― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 5 March 2004 01:43 (twenty years ago) link
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
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 5 March 2004 01:46 (twenty years ago) link
I searched the archive for threads about ZZ Top and found nothing...
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 5 March 2004 01:48 (twenty years ago) link
totally worth getting, for the first two and a half discs alone
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 5 March 2004 01:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 5 March 2004 01:58 (twenty years ago) link
Convince me not to shell out $70 for the ZZ Top box set ZZ Top's "Deguello" - C/D, S/DIs there a non-"remastered" version of ZZ Top's Tejas available on CD?ZZ TOP: Eliminator and AfterburnerPOX:ZZ Top
Oh, and very much classic.
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 5 March 2004 01:58 (twenty years ago) link
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 5 March 2004 02:02 (twenty years ago) link
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.
― George Smith, Friday, 5 March 2004 02:02 (twenty years ago) link
― asfdzxc (asfdzxc), Friday, 5 March 2004 03:18 (twenty years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 5 March 2004 13:41 (twenty years ago) link
Best Album: Tres Hombres
― christoff (christoff), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:45 (twenty years ago) link
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:50 (twenty years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee, Friday, 5 March 2004 18:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee, Friday, 5 March 2004 22:22 (twenty years ago) link
― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Friday, 5 March 2004 22:25 (twenty years ago) link
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, Sunday, 7 March 2004 04:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:37 (twenty years ago) link
Classic.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:54 (twenty years ago) link
― AaronHz (AaronHz), Thursday, 12 August 2004 09:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 12 August 2004 09:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― earlnash, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 19:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― QuantumNoise (Justin Farrar), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 19:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 22:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Sunday, 17 September 2006 23:55 (seventeen years ago) link
http://www.cjnetworks.com/~leis/album/zztop/tejas.jpg
this might be the best album ever made
― chaki, Sunday, 4 November 2007 20:57 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― unperson, Sunday, 4 November 2007 21:36 (sixteen years ago) link
It's getting hard to see the white lines rollin by...
― Trip Maker, Monday, 5 November 2007 15:00 (sixteen years ago) link
What a totally classic band. I'm depressed I missed the Beacon show.
― Bill Magill, Monday, 5 November 2007 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link
Customizer behind CadZZilla dies
― C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 28 February 2008 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.havill.net/hobby/galaxie/images/cadzilla.jpg
― C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 28 February 2008 16:49 (sixteen years ago) link
I am itchin' to find out what Rick Rubin does with them. Itchin', I tell ya.
― kenan, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:31 (sixteen years ago) link
All acoustic covers of new wave acts.
― QuantumNoise, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:32 (sixteen years ago) link
But seriously, I'm into this idea.
― QuantumNoise, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:34 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― kenan, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:38 (sixteen years ago) link
oh man if he wants them to take it back to tres hombres this could be great news indeed....
― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Arguably the world's greatest living bluesman, Billy Gibbons
― milo z, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:49 (sixteen years ago) link
arguably, yes.
― kenan, Thursday, 15 May 2008 21:00 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Bill Magill, Thursday, 15 May 2008 21:04 (sixteen years ago) link
I fucking love this band.
― Euler, Thursday, 15 May 2008 21:09 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Gorge, Thursday, 15 May 2008 23:26 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
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...
― kenan, Friday, 16 May 2008 10:41 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― kenan, Friday, 16 May 2008 10:56 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
:(
― RabiesAngentleman, Friday, 16 May 2008 11:08 (sixteen years ago) link
I'M BAD
I'M NATIONWIDE
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 16 May 2008 11:21 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― QuantumNoise, Friday, 16 May 2008 11:30 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― unperson, Friday, 16 May 2008 12:11 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Bill Magill, Friday, 16 May 2008 14:02 (sixteen years ago) link
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).
― unperson, Friday, 16 May 2008 14:13 (sixteen years ago) link
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."”
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."”
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 24 July 2022 05:39 (one year ago) link
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.
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 24 July 2022 06:09 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf7ze6vcS_8
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 24 July 2022 06:16 (one year ago) link
fuck that's awesome - when they land in the pocket at the end it's incredible
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 24 July 2022 12:16 (one year ago) link
Still love that ZZ Top looked like a fucking grindcore band in 1970 pic.twitter.com/b7DpP6rmu2— Legendarium (@LegendariumBand) August 26, 2022
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 28 August 2022 00:56 (one year ago) link
https://m.facebook.com/Walmart5358/photos/a.549608795091889/5721705584548825
Came in for some cheap sunglasses, no doubt.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 22:36 (one year ago) link
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.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 01:17 (one year ago) link
wow flag post
― lets hear some blues on those synths (brimstead), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 01:45 (one year ago) link
Yeah, couldn’t disagree more. The Top were open to the sounds of Devo and The B-52s on El Loco, and the way they combined that with Texas blues was a master stroke imo. I think the conception and production of Eliminator is a sonic blast akin to the debut Boston album. It just sounds fucking huge, and deserves all the sales and success it got. xp
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 02:00 (one year ago) link
Eh. I hated that sound back in the day, and I still hate it. They really became a parody of themselves.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 02:32 (one year ago) link
https://www.futuro.cl/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/zz-top-1972-en-vivo-768x432.jpg
Before There Was A Right Reverend Willie G., There Was Youth Pastor William "Bud" Gibbons.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 18 June 2023 00:45 (one year ago) link
praise be
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 18 June 2023 01:44 (one year ago) link
I'll put Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell up against any Southern Rock epic. Fuck a Free Bird.
― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Monday, 25 September 2023 22:17 (eight months ago) link
El Loco is such a weird album, kind of mellow, but I love it now.
― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, 8 November 2023 23:27 (seven months ago) link
their love for new wave really starts coming through on this one.
― andrew m., Thursday, 9 November 2023 15:14 (seven months ago) link
^^^ and totally sets the stage for Eliminator. I didn't really care about ZZ Top in the 70s, but as a new wave loving young adult working in a record store in 1980 it was an eye-opener.
― Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable POST (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 9 November 2023 15:55 (seven months ago) link
Dusty Hill Estate Auction:
https://www.julienslive.com/auctions/catalog/id/505
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:05 (seven months ago) link
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/6039/603982_m.jpg?ts=1697570541
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:10 (seven months ago) link
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/5900/590007_m.jpg?ts=1695181445
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:14 (seven months ago) link
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/5907/590725_m.jpg?ts=1695188287
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:17 (seven months ago) link
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/5894/589444_m.jpg?ts=1695176044
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:19 (seven months ago) link
Uhh
― calstars, Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:21 (seven months ago) link
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/5901/590120_m.jpg?ts=1695182525
^^Custom Staircase Spindle
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:25 (seven months ago) link
Would buy an Eliminator or Afterburner tape test press for $5
― calstars, Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:26 (seven months ago) link
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:30 (seven months ago) link
Oops
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/6060/606013_m.jpg?ts=1697703974
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:31 (seven months ago) link
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/5890/589079_m.jpg?ts=1695172561
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:33 (seven months ago) link
Well, yeah
― calstars, Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:36 (seven months ago) link
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/6067/606774_m.jpg?ts=1697848333
If I ever caught her with Stevie PI'd throw her back in the Penitentiary, nowAnd if I caught her with my mother's sonI'll call her daddy and get my gun
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:37 (seven months ago) link
https://www.julienslive.com/images/lot/5903/590378_m.jpg?ts=1695184932
Hand me another one of them brews from back there.Oh, this is gonna be so good.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:40 (seven months ago) link
+1
― calstars, Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:42 (seven months ago) link
itbelongsinamuseum.gif
― a (waterface), Monday, 13 November 2023 13:26 (seven months ago) link
Dusty was one broad-shouldered, barrel-chested hombre...
― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Monday, 13 November 2023 14:04 (seven months ago) link
I dont reslly know if these are new new videos or new old videos or what but matt sweeney has the best channel fyi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl5Dy35u1AY
― blazin' squab (NickB), Wednesday, 7 February 2024 18:49 (four months ago) link
his guitar has such a nasal, brassy quality that when he plays more softly it almost sounds like a muted horn
― blazin' squab (NickB), Wednesday, 7 February 2024 18:58 (four months ago) link
trombone perhaps
Guitar moves is awesome. High recommend the Deaner, Cass Mccombs and J Mascis episodes too.
― H.P, Wednesday, 7 February 2024 23:53 (four months ago) link
Matt acquired all the old Guitar Moves eps from Vice/Noisey which are slowly being re-released but also (!!!) Matt started producing new eps
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 7 February 2024 23:58 (four months ago) link
ah thanks, i wondered what was going on. never saw them the first time round for vice-avoidance reasons, hugely enjoying them now though
― blazin' squab (NickB), Thursday, 8 February 2024 00:04 (four months ago) link
however i could definitely have done without kid rock in the billy gibbons one
― blazin' squab (NickB), Thursday, 8 February 2024 00:06 (four months ago) link
I could do without Kid Rock on this earth.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 8 February 2024 00:06 (four months ago) link
kid go find another rock
― blazin' squab (NickB), Thursday, 8 February 2024 00:08 (four months ago) link
Kids performance at Woodstock 99 is epic and undeniable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsrMqnNxy1o
― calstars, Thursday, 8 February 2024 00:30 (four months ago) link
I read that and inferred that ZZ Top played in some sort of kids’ tent at Woodstock.
― Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable POST (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 8 February 2024 00:55 (four months ago) link
Okay yeah wow that woodstock 99 show is fantastic
― H.P, Thursday, 8 February 2024 04:34 (four months ago) link
https://heads.social/@theheatwarps/112567672957311842
"Ever wish the motorik 4-bar intro to ZZ Top's "I Thank You" lasted much, much longer? I've given into my darkest impulse by looping that sweet groove for a full 17 minutes. Folks, it rips. #krautrock #zztop
Folks, it rips. #krautrock #zztop
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 6 June 2024 09:57 (two weeks ago) link
I would like to express my gratitude to you for posting that.
― pplains, Thursday, 6 June 2024 13:26 (two weeks ago) link
Oh my goodness, that track is perfect.
― A. Begrand, Thursday, 6 June 2024 14:27 (two weeks ago) link
excellent
― brimstead, Thursday, 6 June 2024 14:46 (two weeks ago) link
the tail end of the crash cymbal at the loop point is kinda sick
― c u (crüt), Thursday, 6 June 2024 14:55 (two weeks ago) link