ZZ Top "The Best of ZZ Top" 1971-1975(rec) 1977(comp)*****

I just came back from a ZZ Top concert in Amsterdam, and decided to present a relative album this week (for those of you living in the US, in Europe 8-7 means the 8th of July, not the 7th of August). This was the the second time I had tickets for a ZZ Top concert but the first time I saw them play live: a few years back, during an intoxicated evening with friends, we started booking trips for concerts around Europe, and somehow double-booked ZZ Top with David Gilmour. In the end, me and my girlfriend chose to see Gilmour in Vienna and sell our ZZ Top tickets online. Then COVID came, which meant that the next chance to catch them live was years later. Unfortunately, original bassist Dusty Hill has in the meantime passed away, bequeathing his place in the band to his guitar technician, Elwood Blues (sorry, Elwood Francis). This marked the first personnel change in the band after half a century, which must surely be some kind of record. Apparently, during his first gigs with the band, Elwood wore a fake beard, which I personally find rather distasteful. I'm still not sure he's grown a real one, his (facial and otherwise) hair look quite unnatural. During the concert, he played the part, mimicking his predecesor's bass tone and signature moves, although he didn't sing (Dusty often sang, both backup and lead). Frank Beard (the one without a beard, as Gibbons pointed out) provided accurate and unobtrusive drumming. Bill Gibbons' stage presence, guitar, and (even-gruffier-than-usual) vocals, was as always the main draw, and he delivered. The concert lasted for less than 1,5 hour, but the audience (it was a full house) left satisfied: the band put on a great performance, and we got to hear most of their hits - although I missed a few of my favorites, namely "Tush" and "Blue Jean Blues". All in all, a great night out!

This compilation was the first ZZ Top album I ever owned; one of the oldest LP's in my collection, bought sometime in the 80's. Commercially, that was the band's golden decade; they sold truckloads of records while their videos were on heavy rotation on MTV. During this period they also cemented their cartoonish public image with the sunglasses, long beards, hot rod cars, etc. At the time, I was familiar with the band's videos, which I liked but found rather poppy, but oblivious of their past. Then, a classmate made a couple of mixtapes for me. One of them contained "blues" songs. In Greece, at the time, "blues" meant any song one could slow dance to; this tape however, contained, along with popular rock ballads, some actual blues tunes, including "Blue Jean Blues". It was this side of ZZ Top, along with a couple of 70's guitar rockers I later heard, that made me seek out a record by them. The Best Of... was, at the time, their only compilation in the market. I tend to think that it's still the best; just good ole' boogie and Southern rock without the plastic synth sound of their 80's hits. At 10 tracks and only 34 minutes, this is short for a compilation; they could have easily squeezed 3 or 4 more tracks on this single LP, but that would destroy the perfect balance the compilers acheived by placing 4 boogie rockers and one blues ballad on each side, structuring it like a great LP rather than a collection of songs. So what if it only covers 5 years of a band that's been around for 50? Sure, inevitably it misses a lot of landmarks. But it's not about what's missing, it's about what's in there, and every song here deserves a spot in the Best Of. I'll get to them in chronological order, as I always do with compilations: From ZZ Top’s First Album (1971) we get Cream-like blues rocker "Backdoor Love Affair". From Rio Grande Mud (1972), rock'n'roller "Francine" and funky Hendrix-like "Just Got Paid". From their third, and arguably best, Tres Hombres (1973), no less than 4 tracks: the bluesey "Jesus Just Left Chicago", Southern rockers "Waitin' For The Bus" and "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers", and their signature track "La Grange", a supercharged John Lee Hooker-like boogie about a famous Texan whorehouse. Their 4th LP Fandango! (1975) was a rather strange affair consisting of a forgettable live side, and a studio side featuring 3 of their best songs: mournful blues "Blue Jean Blues" and groovy hard rockers "Tush" and "Heard It On The X". "Tush" is sung by Dusty, while "Beer Drinkers"' best feature is the spirited exchange of lead vocals by Bill and Dusty - probably the reason two of the band's most popular tracks were missing from last week's concert's setlist. As I said, this makes for a perfect introduction to the band's early years. Later, they'd issue a greatest hits compilation focusing on their MTV period; the different esthetic of the two covers (from the Texas cowboys of The Best Of to the pop star glamour of Greatest Hits) is illustrative of the changes the band went through during the 80's. In any case, the two comps present minimum overlap - owing them both makes sense. Unless one goes for the original LP's, which makes better sense still.

***** for Tush, Waitin' For The Bus, Jesus Just Left Chicago, La Grange, Blue Jean Blues, Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers

**** for Francine, Just Got Paid, Backdoor Love Affair, Heard It On The X

Billy F Gibbons "Hardware" 2021***

I don't know what the reason is, but Billy F Gibbons (really, when did he add the "F"? I'm sure he wasn't being referred to like that, until lately) had been distancing himself from ZZ Top in the last decade. It's still his dayjob, of course: the band has been touring incessantly, but they've only released one new album in the last 18 years. Gibbons, on the other hand, released his first solo record Perfectamundo in 2015, and followed it with two others in quick succession: 2018's The Big Bad Blues and 2021's Hardware. It seems that the success of his band has led him to be afraid to make changes to their sound, and therefore channel his creativity in his solo albums. Thing is, there's little here to differentiate it from ZZ Top's formula. Gibbons' gruff vocals and fuzzy/dirty blues guitar are on the forefront, although the album is obviously a team effort: the songs are co-written with drummer Matt Sorum and co-producers Chad Shlosser and Mike Fiorentino, while guitarist Austin Hanks also contributes to the overall sound. The songs are quite short (3:00' on the average) giving the impression of a singles collection rather than album. There are recurring themes familiar from ZZ Top (cars, girls, and booze), while the music is also often indistinguishable from ZZ Top's Southern blues boogie. This goes especially for the first tracks ("My Lucky Card", "She’s On Fire", "Shuffle, Step & Slide") as well as "I Was a Highway" and "S-G-L-M-B-B-R". "More-More-More" is similar, although the riff is a bit more metallic and reminiscent of QOTSA. "Vagabond Man" is a blues ballad, while "Spanish Fly" is a mid-paced blues about an old Mexican aphrodisiac featuring nice Hendrix-like guitar and theremin-like synth effects. "Stackin’ Bones" is a groovy piece with delightful backing vocals by the Lovell sisters (from the band Larkin Poe). They give it a night club vibe that makes me think of 60's go-go girls dancing dressed in cowgirl uniforms. "Hey Baby, Que Paso" is the only cover here, a Tex-Mex classic with blues harp and organ reminiscent of Sir Douglas Quintet. The fact that the album was recorded in the Californian desert, rather than Gibbons' Texas homeland, seems to have influenced other songs, in any case at least "West Coast Junkie" with its surf guitar, and especially on the spooky album closer "Desert High", a spoken word piece with references ranging from rattlesnakes and scorpions to dead rock stars Jim Morrison and Gram Parsons, who had a special bond with that area. All in all, this is a strong B.F.Gibbons/ZZ Top album, among his best of the last 30 years. I know there's at least one more ZZ Top album in the plans, containing the last contributions from Dusty Hill, the band's bassist/co-vocalist, and Gibbons' "brother in beard" - Dusty passed away suddenly late last year. Drummer Frank Beard isn't a songwriter, which leaves Gibbons as the sole remaining creative force in the band. It'd be interesting to see whether he will now prioritize ZZ Top, which is by far his more popular musical "vehicle", or continue making solo records and instead just tour with ZZ Top whose name will help selling out the big venues. Whichever the case, albums like this prove that we can still count on him to keep the spirit of his old band alive.

**** for She’s On Fire, West Coast Junkie, Stackin’ Bones, I Was a Highway

*** for My Lucky Card, More-More-More, Shuffle, Step & Slide, Vagabond Man, Spanish Fly, -G-L-M-B-B-R, Hey Baby, Que Paso, Desert High

ZZ Top "Fandango!" 1975****

Dusty Hill's demise a couple of months ago was another unexpected rock'n'roll death this year. I was curious to see whether the band would continue without him - ZZ Top were one of a few bands that remained consistently together, they haven't had any personnel changes for 50 years. As it turned out, the band didn't even pause, immediately replacing Hill with longtime associate Elwood Francis and going ahead with 2021 tour dates as planned. As far as I can tell, the same is happening with every other band that recently lost a founding member without whom they are difficult for us to imagine: The Stranglers also replaced keyboardist Dave Greenfield who died from COVID-19 early in the pandemic -  Jean-Jacques Burnel is now the sole original member left. At least the new tour is called Final Full UK Tour, indicating they might retire soon (though the "UK" and "full" prefixes leave a lot open on that front). Charlie Watts' death did not seem to bother The Rolling Stones too much, their tour also going ahead as planned. I seem to remember Keith Richards very clearly stating: "Without  Mick, Charlie or me there isn't any Rolling Stones", half-jokingly leaving Ron Wood out as he's the "new boy", having only been in the band for 45 years. To make myself clear... I wouldn't want bands to retire after losing a member. If you love the songs, you'll want to see them performed live even after the originators are gone. Hell, I was getting ready to go see Queen with Adam Lambert in Amsterdam - and then I saw the price of the ticket. Are you fucking kidding? not even if Freddy Mercury came back (well, maybe yes in that case, but not for any artist not supernaturally resurrected from the dead). But this haste to go out on tour seems to me somewhat indecent. Take some time to grieve folks, and let the fans also grieve. I guess it's the pandemic effect: 2 years without concerts were too much, and had everybody impatiently waiting for the doctors to allow big gatherings again. Still... ZZ Top could have waited a few months for Francis to grow a real beard in emulation to his predecessor, rather than wear a fake one in his first gig. What, did they hope no-one was going to notice?

Despite being rather uneven, Fandango! is one of my favorite ZZ Top records. I think the reason is "Blue Jean Blues". When I was young, in Greece the word "blues" did not denote a music genre: it just meant slow dancing, that dance where you wrap your arms around your partner's waist and hold her close to you, slowly swaying to the music. Consequently, a "blues song" was any song that could be slow-danced: Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" was a blues, Muddy Waters' "Hoochie Coochie Man" wasn't. When I was 14 or 15, someone gave me a cassette with "blues" songs: it contained ballads by the Scorpions, Moody Blues etc. but also ZZ Top's "Blue Jean Blues". Sure, a couple could slow-dance to it, but the sadness of the music and expressiveness of the guitar solos put it on another plane altogether. It was my introduction to the real blues. Even if ZZ Top were never a pure blues band, they had incorporated the real thing into their music - even their name was inspired by legendary bluesman B.B. King. They then electrified it, and added some hard rock and country to create their own mix, doing for Texas what The Rolling Stones did for the UK - or, more correctly, for the world. 1975's Fandango! is a half-live half-studio affair, something that doesn't bode well for them. It says "I don't have enough songs for an LP but I've promised one to my record company, so I'll just record my set and use some of it to fill the album". Side 1 (the live one) opens with a couple of energetic rock'n'roll covers: The Nightcaps' "Thunderbird" and Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock". When the writers of the former song demanded a share of the profits, they found out they didn't own the rights to it: back in the 50's,  the Nightcaps, who were still in their teens at the time, had neglected to copyright it, so ZZ Top filed the copyright under their own names. That's followed by "Backdoor Medley" consisting of their own "Backdoor Love Affair" mixed with a couple of blues numbers: Little Walters' "Mellow Down Easy" and John Lee Hooker's "Long Distance Boogie". It sounds like it could be an entertaining interlude in the context of a ZZ Top concert, but not so much on record. "Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings" and "Balinese" are a couple of typical Southern boogie rockers, pleasant but forgettable. "Heard It On The X" is a great hard rock boogie about Mexican radio, and "Mexican Blackbird" a slower one in praise of a Mexican hooker. The things rock bands sang about in those pre-politically correct days! Good slide guitar, though! Saving the best for last, they close with one of their most infectious, good-time Southern rock tunes, called "Tush". I have this album on CD, which I'm told is a different mix to the original one - at least regarding the studio side. You'd have to get the deluxe 2006 CD edition or the 180gr vinyl reissue to listen to the LP the way it sounded originally - or, of course, get the original vinyl second hand. Listening to this again, I think the song sequencing doesn't serve it well at all. Especially on CD, you have to sit through the mildly interesting side 1 and mediocre side 2 opener before you encounter the disc's first highlight "Blue Jean Blues", while the other two very strong tracks are tucked away at the very end of the album. Still, on the strength of those 3 veritable classics, the album still merits a 4* rating, and a position among the band's Top 3. Which are the other two? Stay tuned...

***** for Blue Jean Blues, Tush

**** for Heard It On The X

*** for Thunderbird, Jailhouse Rock, Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings, Balinese, Mexican Blackbird

** for Backdoor Medley (Backdoor Love Affair/Mellow Down Easy/Backdoor Love Affair No.2/Long Distance Boogie)