― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 5 March 2004 01:43 (9 years ago) Permalink
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 (9 years ago) Permalink
I searched the archive for threads about ZZ Top and found nothing...
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 5 March 2004 01:48 (9 years ago) Permalink
totally worth getting, for the first two and a half discs alone
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 5 March 2004 01:52 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 5 March 2004 01:58 (9 years ago) Permalink
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 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 5 March 2004 02:02 (9 years ago) Permalink
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 (9 years ago) Permalink
― asfdzxc (asfdzxc), Friday, 5 March 2004 03:18 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 5 March 2004 13:41 (9 years ago) Permalink
Best Album: Tres Hombres
― christoff (christoff), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:45 (9 years ago) Permalink
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:50 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Myonga Von Bontee, Friday, 5 March 2004 18:15 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Myonga Von Bontee, Friday, 5 March 2004 22:22 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Friday, 5 March 2004 22:25 (9 years ago) Permalink
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 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:37 (9 years ago) Permalink
Classic.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:52 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:54 (9 years ago) Permalink
― AaronHz (AaronHz), Thursday, 12 August 2004 09:07 (8 years ago) Permalink
― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 12 August 2004 09:18 (8 years ago) Permalink
― earlnash, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 19:31 (7 years ago) Permalink
― QuantumNoise (Justin Farrar), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 19:51 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 22:55 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Sunday, 17 September 2006 23:55 (6 years ago) Permalink
this might be the best album ever made
― chaki, Sunday, 4 November 2007 20:57 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
It's getting hard to see the white lines rollin by...
― Trip Maker, Monday, 5 November 2007 15:00 (5 years ago) Permalink
What a totally classic band. I'm depressed I missed the Beacon show.
― Bill Magill, Monday, 5 November 2007 16:28 (5 years ago) Permalink
Customizer behind CadZZilla dies
― C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 28 February 2008 16:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
― C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 28 February 2008 16:49 (5 years ago) Permalink
I am itchin' to find out what Rick Rubin does with them. Itchin', I tell ya.
― kenan, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
All acoustic covers of new wave acts.
― QuantumNoise, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:32 (5 years ago) Permalink
But seriously, I'm into this idea.
― QuantumNoise, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:34 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
Arguably the world's greatest living bluesman, Billy Gibbons
― milo z, Thursday, 15 May 2008 20:49 (5 years ago) Permalink
arguably, yes.
― kenan, Thursday, 15 May 2008 21:00 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
I fucking love this band.
― Euler, Thursday, 15 May 2008 21:09 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
I'M BAD
I'M NATIONWIDE
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 16 May 2008 11:21 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
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 (5 years ago) Permalink
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/
― earlnash, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 22:09 (2 years ago) Permalink
cool, fun to read about that stuff!
― tylerw, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 22:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
I could be on that thread for days.
― http://tinyurl.com/koalalala (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 17 November 2010 22:32 (2 years ago) Permalink
wow I had never made the Ardent connection before
― you can sub out "bipartisan solutions" for "some of my dick" (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 November 2010 22:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
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.
― Randy Moss' dog's personal chef (Bill Magill), Wednesday, 17 November 2010 22:45 (2 years ago) Permalink
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.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 23:13 (2 years ago) Permalink
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.
― Status Update...in my Seether? (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 04:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
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
― Status Update...in my Seether? (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 04:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm already hearing the Coheed lead vocal in my mind.
― Zachary Taylor, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 04:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
I foresee a "least appitizing performance" poll...
― Status Update...in my Seether? (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 04:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
holy shit "Gimme All Your Lovin'" by Filter
― some dude, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 04:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
I just picked up Afterburner and Recycler on vinyl for a dollar each this weekend. \o/
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 09:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
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.
― that's not funny. (unperson), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 11:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
whatever happened to the new record produced by rick rubin?
they were on tour this summer in europe BTW iirc
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 11:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
Rough Boy - Wyclef Jean
NIIIICE
― da croupier, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 12:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
The Mastodon Just Got Paid has been around forever, is this a new version?
― You're a notch, I'm a legend (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 14:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
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.
― earlnash, Thursday, 22 March 2012 01:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
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.
― 誤訳侮辱, Monday, 3 September 2012 13:15 (8 months ago) Permalink
it's a fantastic record, isn't it?
― Manfred Mann meets Man Parrish (ithappens), Monday, 3 September 2012 18:24 (8 months ago) Permalink
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
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Thursday, 13 September 2012 10:15 (8 months ago) Permalink
'25 Lighters' original fyi
― nashwan, Thursday, 13 September 2012 10:39 (8 months ago) Permalink
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
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Thursday, 13 September 2012 12:13 (8 months ago) Permalink
yeah i knew it wasn't their song but many of my whiteguy geezer brethren in the audience may not have realized
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Thursday, 13 September 2012 12:19 (8 months ago) Permalink
New video. They look like the revenant versions of their '80s selves.
― 誤訳侮辱, Friday, 12 October 2012 17:12 (7 months ago) Permalink
Can any ZZ heads ID the track at 1:30 in this vid? The bass line sounds like "Is Chicago" by Soul Coughing.
― Dan Peterson, Friday, 12 October 2012 18:32 (7 months ago) Permalink
Never thought you'd get to see Billy Gibbons' band before ZZ Top? Well guess what...
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 19:35 (3 months ago) Permalink
last ZZ Top album was excellent fwiw
― Welcome to my world of proses (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 5 February 2013 19:49 (3 months ago) Permalink
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.
― 誤訳侮辱, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:34 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Hallelujah, it's about time they finally got those early ZZ Top albums fixed.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:45 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
I thought they already dd?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:46 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
They only remastered a couple and some tracks for a boxset.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 12:03 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
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.
― If you tolerate Bis, then Kenickie will be next (ithappens), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 12:14 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
this is excellent news.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 18:44 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
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:
― Sheela-Tubb-Mann, You Real Know-It-All (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:23 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Tejas sleeve is dope
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:25 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:26 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Tejas inner sleeve:
I miss these:
― Sheela-Tubb-Mann, You Real Know-It-All (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:30 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
They're saying all gatefold art is recreated, so odds are good.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:30 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
want a poster of the Tres Hombres gatefold, preferably wall sized
― Euler, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:32 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Oh wow:
Want a t-shirt of this like yesterday.
― Sheela-Tubb-Mann, You Real Know-It-All (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:36 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
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.
― 誤訳侮辱, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:38 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:39 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Here's a story about the closing of Leo's Mexican Restaurant, who provided the star features of the Tres Hombres inner sleeve.
― Sheela-Tubb-Mann, You Real Know-It-All (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 19:48 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Cool new interview w/Billy talkin' Memphis & such.
― Sheela-Tubb-Mann, You Real Know-It-All (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 3 May 2013 02:33 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
La Futura is FAR better than expected. Put another feather in Mr. Rubin's cap.
― bodacious ignoramus, Friday, 3 May 2013 02:39 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Gibbons' guitar tech takes you through the guitar/effect/amp line. Biggest surprise: the light gauge strings (.007 and 8? wow!)
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 10 May 2013 22:43 (1 week ago) Permalink
Also: Billy has over 450 guitars for stage use - just at ZZ HQ
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 10 May 2013 22:46 (1 week ago) Permalink
Billy's one of a handful of people who has a (verifiable) Strat owned by Hendrix (likely verifiable because Hendrix gave it to him).
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Friday, 10 May 2013 23:55 (1 week ago) Permalink
(.007 and 8? wow!)
That's completely nuts. As is the fact that he's never broken a string on stage!
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Friday, 10 May 2013 23:56 (1 week ago) Permalink
ZZ Top interview/performance on Howard Stern Tuesday worth seeking out.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 16 May 2013 06:31 (5 days ago) Permalink