awesome

Amen. I am looking forward to their demolition of Aerosmith.

http://whatimg.com/images/2hf8qhi89ed02dlnixdw.jpg

http://www.1077thebone.com/Portals/2/Bone%20Bash%2010/zzTop2.jpg

SO FUCKING AWESOME

been going through all the VH1 Storytellers: ZZ Top stuff on Comcast - there's 90 minutes of some recent live show in Texas that is great

I think they just released that on DVD. With the clever title "Live in Texas".

Yeah, that DVD's great. Exact same set list I saw them play at the Beacon Theatre (at ferocious volume). Also available on CD, well worth picking up.

Found this cool thread with alot of comments by Terry Manning from Argent Studios on working on all of the ZZ Top albums they recorded (which is really most of the really good ones).

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/mv/msg/3849/0/0/0/

cool, fun to read about that stuff!

I could be on that thread for days.

wow I had never made the Ardent connection before

Are we hearing mostly fender tweed amps on this record?

Some, but some are also from BG's customised Marshall heads, which he renamed "Rio Grande" brand. The controls were all labelled in Spanish, and the logo was palm trees.

There is some cool stuff later on doing the drums for Eliminator. It's pretty much drum machine with some live percussion overdubbed to match on top.

Was just listening to Fandango and got to wondering what happened to the rest of the kickin' live show that made up the original a-side? The remaster has some live bounus tracks, but liner notes say they are from four years later.

Also: Dubya Tee Efff?

1. Sharp Dressed Man - Steven Tyler, Mick Fleetwood, Jonny Lang, and John McVie (The M.O.B)
2. Gimme All Your Lovin' - Filter*
3. Tush - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
4. Legs - Nickelback
5. Cheap Sunglasses - Wolfmother
6. Got Me Under Pressure - Duff McKagan's Loaded
7. Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers - Coheed & Cambria
8. Just Got Paid - Mastodon
9. Rough Boy - Wyclef Jean
10. Waitin' for the Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago - Daughtry
11. La Grange - Jamey Johnson

I'm already hearing the Coheed lead vocal in my mind.

I foresee a "least appitizing performance" poll...

holy shit "Gimme All Your Lovin'" by Filter

I just picked up Afterburner and Recycler on vinyl for a dollar each this weekend. \o/

A couple of years ago I interviewed the singer from Coheed and he was talking about how their then-current album finished the multi-album sci-fi saga he'd been writing, and I asked him if he ever just wanted to sing songs about cars and girls - "you know, like ZZ Top," and he laughed and said no. Liar.

whatever happened to the new record produced by rick rubin?

they were on tour this summer in europe BTW iirc

Rough Boy - Wyclef Jean

NIIIICE

The Mastodon Just Got Paid has been around forever, is this a new version?

Good news, ZZ Top has actually put out a live CD from the good ole' days. It is mastered really hot, but overall the production quality is pretty good.

Live in Germany 1980

It is taken from a Rockpalast show from back before the wall fell. I guess you can get the DVD of the show too.

Now if the boys would just get with it and remaster the rest of their catalog, which I sadly think might not happen anytime soon.

Listening to the new album, La Futura, now. The first four songs were released as the Texicali EP earlier this year - the other six are just as noisy 'n' nasty. Sure, it took almost a decade to get here, but they really do sound energized and raucous. Gibbons' guitar work is disgusting in the best way, and it sounds like Frank Beard is actually playing drums on this album.

it's a fantastic record, isn't it?

my buddy had an extra ticket to see ZZ last night so I went, it was good if not great. short smart focused set, hits and early stuff with the 80s video songs all in a row. highlights included "beer drinking and hell raising" and the new song "25 lighters" which was the best thing all night, gibbons guitar playing on that was absolutely sick and the chorus sounds like vintage top "25 lighters on my dresser yessir I GOTS TO GET PAID"

only quibble is w/the drummer, the rhythms plodded imo but that may be inevitable (age) and the rhythm section was certainly tight & precise

'25 Lighters' original fyi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPtFb77Gmtk

what i think is brilliant about zz top's cover is how it works both ways, you hear the cadence of hiphop AND blues in the chorus

yeah i knew it wasn't their song but many of my whiteguy geezer brethren in the audience may not have realized

New video. They look like the revenant versions of their '80s selves.

Can any ZZ heads ID the track at 1:30 in this vid? The bass line sounds like "Is Chicago" by Soul Coughing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCgibhGRw38

Never thought you'd get to see Billy Gibbons' band before ZZ Top? Well guess what...

last ZZ Top album was excellent fwiw

Just got a press release from Rhino: On June 10/11, ZZ Top will be releasing The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990, a 10-CD box containing all original mixes of everything from ZZ Top's First Album through Recycler for $60.

Hallelujah, it's about time they finally got those early ZZ Top albums fixed.

I thought they already dd?

They only remastered a couple and some tracks for a boxset.

Digital versions are all over the fucking place, too. The version of I'm Bad on the iTunes Deguello is a fucking duet with Dwight Yoakam.

this is excellent news.

Are these gonna be mini-lps like the Joni Mitchell box? Hopefully if so, they'll be able to carry over the inner sleeves this time. They had some cool ones. Take Deguello for instance:

http://www.vinylrecords.ch/Z/ZZ_Top/Deguello/zz-top-deguello-72.jpg

Tejas sleeve is dope

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJ_vNPmfPONGekSWTcau7jzIzuw2Ekusqzaiw1P8LaHXO0BfKW5w

Tejas inner sleeve:

http://www.vinylrecords.ch/Z/ZZ_Top/Tejas/IMG_9156.jpg

I miss these:

http://vinylrecords.ch/Z/ZZ_Top/Eliminator/zz-top-eliminator-127080.jpg

They're saying all gatefold art is recreated, so odds are good.

http://abcnewsradioonline.com/storage/music-news-images/M_ZZTopBoxSet630_042913.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1367286615494

want a poster of the Tres Hombres gatefold, preferably wall sized

Oh wow:

http://addictedtovinyl.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/zz-top-tush.jpg

Want a t-shirt of this like yesterday.

Key paragraph from the press release:

The set, including the albums initially released on the London label as well as the string of Warner Bros. Hits that followed, includes ZZ Tops’ First Album (1971), Rio Grande Mud (1972), Tres Hombres (1973), Fandango! (1975)*, Tejas (1976), Degüello (1979), El Loco (1981), Eliminator (1983), Afterburner (1985) and Recycler (1990). Each album is presented in a wallet sleeve that faithfully reproduces the original artwork, including the gatefold designs used for Tres Hombres and Tejas. The set presents, for the first time on CD, the original mixes for ZZ Tops’ First Album, Rio Grande Mud and Tejas that have long been on the wish lists of the band’s most fervent fans.

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2011/03/I_Thank_You_ZZ_Top.jpg

Here's a story about the closing of Leo's Mexican Restaurant, who provided the star features of the Tres Hombres inner sleeve.

Cool new interview w/Billy talkin' Memphis & such.

La Futura is FAR better than expected. Put another feather in Mr. Rubin's cap.

Gibbons' guitar tech takes you through the guitar/effect/amp line. Biggest surprise: the light gauge strings (.007 and 8? wow!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6DrxfrbbF8

Also: Billy has over 450 guitars for stage use - just at ZZ HQ

Billy's one of a handful of people who has a (verifiable) Strat owned by Hendrix (likely verifiable because Hendrix gave it to him).

(.007 and 8? wow!)

That's completely nuts. As is the fact that he's never broken a string on stage!

ZZ Top interview/performance on Howard Stern Tuesday worth seeking out.

The box set is up for pre-order on Amazon for $42.

Box set in my hands, getting ready to dive in.

think i need to get that...
in other zz news, this is depressing
http://zumic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/kid-rock-2013-tour-poster.jpg

yes. yes it is.

though i have to hand it kid, $20 is a good deal as long as I can arrive after uncle kracker and leave before kid rock.

in Dallas there is an almost $10 service charge. Ticketmaster getting their piece of the action.

also, all that's left is lawn tickets. Yes, I checked.

But you know Billy will guest on Kid's set, and shred all over "Cowboy".

I would have been tempted if not for Uncle Cracker and the Kid Rock fans. I bet a ZZ Top & Kid Rock show would actually be pretty fun.

$20 is a good deal, ZZ is $54.50 in Minneapolis before "convenience fees."

oof.

Listening to ZZ Top's First Album right now and it sounds pretty damn good.

Has anybody got the box yet? Amazon tells me mine comes next week.

Box set in my hands, getting ready to dive in.

― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, June 12, 2013 4:56 PM (34 minutes ago)

I'm a bit surprised they didn't use the existing remastered Tres Hombres and Fandango! discs. They might have used the same master -- eventually I'll dig out Tres Hombres and check -- but the bonus tracks appended to those 2006 releases are not on the box set discs.

Not a big deal, I just find it interesting. The Judas Priest Complete Albums Box used the previously released remasters where they could, thus including the bonus tracks.

xpost I must have skimmed past your post. How's the packaging?

Skimpy. Cheap cardboard sleeves, and the two gatefolds feel tragically flimsy. Exterior box is strong. No book, no liner notes, just tiny reprints of the LP sleeves that border on illegibility.

Saying all that, I'm halfway through Rio Grande Mud and it's glorious. Absolute no brainer at the price.

kinda a bummer there's no liner notes, Billy seems like a pretty good storyteller

I agree. But a minor quibble, all things considered.

Sounds like the Joni Mitchell set. Those were all gatefolds, with For The Roses & Mingus also having little inserts as well. The Smiths box went above and beyond the call of duty, packaging-wise (detailed down to the original stickers on the covers).

kinda a bummer there's no liner notes, Billy seems like a pretty good storyteller

― Bathory Tub Blues (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, June 12, 2013 6:40 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Billy's book is alot of fun, if not a very detailed narrative. Lots of anecdotes, shout-outs to peers, influences, and venues, nice pix of cars, gear, girls etc.

I pre-ordered the box from Amazon, but opted for free shipping, so I should be getting it next week (along with the Van Halen first-six-albums box).

Jon Glaser - My Dead Dad Was in ZZ Top

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbUOm2Ewip4

interesting as the drummer who does not have a beard is named beard.

and billy gibbons doesn't even own a monkey

lol!

Box on sale for the next 23 hours. $34.98, free shipping, no excuses.

http://www.popmarket.com/details/28725009?feature_id=28724986

I answer my own question from 10 months ago: the song I was seeking is "What It Is Kid" from Mescalero.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl_ZdJrfAFE

Just saw this on FB--A still from the TV expose aired roughly 40 years ago today that shut down a certain little shack outside La Grange...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/971368_10151639324949342_824693440_n.jpg

http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/zz-top-legs-women-own-them-210417325.html

pretty boss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLbdQHHZ1aE

The live-in-1980 DVD that comes from is fucking fantastic. It's available on CD too.

awesome clip. wtf @ the reversed headstocks on that double gtr

Yep, that Rockpalast concert DVD is great. It appears that it is now only available in a double-pack with a 2008 concert DVD. A little more expensive perhaps than it used to be.

The wonderful thing about that live DVD is that it reminds me how great Dusty's bass playing is.

Ev'ry girl crazy 'bout CCR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NLgD_do1ngQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfIlDk-FoCQ

d'oh
http://youtu.be/WfIlDk-FoCQ

awesome

My friend was at the show. It's even better than he told me.

Billy Gibbons is 64 today! Happy birthday!

also the new complete ZZ Top albums box set is up on spotify (the new one with good remasters not that old shitty one)....

let's all listen to ZZ Top today!

hell yes

AHOWHOHOWHOW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eSKairBKzc
happy birthday, gibbons! dude really is an amazing guitar player, kind of incapable of doing anything less than extremely cool and in-the-pocket. in this video he literally checks his watch in the middle of the solo to see if the new year has arrived yet.

never heard ZZ Top's first album before...it's pretty good!

"Bedroom Thang" smokes, wow...

they arrived pretty fully formed though

though it would be years until Eliminator which was obviously them trying remake blues rock into a really modern, sequenced new form...even from the first there's something about them that feels more modern than a lot of 70s heavy blues rock bands...they sort of intuitively strip down everything to the bare essence, there's a not a lot of wasted movement and the groove rules everything they do....they, with exceptions, generally don't feel the need to cop "songwriting" moves, they just settle on a riff and a groove and run through all its permutations

When I bought that box, the album that really leapt out for me was Tejas - I'd never really paid much attention to it before, and they went in a very interesting sort of stoner-country-rock direction that could have been another band's whole career but was for them just a momentary exploration.

that's actually one i haven't heard hopefully should get to them all today

I love that they didn't bother to remaster Afterburner for the box. Sounds just as shitty as it did in 1985. Eleiminator is the remaster they made a few years ago, as are Tres Hombres and Fandango. Neither Deguello nor El Loco has been touched, but they weren't ruined in the six pack fiasco.

Tejas is incredible and you may be a little surprised by it imo

frank beard is just incredible

re: The first album--"Texas Music" magazine did a piece on Robin Hood Brians, the owner & house engineer of the studio in Tyler, Texas where the band cut their first two lps (and parts of the next two) (not to mention a big bunch of classic Texas garage stuff from Mouse & The Traps, Southwest F.O.B. and others in the '60s). He has a great story about how when the band went in the first time, Bill Ham was obsessed with the album being all live in the studio, with no overdubs whatsoever. They laid down all the numbers this way, but upon playback, Brians and the band found the performances lacking some dynamics due to Ham's orders. Brians devised a plan to get Ham out of the studio so they do some repair work: He had him pick up their dinner one night, at a particular great BBQ joint conveniently way out in the sticks from Tyler (which, if you know Tyler, is really out in the sticks). To buy more time, Brians called the restaurant and made sure they knew Ham was coming and that they had to keep him there waiting for the food as long as possible. Ham goes and Brians & the band quickly get down to overdubbing missing rhythm parts, better solos, double-tracked vocals etc...interrupted only from calls from Ham at the BBQ place telling them this better be damn good food he's waiting so long for.

Ham finally gets back like three hours later and Brians had a mix of the new version of the album ready, and after a listen Ham wasn't as big on everything being so 'live' after that.

I had been waiting for years for that box set and have listened to pretty much every album at least 10 times this year. I think ZZ Tops 70s catalog is really thick with great music.

I'd have to say it was pretty freaking short sided by both the band, it's management and Warners to let those crappy ass mixes define the group for twenty years. I think in the end, it kind of short changed how ZZ Top was perhaps thought about in the public consciousness, as the records were just not available to be even played in any easy way (unless you had the vinyl) and some of those album tracks are pretty genius. How much it cost them catalog sales in the last couple of decades when actually selling media meant something, I don't know but I bet in the end it cost the band quite a bit of bread and probably some fans and respect they might further have.

Tejas is the record that had the kick ass tunes that I had never heard - Ten Dollar Man, El Diablo, Enjoy and Get it On...yikes those tunes just freaking groove at the speed of sound. ZZ Top can just get into some filthy tight repetitive grooves that would get the boys in Dusseldorf nodding their heads at the mechanical drive.

otm re: Dusseldorf. Just got into ZZ Top this year and was struck by how the drum parts and overall grooves on their songs songs have a certain drive that is reminiscent of the motorik stuff. Probably how they were able to adapt to the synth era so well with Eliminator.

Just seeing sh@kedown making a very similar post above

what was the deal with Fandango!? it feels a bit like a rush job "let's get some product out there" (format is kinda similar to GnR Lies when you think about it) but the whole thing works pretty great

The studio tunes on Fandango rule.

yeah i wonder if they were leftover from the last sessions so maybe they just decided to put the live stuff on there to make it an LP instead of an EP

Spoken to BFG a couple of times and he is such a gent.

Results here.

And here. (This one is discussing mechanics and the workings of the block and tackle with BFG and David Lynch.)

The only thing I don't like about "Fandango!" is the live side is such a tease, I wish they had done a big dumb 70s double live record

Tejas is really good! interesting, Billy really changes up his guitar tone, real clean Fender sounding tone

all the songs are great, weird there's this basically no-hits great album in their prime period

I saw the Moving Sidewalks at Austin Psych Fest and it's great just how singular Billy's guitar sound is no matter what style he's playing. (thanks to thread for encouraging me to listen to Tejas)

still working through the discography...Tejas will be the next used record I buy for sure....

I can kind of see why they went full on new wave/synth on Eliminator...I feel like you can kind of hear the air go out of the tires between Deguello (which on the whole is still really good) and El Loco (which i'm not feeling as much though it does have its jams)

don't know if I'll have the guts for the post-Afterburner, pre-La Futura era

Recycler is much better than Afterburner, but it's tough. Antenna and Rhythmeen are good. Haven't heard the late 90s/early 00s records.

English People! Please confirm something I have always wondered: Do you refer to this band as Zed Zed Top?

Afterburner has to be one of the most 80s sounding records ever. I actually listened to it at work and at the start of every tune I hear Don LaFontaine in my mind do some movie promo speak "He's got a fast car, a bag full of money and the hottest girl you have ever seen in the passinger seat...he's only got one problem...his mother."

ZZ Tops later records are pretty spotty, but there are a few good tunes on each one. Mescalero has some of the nastiest sounding guitars, some of that record is really good. There is some good stuff on the new one too, especially 51 Lighters. That tune and the background on it is really dope.

25 lighters

back to the future 3 was on today

25 Deloreans parked on my dresser/yessir/I gots to get back in time...

No, we Brits call them Zee Zee Top. While drinking a nice cup of tea. Thanks for asking.

When I was in Australia in 1990 a local radio DJ in Wollongong did refer to "Zed Zed Top."

They also say "Acca Dacca" for AC/DC

When I was in Australia in 1990 a local radio DJ in Wollongong did refer to "Zed Zed Top."
--Elvis Telecom

Sounds like Wollongong all right.

Listening to lots of The Top today, thanks to this thread. The second side of El Loco reminds me in more that a few places of The B-52s circa Whammy!, setting the stage for their synth-rock renaissance.

the instrumental on Tejas basically invents Calexico

dying @ "Acca Dacca"

We had a rebellious VJ on MuchMusic in Canada who said Zed Zed Top. Needless to say it didn't stick.

Mescalero is just now kicking my ass. Guitar tone for DAYS. The cover of "Tramp" is so ridiculously over the top in all the best ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3APxAfzxSw

http://24.media.tumblr.com/690a1b9788d2a9c5b9b388a0e0c6f46c/tumblr_n19m031Pv41qbo6leo1_1280.jpg

More early pictures here

oh my god awesome :D

Music video for "Legs" is pretty amazing. All their 80s music videos rule.

every girl crazy for a sharp dressed man

http://theselvedgeyard.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/zz-top-nudie-suits.jpg?w=1050&h=1350

My parents saw them opening for Smith (of "Baby, It's You" fame) not long after that prom photo was taken.

proto-Pharrell giant hat action.

That "Zee Zee Top" pic is blowing my mind.

"Hey good lookin', we'll be back to pick you up later."

those giant hats are my favorite thing

amazing

Didn't know Robert Fripp was in early ZZ Top

those giant hats are my favorite thing

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, February 19, 2014 6:04 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just think, those hats could've been their wacky schtick instead of their beards.

But then, their drummer would have to change his name to Frank Hat.

Awesome pictures

Someone in Skynyrd wore one of those giant hats too, they're officially dope

ZZ Top's playing a bikerfest in my area in April. I'll probably go to their show, even if the website says their set will be immediately followed by a wet t-shirt contest on the same stage.

http://www.azbikeweek.com/events.asp?day=5

♫La Grange♫
♫Sharped Dressed Man♫
♫Gimme All Your Lovin‘♫
♫Cheap Sunglasses♫
Got Me Under Pressure♫
♫Legs♫ ♫Tush♫

What do you mean, "even if"?

Been spinning a CDR of Tres Hombres & Fandango! in the car changer this week. The live stuff on the latter owns so hard. Really wish the rest of that show had been issued.

Saw them this week, they're total pros, with a polished "the big hits, plus 3 new songs" setlist and the goofy stage moves you'd expect. They project the videos for Sharp-Dressed Man and Legs when those songs are played, and they bring out the fuzzy guitars for Legs. Kind of wish they played a couple more of their 70s jams, but overall this was a really entertaining show.

nice to hear, I'm probably gonna go see them in August.

did they do I Gotsta to Get Paid

Yeah. That plus Chartreuse and Flyin' High were the ones they did off La Futura.

Gonna borrow that Billy Gibbons pic for pics of dudes without beards who normally have beards

I'll bring it back over here when I'm done.

http://blog.chron.com/thetexican/2015/06/zz-top-to-literally-play-la-grange-in-la-grange/#22138101=0

http://www.zztop.com/2015/billy-f-gibbons-launches-solo-project-the-bfgs-album-perfectamundo-due-out-this-october/

I'm actually really excited to hear that. I won't even make the obvious joke about Eliminator being Gibbons' first solo album...oh, damn.

Yeah, I've heard bands mixing "1950s Latin" with ZZ, Zep---can imagine Gibbons' crew doing it better, or at least as well. Looking fwd to this, thanks.

so what's worth hearing that came out between Eliminator and La Futura

never listened to El Loco before, what an odd record - kinda spacey and laid back, almost gentle

Rhythmeen from '96 is worth looking into.

still rockin that clean+chorused guitar sound, tons of processed vocals, there's just a lot of space in the mix, odd rhythms

xp

Afterburner - This one isn't as fat and dry sounding production wise as Eliminator. It's kinda like Genesis when you get to Invisible Touch, synth technology is heading out of the warm old analog into colder sounding samples and way too much digital reverb. The songs are not quite as good either.

Recycler- The album title is pretty honest. The songs are a bit more bluesy. "My Head's in Mississippi" is a good tune. It's sill way too shiny production wise.

Antenna- Sounds weak, there may be a song I missed, but I didn't like it enough after a couple of listens to even bother it again.

Rhythmeen- CD length kinda kills most of their records. I'd think it would work pretty good as a 35 minute album. They get back to basics but there is still scifi in the production.

XXX- Kinda weak. Better production than Antenna

Mescalero- This one is the one I would say to check if you dug La Futura. This thing is dirty and nasty, probably one of their rawest albums. There are some good tunes on this one and again would have been better at LP length.

I feel like a single or even a double disc compilation of their RCA years (Antenna through Mescalero) could be pretty good. But I've never been able to get all the way through the albums to really know what would go on it.

OK, I actually checked the albums out on Spotify and came up with a 20-song playlist that covers just the RCA albums; here it is:

https://open.spotify.com/user/burningambulance/playlist/3yVE9fSnWQTVTUf486n4qq

1. Breakaway (from Antenna)
2. Fuzzbox Voodoo (from Antenna)
3. Girl In A T-Shirt (from Antenna)
4. PCH (from Antenna)
5. Deal Goin’ Down (from Antenna)
6. Black Fly (from Rhythmeen)
7. What’s Up With That (from Rhythmeen)
8. Vincent Price Blues (from Rhythmeen)
9. She’s Just Killing Me (from Rhythmeen)
10. Poke Chop Sandwich (from XXX)
11. Fearless Boogie (from XXX)
12. 36-22-36 (from XXX)
13. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear (from XXX)
14. Belt Buckle (from XXX)
15. Two Ways To Play (from Mescalero)
16. Alley-Gator (from Mescalero)
17. Piece (from Mescalero)
18. What Would You Do (from Mescalero)
19. What It Is Kid (from Mescalero)
20. Que Lastima (from Mescalero)

while freaking out about how bad the new Danzig covers album is I started A/B'ing his versions with the originals to highlight the contrast and man, "Rough Boy" is such a beautiful record. Every aspect of it is just lovingly tailored the goal of establishing this gorgeous wistful head-rush groove. Incredible.

Danzig's version must be heard to be believed. A/B just the opening drum figures and then tell me that's not Glenn himself on the skins, there's no way a real drummer would suffer that to survive the mix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9haef8Wlcg

U dont say

tyvm for the spotify list!!

Mescalero- This one is the one I would say to check if you dug La Futura. This thing is dirty and nasty, probably one of their rawest albums.

agreed.
been playing the hell out of this in the last few weeks.

some time long long ago i briefly mixed up zz top and steely dan, and the result is that still now i can't quite shake the notion that zz are secretly boho hipster intellectuals

i can't quite shake the notion that zz are secretly boho hipster intellectuals

Reading interviews with Billy Gibbons will only make this feeling stronger.

Good interview here---wish there were a bit more music, but it's live in the studio, results mixed yet tantalizing (gotta get off my ass, check album:
http://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2015/11/26/457294147/latin-roots-billy-gibbons-adds-a-cubano-twist-to-the-blues

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/zz_top_fan_recreates_the_tres_hombres_gatefold_meal_and_then_eats_it

Bill Ham, the band's manager from their earliest days till 2006, dead at 79.

Hill said he couldn’t recall how the band got started: “It was the ’60s, man.”

The True Story of the Fake Zombies

Did anybody here know ZZ Top are putting out a live album next month? It's called Greatest Hits From Around The World, and here's the tracklisting:

1. Got Me Under Pressure – New York
2. Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers – Las Vegas
3. Cheap Sunglasses – Paris
4. Waitin' For The Bus – Chicago
5. Jesus Just Left Chicago – Chicago
6. Legs – São Paulo
7. Sharp Dressed Man – Los Angeles
8. Rough Boy (with Jeff Beck) – London
9. Pincushion – Berlin
10. La Grange – Dallas
11. I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide – Vancouver
12. Tube Snake Boogie – Rome
13. Gimme All Your Lovin' – Houston
14. Tush – Nashville
15. Sixteen Tons (with Jeff Beck) – London

Yeah, Amazon recommended it to me (alongside every other new classic rock album). My question is, where's the rest of the Fandango! concert?

Cool. Wonder if that will show up on my Release Radar.

Yeah, special guest: Jeff Beck, among other possible high points---
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7503736/zz-top-live-greatest-hits?utm_source=twitter

Oh yeah, and Billy F. Gibbons wrote the intro to new edition of Ed Ward's Mike Bloomfield bio (w much input from ilm's own Edd Hurt, as Ward emphasizes in acknowledgements).

Live album is solid. They're playing LA next month - think I should go.

BG on his favourite records: http://thequietus.com/articles/20920-billy-gibbons-zz-top-favourite-albums-interview he's friends with Keb Darge apparently!

That's a pretty cool article. Good for him to keep looking for new records.

The official video for "Rough Boy" is...strange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_4ULKpkLNc

I only bring it up because I'd somehow never seen it before last weekend.

My question is, where's the rest of the Fandango! concert?

― a full playlist of presidential sex jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, August 23, 2016 10:48 PM (three weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V9m_sEDzJw

been a 'top day today, and have loved every minute of it.
mescalero is such a good album.
shivers all over the place when the guitars let loose at the end of 'tramp'.

tejas is a fun album

to be fair ..all of their albums are fun.
that's kind of the 'top way and why i have enjoyed today so much.

ten dollar man is my favorite song about paying someone to kill your wife. the riffs are pretty good too

i think that's what it's about? idk

blimey.
i guess i should pay more attention.
for me its the riffs and grooves.

that song is 100% groove

"breakaway" on antenna still probably my platonic ideal of the zz top track

"A Fool For Your Stockings" just came up on Pandora, one of their best Blues.

tejas is excellent

They're on tour with John Fogerty this summer - really want to go see them.

Fuck, I forgot to post this here...

In 2010, a dude with a web site questioned whether ZZ Top actually had cattle, buzzards, and snakes on stage during the ’76 Worldwide Texas Tour. The followups are the best…
https://t.co/aFf5v9BrCe pic.twitter.com/4dC8WRl3vK

— Chris Barrus (@quartzcity) May 2, 2018

FB post from Ralph Fisher about the ZZ Top tour and more photos https://t.co/MqPUXxq7m7 pic.twitter.com/ouoTKHO94H

— Chris Barrus (@quartzcity) May 2, 2018

That's fascinating stuff. I too remain skeptical. As the mod puts it, lots of proof of ZZ Top, and proof of animals, but no picture of ZZ Top and wild animals together on stage.

ZZ Top seems like a band, like the Replacements, that got little to no traction outside of America.

http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/20857/zz-top/

I assume that was during the MTV era right?

How could it be that "Master of Sparks" wasn't an international hit.

One day a couple of years ago I was listening to the radio and they played "Just Got Paid" by Johnny Kemp. When it was over I stitched the channel to classic rock, and they were playing "Just Got Paid" by ZZ Top. True story.

I so want a photo.

True story: went deep-sea fishing out of Biloxi about 20 years ago. The boat captain told us he’d taken ZZ Top out the week before. Asked how they kept the beards out of the fishing lines, he replied “Chip Clips!”

Said they told him he’d be thrown overboard if he took a picture.

— Will Collier (@willcollier) January 9, 2019

ZZ Top seems like a band, like the Replacements, that got little to no traction outside of America.

Some of that was due to the band not touring outside North America until 1979-'80.

s & d :: desert sessions is a thread I keep reviving and receiving very little interest, so I'm reaching out to its members' home threads.

There are some good tracks on them but I haven't heard them all as when I was big into that music, the Cds were crazy expensive and I have never gotten back into checking them out since you can probably hear them all for free online.

Yes, but the reason I revived the ZZ Top thread is because the new one has Billy Gibbons on it.

Netflix doc!

is pretty good, lots of great stuff covering up through '76 - less so afterwards

was blasting tejas at lunch, love the drumming on that album as well as the obv classic guitar

The doc is pretty standard rock doc fare but elevated because its ZZ Top. I'd have preferred that it didn't stop when it got to Eliminator tho

I was glad there was some nuts n bolts stuff about the first couple albums, but could tell by the running length that that wasn't gonna last the whole movie - would've liked some tidbits about Deguello or Tejas or especially Eliminator - zero mention of Linden Hudson for ex., or the use of synths and drum machines and sequencers and deliberately writing an album around the bpms most common to hit records of the time

yeah want to see this but sounds a bit odd that they stop at the point where they become one of the biggest bands on earth

maybe the doc was secretly made in 1984

Eh, they do go into it. I think Billy even flat out says (concludes?) that Eliminator is why they are still playing to big crowds today.

Good bits with Tim Newman about the advent of music videos with plots or themed branding or whatever. And funny story of Frank telling the others about MTV thinking it was just a cool music special or something. Also there's the bit with Howard Bloom being brought in (much earlier) to figure out how to market these particular weirdoes.

yeah that stuff was all good - esp how they just kept watching it thinking it was going to eventually end

that was hilarious! “hey how long is this damn show anyway”

for some reason I was previously unaware of Frank Beard's junkie-dom. I've never been able to understand how someone could be a killer drummer *and* a junkie but there are numerous cases

Art Blakey, for his entire career

which is insane! Energetic junkies wtf

maybe I should start a thread

Energetic junkies wtf

I asked Dave Mustaine (of Megadeth) about this in an interview once - "How could you do the amounts of heroin you were doing, and then play as fast as you were playing?" His answer was that it boiled down to muscle memory, basically. I found that kind of fascinating.

Topper Headon was a junkie too

It is kind of fascinating. There have been plenty of junkies in rock and jazz, but weirdly it doesn't seem to significantly impair performance the way, say, alcohol does.

as long as you practice high, you can play high.

ah so it's about continuity of condition

"You know why so many drunk drivers get in wrecks? Because they don't *learn* to drive drunk!”

the stakes are slightly higher in that situation

forgive the pun

yeah I’ve always wondered about being a functioning junkie at that level, like Frank or Topper. the muscle-memory thing never occurred to me

did they go into how much on Eliminator and Afterburner *is* Frank Beard and how much is drum machines?

I don't think they even say the words "drum machine."

they don't!

hmmm

did they talk about how funny it is that the guy named beard is the one who doesn't have one?

Yes!

they discuss it at some length

It is weird how some people keep functioning so well (musically, anyway) on smack, Bird being one of the most notorious examples, although he did eventually have that studio breakdown, during "The Lover Man" sessions, "The Gypsy" ("I want to believe the gypsy") etc---then he came back, commemorating (though not remaining faithful to) his rehab, in "Relaxin' At Camarilo."

Sturgill's latest has some ZZ appeal---my Rolling Country 2019/Nashville Scene ballot comments:
i'm a sucker for gleaming pop-country, sez a fellow Marenite. Wal now, have you heard Sturgill's Sound and Fury yet? I just did, and right off, seems like this ZZ Rex electro-pop-boogie, sometimes also reminding me of Neil and the Trans Band (more the show tapes than studio album), might suit you too. It's much less soapbox ranty than I feared---and the non-pedantic retro detailing, commercial inclusiveness x righteous fencepost grievances x deserty-hot-cold broodiness, also that voice, keep it all country or countryoid. Also 'ppreciate how he keeps twisting the dial into another track at just the right moment, or close enough. It's another hard candy Christmas alright.

xp i figured they would!

I've always wondered how much (if any) of the switch to drum machines/synths/triggers was driven by Beard's drum problem & if there were any reliability issues, cuz he may have cleaned up but he's clearly not the drummer he was in the 70s by the time the 80s come around, but also something obv happens and it is more like Billy's solo project then a band by then

I saw them this past summer and it was a lot of fun and there were still moments of greatness, Dusty basically holds the whole thing together playing & singing wise, though if you told me there was loads of offstage triggers and synths helping it along I would not have been surprised.

"drug" problem not drum problem

no drum problems here lol

idk drums are still tight as hell on Deguello and Tejas imo

xps

Those are late 70s though!

I saw them in a small club a while back, and even up close I couldn't quite tell how three people were putting out all that sound, so prolly at least a little hamburger helper, if you follow.

right, according to the doc Beard cleaned up in '76, after the worldwide texas tour

xps

I saw them last summer (chris were you at MN State Fair too?) and I'm real sure there were drum triggers and samples.

This is a clip from their DVD Live From Texas, which was recorded in 2007. I saw them at the Beacon Theater in NYC on this same tour. He might be using triggers to give the kit an extra whoomp, but he's definitely playing, and not to a click track. Frank Beard can swing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sxE-jS9LP4

Honestly, I'm more curious how Gibbons gets his sound, since there are no pedals visible onstage. Who's dialing him in, and from where?

I saw them last summer (chris were you at MN State Fair too?) and I'm real sure there were drum triggers and samples.
― A perfect transcript of a routine post (Dan Peterson), Monday, 9 March 2020 21:08 (five minutes ago) link

Yup, and I would have probably assumed that anyway, but it was especially clear after Cheap Trick who were very clearly not using any triggers or samples and whose extra musicians were all out front onstage

As of 2015 (there are some rig rundowns on YT from earlier tours) it looks like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x_kg6pOvGU

So this is coming to my town soon.

https://i.imgur.com/b8Xt0hr.jpg

xpost This might be in there, but I thought Gibbons famously went through some tiny old amp, and the big amps were for show.

I recently watched the doc directed by that credulous Canadian dweeb behind the Metal doc series that was constantly on VH1 Classic re: the lil ole band… and it made me realize that I had never seen footage of the band before Billy and Dusty committed to the look…I could not find any last night…has anybody ever seen footage of the band as such?

it really is quite something that those guys have never wavered w/r/t to the look one bit… like, Dusty was always gonna end up looking like a tree stump no matter what, but Billy was quite strikingly handsome in the Moving Sidewalks era going into the early Top time, all the way up to growing a modest beard and wearing those tailored cowboy outfits… have those guys had any children, like acknowledged children, that anyone knows about?

I been up, I been down.
Take my word, my way around.
I ain't askin' for much.
I said, Lord, take me downtown,
I'm just lookin' for some tush.
I been bad, I been good,
Dallas, Texas, Hollywood.
I ain't askin' for much.
I said, Lord, take me downtown,
I'm just lookin' for some tush.

Take me back way back home,
not by myself, not alone.
I ain't askin' for much.
I said, Lord, take me downtown,
I'm just lookin' for some tush.

- Frank Beard, Bill Gibbons & Dusty Hill

― Keith Connelly, Saturday, March 6, 2004 11:36 PM (sixteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Keith Connelly 16 years ago tom

when I was a miserable 19 y.o. goth I happened to get a KTEL compilation somehow amongst my record collection and one wasted morning I listened to it and had this huge pop revelation which consisted of how fuckin bomb 1) this song was and 2) robert palmer's "bad case of loving you" was

Dusty Hill's cousin Hank Hill is known.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kingofthehill/images/a/a2/Koththth.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20101220025650

I don't know if there's any early footage of. Part of Bill Ham's mystique-building was they wouldn't do TV, so there isn't, you know, any clips of them on Midnight Special or Don Kirshner. This was only broken once they finally played Europe during the Deguello tour, when they appeared on The Whistle Test and Beat Club/Musikladen (which is where they great Live Europe release came from).

I also imagine any fan-shot footage is pretty thin on the ground. That Moving Sidewalks footage in the film was dope tho.

"I don't know if there's any early footage of the Hem out there." Even.

Stupid phone.

"We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX. We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the ‘Top'. We will forever be connected to that "Blues Shuffle in C.”

You will be missed greatly, amigo.

Frank & Billy

aw man. RIP Dusty <3

Went to Austin for the weekend. Pausing on the way home in La Grange, I took the time to play the song there.

https://societyofrock.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/maxresdefault-8-735x413.jpg

So glad I got to see these guys live. Their catalog is so ridiculously strong; I'm even willing to give the RCA albums another shot at this point.

If anyone would have told punk rock me in 1980 that they'd be one of my favorite bands forty years later I wouldn't have believed it. Something made me feel it was urgent and key to go see them play my state fair in 2019, I'm so glad now that I did. RIP.

(And I love Antenna and Rhythmeen, guitar tones are insane.)

i never saw them live & i’m so sad about it

aw fuck, RIP

RIP Dusty
Saw them in 2019, too. 't Was a proper party

rip, what an amazing band

Told this story before, but my parents saw them in '71, as the opening act for Smith (of "Baby It's You" fame), and picked up ZZ Top's First Album on vinyl at the merch stand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISveIzgq_kQ

never saw 'em either! fuck! I love that they trade off verses on the above, as well as his monstrous, mammoth cave-deep tone…

So now U2 is the major act that has gone the longest with no lineup changes…

said this before upthread, but it is impossible to find footage of them playing before they committed to the look…

there’s some good early stuff in the netflix doc iirc

i just assumed these guys were immortal :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeYILvDkJAY

No! i saw them in 2019 too - whole audience was going batshit from start to finish.

also felt they were immortal.

:(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eSKairBKzc

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/zz-top-dusty-hill-stomach-shot/

Hill acquired his bullet wound on Dec. 16, 1984, in an embarrassing mishap that started when his girlfriend went to pull off his boot and his derringer dropped out, discharging in the fall and hitting him in the abdomen.

...

"My first reaction was: ‘Shit!’ And then ‘Ouch.’ I couldn’t believe I’d done something so stupid. To this day, I don’t know how I could do it," he shrugged. "But I didn’t really feel anything at the time. All I knew was that I had to get myself to a hospital straight away, so I got in the car and drove there. It was only when I arrived at the hospital that the seriousness of what I’d done hit me, and I went into shock."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V9m_sEDzJw

that shit is amazing, Steveolende! thank you mucho!

feel like pure shit, got this on repeat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGW4qMUysAQ

Aw man, RIP. I'll admit that it took me a long time to come around on these guys. Being ages 7 and 8 during the omnipresent Eliminator and MTV years meant first exposed to a version that I never really "got" and dismissed as a "flashy video" band. Wasn't until I finally heard Tres Hombres many years later that their particular brand of genius clicked.

I got that box set thing for Xmas about 10 years ago. Pretty great. Wanted to check out the early stuff after hearing them cited by Both Black Flag and Rapeman so took me rather too long to get around to it.
BUt yeah fine band

Chrome Smoke & BBQ box playing loud in my home office right now

sending em up to Dusty

RIP to a great bassist, what a great band, great rhythm section, everything about ZZ Top is an absolute inspiration. Those 70s records are as good as rock music gets.

amen

He was one of those "secondary vocalists" who always provide a lift when they take over the mic.

Adding as well that the fact Billy has publicly raved about Depeche and OMD helping them connect with the 80s and beyond, well there ya go. https://t.co/y8XxgeqXuA

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) July 28, 2021

In addition to being early adopters of label-mates Prince and the B-52's.

I also recall somewhere Gibbons mentioned how OMD introduced them to the Fairlight when they were both booked on a TV show.

Loved Devo, too — they were definitely pretty wide open to a lot of different stuff, which is commendable.

More from OMD

Very sad news. Very different musical genre but we have such fond memories of our first Old Grey Whistle Test with them and they told us that we influenced their guitar moves in the 80’s electro boogie videos.

RIP Dusty https://t.co/RY7yTO1CE8

— Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (@OfficialOMD) July 28, 2021

Oh wow, their first domestic network TV performance on Carson from '86, with
the still-alive Doc Severinsen and Tonight Show horn section sitting in!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eibFiNSZEC8

my first memory of the top came during their super bowl halftime performance, when they drove out onto the field in their eliminator car with their beards and performed with james brown (and, ahem, the blues brothers). how could you forget that?

oh shit

I completely forgot that came as late as 1997. If you'd have asked me this morning I would have sworn that was 1992 at the latest.

their first domestic network TV performance on Carson from '86

that is wild!!

(86 being their first but also Doc’s beard lol)

Their manager Bill Ham kept tight reigns on them to preserve the 'mystique'. They didn't do proper TV until their first European tours in '79-'80.

On The Test in '80:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPzYwp8DNuU

RIP Dusty Hill of ZZ Top.
You’ll be remembered best for pulling pranks on your cousin Hank. pic.twitter.com/Yemn692FyG

— ORANGE CRUSH (@orangecrushart) July 28, 2021

Crazy to think that he was probably a better singer than Gibbons. The three of them really were about as perfectly matched a trio as there's ever been.

Their manager Bill Ham kept tight reigns on them to preserve the 'mystique'. They didn't do proper TV until their first European tours in '79-'80.

More 1980 goodness, this time in Germany. Come for the "Fool For Your Stockings" and stay for Billy's sermonizing & a roughhousing of "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT3Kh-GgMbU

Goddamnit fucking all to hell, RIP. My dad taught me about obsessive music fandom through his love for ZZ Top, they were a staple of so many road trips, bar trips, and conversation.

My kneejerk reaction track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBphGUNRZx8

I can’t find a clip but during the mid-80s I recall a short MTV news segment showing ZZ playing at some outdoor or rooftop event & covering “Mr. Tambourine Man” with Dusty on lead. Could be faulty memory but decades later I still recall how startlingly great it was - especially with Dusty/Billy harmonies.

Lovely story, hope it’s set to public

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159368670241136&id=545041135&_rdr#!/story.php?story_fbid=10158888724166208&id=584631207

I once had the most perfect exchange with ZZ Top’ Dusty Hill on the @CMT Awards/Nashville red carpet.
And I mean…perfect. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ldjukcodo5

— Suzanne Durham (@jeezusmaryandjo) July 28, 2021

Great stories.

blasting Fandango and really appreciating all these posts, thanks everyone

feeling this rn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3OWtGybPlo

dude: she’s probably thinking about other men

me: I just don’t get how ZZ Top wrote such a sexy song about frozen food

— Cat Jones (@catjonessoda) December 23, 2020

lmao

That version of Cheap Sunglasses on the Old Grey Whistle test vid posted above is straight fire

RIP Dusty. Another one from that 1980 Rockpalast set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c7d8BYJy8I

Saw him outside a bar in New Orleans during Mardi Gras sometime in the mid-80's. My friends thought he was Billy Gibbons. "Well, NO, but I've been told I look like a friend of his." He was extremely gracious and accommodating to a bunch of drunken college dudes.

speaking of getting paid, their cover of dj dmd's "i gotsta get paid" is prob my favorite late-career moment of theirs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaIZWjItReI

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2021-07-29/let-dusty-sing-one-zz-tops-dusty-hill-1949-2021-and-the-pursuit-of-the-perfect-note/

“In the beginning, we were playing a show,” Beard chuckled. “I think it was at the Cotton Bowl. It was 50,000 people there or whatever, but you could hear this one voice crying out from the crowd: ’LET DUSTY SING ONE!’

“It was his mom!” he laughed. “She was about 60 years old at the time! So, we’ve always got to think about that one: ’Let Dusty sing one!’

He smiled, taking another puff on his cigarette. “I like the ones Dusty sings.”

“That’s true, yes!” Hill roared via telephone two days later. “The thing is, my mom, bless her heart, she was my biggest fan all my life. Every band I was in before this one, I did all the singing. So, she wasn’t quite used to the shared responsibility!” he laughed. “A good Texas mother. But not everybody’s mother would yell that in front of everybody.”

haha that is great

Tejas is such a cool/weird sounding record

I swear a lot of the guitar sounds like it was done DI right into the board

on many days, it's my fav record by them.

the closing instrumental is lovely

yes! it's basically Calexico

On wiki Billy says: "It's fair to say that this is a transitional record, although I'm not really sure what we were transitioning from and what we were becoming. (laughs) It may be representative of how rapidly things were changing in the studio.

The equipment was becoming more modernized, and the way that music was being recorded was different – things were moving faster. It was still pre-digital, but there was better gear that was more readily available. We made use of it all."

When I did a deep dive into their discography a couple years ago this album was a total surprise to me, as it wasn't really part of their more straight-ahead blues rock past, and nothing on it made it to classic rock radio afaik.

yeah it's a bit lower-key in general, an especially noticeable change of vibe after the rip-roaring fandango. the dusty-sang "ten dollar man" goes about as hard as anything they've done, tho.

Tejas is seriously underrated. Like their first two, it was really hurt by being only available in the CD era in the Six Pack mixes for so long. I notice it's not up any more, but STE's AMG review of it was awful. The production and songwriting are terrific, with interesting left turns like the Poppy Country Rock of "It's Only Love", the straight-up Country of "She's A Heartbreaker", the tightly-wound Funk* of "Snappy Kakkie", and the aforementioned proto-Calexico "Asleep In The Desert".

*Despite reportedly being f'd up on heroin at the time, this album might be Beard's finest hour.

btw, speaking of ZZ Top, I've never been able to figure out the source of the rhythm guitar when Billy is soloing (like in the above Cheap Sunglasses clip). Guy off stage?

Sounds like an electric piano to me. Definitely some off-stage keyboards.

I don't hear a fourth player. I figure the little sci-fi laser sounds are probably triggered by Frank, but everything else is Gibbons stepping on different pedals.

i thought hill was the guy who played the keyboards? at least on record

Man, another reason to hate Amazon. I've actually had the 10xCD Complete Studio Albums in a wish list for months now, waiting for a slow week to pick it up. It had been $30 for months, including yesterday morning. Now it's $50. I mean, still a bargain, but god it feels ghoulish to spike like that for this reason.

Yeah, Dusty played keys on Tejas. On the OGWT clip Frank is just hitting a syndrum type thing for the "pew! pew!" sounds. But there's no pedals on the stage in front of Billy. (Something I also noticed when I saw them in 2019, stage was spartan.) There's some techno trickery going on in those keyboard sounds, but I'm not quite sure what.

I watched this rig rundown video (featuring Elwood Francis, who's going to be playing bass on the upcoming tour dates) a few years ago; it's from 2015:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x_kg6pOvGU

On that "Cheap Sunglasses" there's def. something playing some ... passing chords? I don't know the right terminology, something beneath Billy's solo. You can hear it around 4:55 or so. At least with Frank you can def. see him hit the Synare.

It's awesome that Elwood Francis has a beard. Or at least he does here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6kDtG8Q5kk

ZZ Top on the Mt. Rushmore of bands to listen to while shooting pool.

who else you got?

Thin Lizzy and two of Stones/Faces/Tom Petty.

70’s Bob Seger

or Skynyrd (pre crash obv do i even need to say it)

<3

yah nice choices. id prob go zz / acdc / little feat / allman bros

ok hmm yeah i need to lay it out

zz top / thin lizzy / stones / skynyrd

sorry bob, ya got bumped
faces & allman brothers are good calls tho

As shared by Elvis Telecom elsewhere, from a few years back. Amazing tales:

https://www.loudersound.com/features/fly-on-the-wall-29-may-1976-zz-top-take-texas-on-the-road

Let's not forget ZZ Top are Buttrock royalty

Grand Funk Railroad v. Foghat: Taking Sides in the Buttrock Smackdown

OK that wasn't the thread I meant to spotlight. Here it is:

The most buttrockin' song on Buddy Blue's list of the top 50 Butt Rock Anthems (search term: buttrock)

Aw man, RIP. I'll admit that it took me a long time to come around on these guys. Being ages 7 and 8 during the omnipresent Eliminator and MTV years meant first exposed to a version that I never really "got" and dismissed as a "flashy video" band. Wasn't until I finally heard _Tres Hombres_ many years later that their particular brand of genius clicked.

in honor of Dusty Hill, I wrote a tribute to how ZZ Top conquered MTV with their Eliminator trilogy, what they meant to New Wave misfit kids, music video as drag, the band's glitter roots, and how Dusty Hill had a photo of Klaus Nomi on his luggage case. https://t.co/e6en8YBfFJ

— rob sheffield (@robsheff) July 29, 2021

Yeah, that was pretty good.

Sheffield is a machine.

re: Tejas

yeah, I love it. the last 90 seconds of "El Diablo" are incredible tranced-out bliss

it's kind of amazing that the label didn't drop them after the singles (It's Only Love" and then "Arrested While Driving While Blind") hit #44 and #91 respectively. I guess the mammoth record-breaking tour didn't hurt.

The album still sold, but the next year's hits set wrapped up their deal with London, and they took their masters with them when they went to Warner's.

ahh that context makes sense, thanks, it's an IDGAF contract-ender record in that context

No, it's too experimental for that, with the violin and whatnot. They were definitely trying something, and when the public didn't respond the label was probably like, "Uh, guys..." and Bill Ham said, "Here's a greatest hits album, see ya later." And then they stayed on the road for two and a half years (Tejas was 1976, Degüello didn't come out until 1979).

even better context, thanks

They took most of that time off so Beard could clean up.

Or maybe not entirely. I see on the Worldwide Texas Tour wiki that it went to New Year's Day '78. And then they took the time off before reconvening sometime in '79 (Deguello was released at the end of the year).

i do love that they tapped Elwood to carry the torch

and like, that it’s their guitar tech, and not some rando ring-in. its nice?

Nick Oliveri kicking a can somewhere.

lol

There are other playlists out there, but here's the Dusty Spotify playlist I put together.

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/billy-gibbons-interview-zz-top-dusty-hill-died-carrying-on-1235031028/

Amazing:

How are you feeling about continuing on with your guitar tech filling in?

Well, it was a direct directive from Mr. Dusty Hill. When he grabbed my arm and said, “I think I’m due to go visit the physician to see if I can bounce back,” he said, “In the meantime, I want you to grab our guitar technician, Mr. Elwood” — Elwood Francis — “and take him out of that tech station and strap him up with my guitar and make him carry on with every single note.” And I said, “Well, if that’s your wishes, I’ll respect that.” And sure enough, we’ve been very, very fortunate to have a stalwart standby to fill in.

What’s really got everybody on the ropes is that Elwood had been holding down the guitar technician post for 30 years as a clean-shaven young fellow. And when the lockdown was imminent, we all gathered for a band meeting, before things got too fierce. And I said, “Dusty, it looks like we’re not going to be able to go do much or go anywhere. What do you plan to do?” And he said, “Well, I’ll tell you what I’m not going to do. And that’s cut the lawn. I’m not going to cut the grass.” And I smiled and said, “Well, I’ll join you on that.” And Elwood piped up and said, “Well, if you guys aren’t going to cut the grass, I’m not going to cut my whiskers.” And when we regathered to commence rehearsals just a week and a half ago, here came Elwood, and I said, “My gosh, you’ve got chin whiskers as long as me and Dusty!”

So when he took the stage the other night, I was looking over the front row and everybody was kind of giving each other the elbow, and they were pointing up and said, “Look, the ZZ Top circus still rolls on. There’s another freak up there.” In fact, I had to stroll over and grab him by the chin to give him a yank, just to show the audience — I said, “Folks, this is the real deal here.” [Laughs.] But he’s honoring Dusty’s wishes, and I know that, wherever Dusty may be, he’s probably smiling, just knowing that all the notes are in place and that the fierceness rolls on.

Yeah, and this too:

Is there one overriding trait that comes to mind about him right now?

Yeah. In fact, just within the last couple of months, we were reviewing a couple of the rough tracks that were starting to come together from the sessions that we were conducting just a few months ago. I remember a night where they said, “Well, you’re the producer. You’ve got to tell Dusty to stick around or let him go. He’s delivered his parts.” And I said, “Oh yeah, hold on a sec.” I say, “Hey, Dust, thanks, man. Great job.” So off he goes, and no sooner had he left the parking lot and gotten well on his way down the freeway than we encountered a very short section that I had overlooked. It was only eight or 10 bars. And I said, “Gee whiz, that goes by in not even 30 seconds…” I said, “Bring me Dusty’s bass,” and I handed it to the engineer and said, “You’re a bass player… It’s only eight bars. Let’s just fill in.” Two hours later, we had passed the bass guitar around to every single living soul in the studio, and we still couldn’t match Dusty’s tone. He had something in that damn right hand of his that can’t be described, other than fierce.

aw man ;_;

That’s great

billy gibbons has a way with words, it hurts me that he's so clearly hurting.

yeah love him

he really gives you the full weight of everything else that’s not said

re that last statement as per neds post : that's bloody brilliant, and very much on brand.

it's kinda mad how insanely OTT their last studio album is.
for old fellas they still made an absolute racket.
while the classic era gets all the love, i listen to antenna/mescalero/la futura an awful lot.

I’m trying to keep a chin up. Despite the fact that you can’t see it.

Ok, Billy. We get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bBvHl_huyM

I just had a Proustian moment to that ZZ Top/Miller Light commercial.

Specifically the part where the woman's dress blows up.

stop me if you heard this one: it's 85. i'm interviewing Gibbons for Rock&Folk.
Q: if there was a remake of "the good, the bad and the ugly" starring you guys, who would play who ?
A: the good would be the music. the bad would be the attitude. and the ugly would be the 3 of us. https://t.co/IsnQpv1jYT

— Cryin Cowboy (@CryinCowboy) July 31, 2021

I'm glad they're keeping it the family and still going, but can this Elwood guy sing, cos Dusty was so soulful and his vocals were my favorite.

^^^ seriously

LET DUSTY SING ONE

<3

Man, the "Burger Man" video is something else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJP8wVoTufg

How did Beavis & Butthead never watch that one?

holy shit that burger man video

WDR put the whole 1980 concert up on YouTube over the weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH4hCeJrs44

The "Burger Man" video checks all the boxes. All of them.

Shared by the band on FB:

After 19 wonderful years of marriage that ended too soon, I’ve decided to step out into Dusty’s spotlight to thank all of his fans, colleagues and friends for the overwhelming outpouring of love for The Dust. It makes me hopeful he will not be forgotten.

He was the kindest, most gentle and caring man a woman could ever Hope to find in a lifetime. Many don’t believe in fairy tale marriages but Dusty and I truly lived one! We were inseparable.

He wasn’t supposed to leave me or all of you. That wasn’t the plan he and I had. The plan was for another round of physical therapy, with a different approach, to help his chronic bursitis. The plan was he would return to the second leg of the tour in September.

Early Wednesday morning my world and yours would lose a great musician and I would lose my greatest love. He woke me up and we talked and as he was sweetly chatting with me he suddenly stopped and he was gone in an instant. So, while I feel numb and lost and alone and in a million pieces, I know he will always be with me in my heart and soul and I will join him when the Lord calls me home to be with them. It is my hope you will always keep him in your hearts. He loved his fans and always remembered that without fans music is not heard. So, know he truly appreciated each and every one of you.

Dusty was an avid tv and movie buff…always quoting lines and so I share an embellished quote from “This Is Us” as my last love letter I send with him to his final resting place.

My Sweet Dusty,

The single most extraordinary thing I have ever done in my life is fall in love with you. The single most extraordinary gift I have ever received in my life was for you to ask me to marry you. I have never been seen so completely, loved so passionately and protected so fiercely.

I will be with you again.
Love you to infinity and back.

Your wife,
Chuck


I will lay my husband to rest tomorrow. I would ask that you look to the heavens at noon and wish Dusty Godspeed.

With great love, respect and appreciation to Dusty’s fans, colleagues and friends,

Mrs. The Dust

It sounds like he might've had a heart attack or something since bursitis wouldn't be a fatal ailment. At least he passed away with little additional pain despite the discomfort from the bursitis, and he got to do it while having a final, peaceful chat with his wife.

ok now i’m crying again ;_;

I know, I saw Mrs. Dust's FB post yesterday and teared up too.

It's kind of sweet how she quotes This Is Us - not because I'm a fan of the show, but because I would never picture Dusty watching it every week. And now you can kind of see the two of them doing that together because that's their thing, they're in love and he can learn to love that show the way she loves it too.

(Actually I'm told it's supposed to be a good show - I never saw it because it looked too sentimental for my tastes, but maybe I'll give it a shot one of these days.)

Youtube threw this at me, a pretty good quality audience tape from '71

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcKqkblj0Lk

Only a few tracks in at the moment. Dusty just tore some shit up on something called "Ride Away', a bastardization of the old Chuck Willis/Elvis "Feel So Bad".

love her signoff “Mrs The Dust” <3

Well, fuck, that'll teach me to do more research. I genuinely had no idea that the notorious 1987 Six Pack remixes were all that was available for the longest time. I had a Barnes & Noble gift card to burn and they had the first six albums on CD for super cheap (now I know why). The Fandango and Tres Hombres are both the newer versions that corrected the remix issue, but apparently I've got four other discs of pure garbage now.

The Six Pack only screwed up the albums up through Tejas. Deguello wasn't included in the set for some reason, so it wasn't tinkered with, and the included El Loco was already New Wave enough to not get remixed.

Good to know about Deguello, thanks! I had assumed that was in the set given the chronology.

bears repeating that 'tejas' is really fantastic

bears repeating that 'tejas' ZZ Top is really fantastic

I love how that live 1980s Rockpalast live album opens with a little Spaghetti Western fanfare version of Dmitri Tiomkin’s “El Degüello” from Rio Bravo, which was later drawn upon by Ennio Morricone at Sergio Leone’s request for the theme from A Fistful of Dollars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDEyk6DRtz8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3dTQyEEgYA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iui3ZV5NAQk

yeah, i am very glad i picked up the no frills boxset of all their albums that fixed the isses re the previous reissues.
that said, i could totally love a cd of various remixes that must have come out during the drum machine years.

I'm hoping that bare bones studio box gets in stock again soon.

it's not available !?
i only mentioned it cos i thought it was still easy to buy.
~ checks amazon ~
oooh.

FWIW, the Spotify versions of the first five use the correct mixes.

It was easy to buy before Dusty died (I mentioned earlier that I had it in my Amazon "save for later" cart), but it immediately doubled, then nearly tripled in price before being out of stock.

I was introduced to ZZ Top by James and Lars from Metallica.

Really.

One of the strangest nights of my life.

“dear penthouse forum”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POaJ8OXHiUE

I was introduced to ZZ Top by James and Lars from Metallica.

Really.

One of the strangest nights of my life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh8tsE8kBdg

Sometimes in Metallica, they call him "Lars Mane".

To Clarksville

Wait hold on as in 'introduced to their music' or literally introduced to them at a Hamptons garden party or whatever.

Finally someone asking the question everyone was thinking about

introduced for breeding iiuc

Like on Star Trek?

yep sure

https://bravewords.com/medias-static/images/news/2020/5F8F30E7-zz-top-35th-anniversary-of-afterburner-album-celebrated-on-inthestudio-audio-interview-image.jpeg

otm

holy moley this smokes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFK75GyCWHs

CLOSING THIS WEEKEND

It Sure Got POLLED After The Rain Fell: ILM Artist Poll #110 – ZZ Top

ZZ Top are putting out a new album, RAW, on Friday; apparently it consists of live-in-the-studio run-throughs of a bunch of their old songs, which they recorded while making that 2019 documentary about their history.

Track listing:
Brown Sugar
Just Got Paid
Heard It On The X
La Grange
Tush
Thunderbird
I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide
Gimme All Your Lovin’
Blue Jean Blues
Certified Blues
Tube Snake Boogie

cant imagine any of these being better than the originals but ill giver a listen regardless

Yeah it's not gonna supplant the original versions, but that's a grade-A setlist and the sound on this seems good to me on the teaser. I'll check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofl4HTcYC5g

Ironically, the only version that’s better than the original is called Frank Original.