Tres hombres

Some of the most generic blues rock the 70s has to offer.

It exists alright.

-I thought ZZ Top were uncool when I was younger -- this was a case of listener error. ZZ Top are very fucking cool.

-This band is TIGHT. Yeah the guitars shred, but the rhythm section is also groovy as hell. There's nothing better than a great power trio.

-ZZ Top get a lot of credit for influencing later hard rock and heavy metal bands, but I hear their fingerprints all over punk. They have a real stripped down, no bullshit aesthetic. Every song is just as long as it needs to be.

I liked it when they did more to incorporate their blues influences- the majority of this album is very straightforward AOR with some blues guitar thrown in. When they really dig into that Texas blues sound on tracks like “Waiting for the Bus” and the incredible “La Grange” they really unleash their full potential. Compilation band it seems

Starts out really strong but kinda fizzles out. Not bad by any stretch, just nothing I feel compelled to revisit in full

6.3

This is fine. I can imagine playing pool to this.

Fav track: La Grange (HM: Sheik)

Least fav track: Hot, Blue and Righteous

I liked some tracks but most just fine and head nodding tracks

Starts really great but kinda falls flat the more it goes on

This is a great way to spend half an hour or so.

Precisely my brand of southern / blues rock - hip shaking riffage and catchy vocal inflections which brought Clutch to mind, with a real confidence and swagger to it along with a tangible thread of experience and nous. You could say that many of the tracks here follow a similar template, but there was enough variety through the smaller details to ensure that each of them had their own distinctive character.

Onto the wishlist this goes.

Didn't really get much out of this apart from a bit of bopping from La Grange if I'm honest.

It's not interesting musically, lyrically or melodically.

ZZ Top is an interesting band. I have heard their music for so long without ever really knowing it. I definitely liked this album more than Eliminator, but not by much. It is very solid and has some really good songs, but a lot are just kind of boring. I had high hopes after the first couple songs, but it went downhill from there. I will say, though, I have a more favorable opinion on ZZ Top after hearing this album. There was variety in this album, but it just didn't all land for me.

Just a steady blues rock album. Nothing spectacular and not really the ZZ Top I think of most, who were for me growing up in the eighties permanently thumbing a hot rod on a desert road.

I really struggled to get into this but I don't know why. I kept getting distracted and listening to new releases that came out the same day instead. I went into this thinking I didn't know anything on the album, but of course I know La Grange.

The album is fine just not really my cup of tea. I was trying to put my finger on why, but other than the slight disconnect that I associate music of this ilk almost entirely with watching Dean, Sam and Castiel defeat demons, I'm not sure. It is a bit too much "meandering jam session" in places so maybe that's it.

Anyway, that means this should get a 2.5, but it's going to get a 2 because I don't have the nostalgia factor to bump it up to 3.

2/5

Ah, yes! Brings back memories, a great southern blues rock album. Def at least 4 stars for this bad boyy. Just rated 4.5 on RYM so I might give this one 5 stars here just because!

I have fond memories of my dad playing Eliminator in the car when I was a kid, but this is my first real exposure to 1970s ZZ Top. There's nothing here as flat-out fun as Gimme All Your Lovin' or Sharp Dressed Man, but as blues boogie rock goes, I liked this a lot.

Hot, Blue and Righteous is a skip.

The other nine tracks? I'm vibing. Hard rock is definitely one of my preferred genres, and ZZ Top even make that Southern white guy blues rock thing enjoyable for me.

Lange-baarden rock. Er is niet eens een rand om het genre-hokje nodig . Ze blijven keurig in het midden van het hokje. Met uitzondering van één wat rustiger nummer. Dat gesteld hebbende is er weinig op dit album af te dingen. Alles heeft kwaliteit. Er zijn niet echt uitschieters, maar ook zeker geen opvullers. Het luistert als geheel makkelijk weg. Maar het verleidt tegelijk ook om je op één element te concentreren, bijvoorbeeld de gitaar.

iznenađujuće dobro, al ne bih slušao

'Well, I'll be riding on the bus 'til I Cadillac.' These tres hombres from Tejas greatly shorten the formulas given to them by the Allman Bros, but they're cut from the same cloth. Like Duane, Billy Gibbons plays an effortless lead slide, and like their Jacksonville brethren, ZZ configure honky-tonk lore into appropriate blues and boogie programs. But unlike the Bros, whom I adore, the three guys appreciate economy and demand of their listeners a sense of humor: 'A-haw, haw, haw, haw / A-haw, haw, haw, haw.' They also wear their influences on their sleeve, sounding like the Stones on 'Move Me on Down the Line' and The Meters on the unexpectedly funky 'Sheik.' I'm not moved to play this any chance I get, but its pleasures are hardy and real.

Bluesy and dirty. I enjoyed it.