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Eliminate my opinion of ZZ TOP

Started by Dr Syntax Head, May 02, 2018, 11:18:11 PM

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Dr Syntax Head

The very very first band I truly loved. Before my Public Enemy hip hop education I loved the Texas guitar blues of ZZ Top I did. I grew up in a family of petrol heads, my old man owns a Harley for fuck sakes. No escape for me. But man they were cool. They were the Queens of the Stone Age I didn't have at 16. The only thing I liked was the guitar riffs, I couldn't play then but knew I should probably get either a vintage American guitar or a vintage American car. I got neither (because grunge and I was poor and cheap guitars were way cooler than cars and I'd gone all Kurt by then)

I learned the hard way the every girl is not impressed by a sharp dressed man but fuck it who cares

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wRHBLwpASw

a duncandisorderly

I recently bought their first ten albums... ten for about £13 off amazon. that's all the important stuff, as far as I'm concerned- they lost me somewhere between "cheap sunglasses" on OGWT & the hot-rod videos on Mtv.

Dr Syntax Head


jobotic

Yeah, everything up to Eliminator, not bothered after that. One of my first loves, ZZ Top.

Deguello is my favourite as it reminds me of sitting round my dad's when I was a kid. Not a particularly happy time but we bonded over music and I can remember feeling happy when I Thank You and I'm Bad I'm Nationwide came on. Rio Grande Mud is probably better song for song though.

Mexican Blackbird is funny as fuck.

I often find myself singing this to myself

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

The little riff at 0.50 in this could be in the small things thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_hE2mMwAek

Any doubters? Watch this

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


I'm off to a barbecue Sunday. Will Bar-B-Q be going through my head all day? Damn right.

Sebastian Cobb


Dr Syntax Head


PaulTMA


newbridge

ZZ Top fans who haven't watched the revival of Twin Peaks might appreciate knowing that David Lynch entirely gratuitously included "Sharp Dressed Man" in the show and on the official soundtrack. Zero relation to the plot or anything else on the show, the scene is literally just a boombox playing the song.

the ouch cube

Interesting that they have become one of the prime influences on post-Albini noise rock (Harvey Milk, Shellac themselves), one of those things you'd never have imagined at the time

the science eel


ASFTSN

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on May 03, 2018, 12:06:07 AM
Tres Hombres is where it's at.

Fuck yes.  Waitin' For The Bus is killer.

idunnosomename

ZZ Top pre-Eliminator are really clever. They have some really crazy jazzy moments (Manic Mechanic). And real proto-metal stuff (Billy taps notes on Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers, pinch harmonics all over La Grange, the main riff of Just Got Paid is basically a pedal riff that could've passed muster on Painkiller). And they are funny! Very funny! They have a song called Pearl Necklace! And Tube Snake Boogie! And they're brilliant songs!

The Eliminator-Afterburner-Recycler trilogy is fun, if different. But I don't know what else they could have done. They were still sneaking two-minute solos on MTV. Sharp Dressed Man is just a brilliant song, and the two solos are excellent compositions.

Antenna is okay and Rhythmeen is really heavy, dirty, groovy shit - worth a listen definitely. I mean after that I lose interest (XXX is shit), but to think they are the same trio that formed in the late '60s (and also had the same manager, Bill Hamm, till recently), is quite amazing.

Mantle Retractor

ZZ Top are fucking ace! They were probably the first band I loved as well. It was the Eliminator / Afterburner era that was my entry point. My dad had recorded all the videos from those two albums and 6 year old me rewatched them a lot - TV Dinners and Rough Boy especial favourites.

Following this introduction I went back and raided this cassette from my dad's collection:



This cassette never left my room for about 20 years and then I just upgraded it to a CD. I'd be hard pressed to name a better "Best Of" out there. There certainly isn't one I've listened to more and derived as much joy from. Waitin' For The Bus and Jesus Just Left Chicago are the most satisfying coupling / perfect segue of songs in the history of music for me. I then bought all the albums the songs came from. Tres Hombres is the best of the lot - Precious and Grace a particular highlight.

I don't know what happened with the initial CD remasters. I purchased Rio Grande Mud and it sounded fucking horrible: the drums sounded like some synthesised 80s thing and Just Got Paid (my favourite ZZ Top song) had about 1 minute of the solo missing! This is akin to removing the Gospels from the New Testament. I don't know which cuntbubble was responsible for that botched job but I can only think they were under orders to cash in on the 80s Top sound at the expense of their down and dirty swamp boogie 70s glory.

Fortunately, subsequent remasters I purchased on iTunes have fixed this horrorshow.

Billy Gibbons is an immense guitarist. I saw the band in 2004 in Liverpool and he bounced about like an imp a quarter of his age all gig. Dusty looked a bit tired and fat. Frank was suitably metronomic.


idunnosomename

I don't own their whole discography on CD because of the  drums shitshow. I didn't know they cut parts of songs, though.

I had a CD of Tres Hombres,  but got the rest of the pre-Eliminator discography (I don't think I got hold of First Album or Rio Grande) on vinyl off eBay. Then I got the Tres Hombres and Fandango! remasters with bonus tracks. Then I stopped buying CDs. All on Spotify now.

Come on, someone share my love for Rhythmeen. Tone is fucking filthy. Ton-of-brick riffs. Quite funny too.

Dr Syntax Head

Yeah Rhythmeen is great. I do love the mega fuzzy guitar tone on the latest few albums. What's up with that is a jam

Shit Good Nose

I like pretty much everything they've done and, whilst their primo stuff was all pre-80s, I can't think of a single album of theirs which is total shit.

I can, however, confirm suspicions and rumours that they employ a LOT of live overdubs these days.  A mate was front row for their Glastonbury performance, and he reckoned about half of Billy Gibbons' guitar playing was mimed.

SavageHedgehog

My HOT, only moderately uninformed, TAKE is that their "classic" stuff is fine but could be all or mostly be by any of a million other bands, whereas their MTV blues and drum machines stuff like Sleeping Bag is really distinctive and unique. It's the kind of sound that people would find really exciting if a new band had come up with it in the last 15 years, but because it was kind of bandwagon jumping its sort of dismissed.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Mantle Retractor on May 06, 2018, 12:03:00 PM
Fortunately, subsequent remasters I purchased on iTunes have fixed this horrorshow.


this is the boxed set I got, & it would appear that rhino fixed the mix/mastering issue too. which is nice.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CQGU9GG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Norton Canes

The first few bars of 'Sleeping Bag' are like the best intro Art Of Noise never recorded.

Natnar

Quote from: Norton Canes on May 14, 2018, 09:38:30 AM
The first few bars of 'Sleeping Bag' are like the best intro Art Of Noise never recorded.

There's that weird drum pattern at the end of Sleeping Bag that makes it sound like the track keeps skipping as well.

idunnosomename

Quote from: SavageHedgehog on May 07, 2018, 09:51:22 AM
My HOT, only moderately uninformed, TAKE is that their "classic" stuff is fine but could be all or mostly be by any of a million other bands, whereas their MTV blues and drum machines stuff like Sleeping Bag is really distinctive and unique. It's the kind of sound that people would find really exciting if a new band had come up with it in the last 15 years, but because it was kind of bandwagon jumping its sort of dismissed.

Their MTV stuff is musically cleverer than it is usually given credit for (even if Beard is sidelined for a machine), but Rio Grande Mud to El Loco, they have a lyrical and musical humour that really isn't comparable with anyone else imo.

NASTY DOGS AND FUNKY KINGS

Dr Syntax Head


popcorn

The chorus drum fill in Sharp Dressed Man - "sharp" tsh " dressed" tsh "man" dom-dom-dom-dom - is one of the funniest and most satisfying drum fills in the world. I cannot resist air drumming to it.

Oh and of course everyone on the internet has seen the viral video of the cover band with the insane drummer, and I do so adore it. My favourite moment isn't anything flashy - it's around 1:47 where the stick is flying back and forth over his face as he does the world's meanest expression. I always thought you could make a cracking music video from this bloke, just a one-shot with him in an infinity room, zooming and out.

idunnosomename

Oh can I just say, for anyone who says they do no wrong, that XXX was really really bad.

The albums after that are alright but have the usual 70+ minutes CD-album bloat. Wouldn't include any albums after Rhythmeen on shuffle in the car (and ZZ Top are great for long drives) or it gets too weighed down by the modern fuzzy stuff.