ZZ Top: C/D

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.

if it sounds like 25 Lighters, clattery and thick and a vocal that sounds like it was slow-filtered through charcoal and piss then i’m in

oh who am i kidding, i’m in regardless

XP Just like 311 said, "You've got to Frank Original, FRANK ORIGINAL!"

If it's based on Frank Beard, then wouldn't Frank Original sound exactly like some other song?

Listening to the whole album now. It sounds really good, loose and loud, and hearing these stripped-down versions of songs that originally had a fair degree of studio polish (not just the Eliminator songs, but "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" and "Tube Snake Boogie") is kind of a revelation, especially when you pay attention to what Frank and Dusty are up to. They were a perfect team.

the low end on this is insane

and dusty gets some great licks off on nationwide

It's touching that they go back all the way to "Certified Blues". If only we had done the ZZ Top poll a couple of years earlier, maybe they would have included something from Tejas.

if it sounds like 25 Lighters, clattery and thick and a vocal that sounds like it was slow-filtered through charcoal and piss then i’m in

The full story is great.

The 11-track album was recorded live at historic Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, in conjunction with the famed blues-rock trio’s 2019 documentary That Little Ol’ Band from Texas.

The album features ZZ Top’s classic lineup — Gibbons, Hill and drummer Frank Beard — playing versions of various songs from their back catalog, including hits like “Legs” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” and as well two tunes from the band’s 1971 debut album: “Brown Sugar” and “Certified Blues.”

Gibbons says the performance was unplanned, noting the film’s director had invited ZZ Top to Gruene Hall for what the band thought was just a photo shoot.

“Upon arrival, we discovered that some wires had been crossed,” Gibbons notes. “The ZZ Top equipment crew had not been told it was just a photo session. They set up the entire backline. We had guitars, amps, drums, the works.”

Gibbons says the trio proceeded to play a bunch of songs, and while footage of some performances were featured in the movie, Billy maintains he wasn’t aware that audio of the full set had been recorded until an engineer informed him a few months later.

“Upon listening to it, we all took a shine,” Gibbons notes, “and said, ‘Gee whiz, this sounds like the ZZ Top we’ve always known. That’s how we started."”

RAW sounds startling great - you really do feel like you're in the front row of the Gruene watching them casually kick some serious ass. Put it on and it's impossible not to have a great time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf7ze6vcS_8

fuck that's awesome - when they land in the pocket at the end it's incredible

Still love that ZZ Top looked like a fucking grindcore band in 1970 pic.twitter.com/b7DpP6rmu2

— Legendarium (@LegendariumBand) August 26, 2022

https://m.facebook.com/Walmart5358/photos/a.549608795091889/5721705584548825

Came in for some cheap sunglasses, no doubt.

I can't think of another band that started out so strong--their run from ZZ Top's First Album through Deguello is just killer--and jumped the shark so hard. Good for them for figuring out the cash-making formula, I suppose.