Have Mercy!

Well folks, what started the week of the Super Bowl—tracking A-Z by group/artist through my CD collection—finally reached the nether end of the alphabet this week with that "Little Ol' Band From Texas", ZZ Top.  Apart from Kiss, Van Halen and Ted Nugent (the latter mostly as an opening act), I've seen these guys live in concert more than anyone else, and they are one of my favorite bands on earth in this hemisphere.  The (Very Right) Rev. Billy Gibbons—a Houston native—was lead guitarist for a psychedelic '60s band called the Moving Sidewalks, who did a bizarre cover of The Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand", among other things.  Bassist Joe "Dusty" Hill and drummer Frank Beard (both Dallas natives) were in a band called the American Blues and eventually hooked up with Gibbons to form their own blues-based power trio in the tradition of bands like Cream.  Their first album, cleverly titled ZZ Top's First Album, was released in 1970 on London Records (known mostly for its stable of British artists) to little fanfare.  Their second LP, 1972's Rio Grande Mud, received a similar reception, but it was 1973's Tres Hombres that really put the band on the map with classics like "Waitin' For The Bus"/"Jesus Just Left Chicago", "Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers" and the John Lee Hooker-influenced "La Grange". Haw-haw-haw-haw, indeed!

ZZ Top's 1975 release, Fandango! was unique for featuring a live side (recorded at The Warehouse in The Big Easy), along with a studio side, which included one of my all-time ZZ faves "Mexican Blackbird", as well as killer cuts like "Heard It On The X" and their most famous song, "Tush".  The year 1976 brought about the LP Tejas, which carried on the ZZ tradition with tunes like "It's Only Love", "Ten Gallon Man", and "Arrested For Driving While Blind".  The Bicentennial also brought about the legendary "World Wide Texas Tour", featuring a huge Texas-shaped stage and even more critters than Elly May Clampett could possibly tame—everything from steers and buzzards to rattlesnakes.  Too bad I was too young to do concerts during that time—I'd love to have seen that spectacle, but it would be another five years before my first ZZ Top show.

And then there was silence from ZZ Top—for over three years.  The band unintentionally took three years off from touring and recording—a risky maneuver in the music biz, to be sure—yet they somehow re-emerged on a new label in late '79 (Warner Bros.) with one of their finest albums, Degüello, which featured "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide", "I Thank You" (a remake of the Sam & Dave classic), "Manic Mechanic" and that venerable tribute to inexpensive eyewear, "Cheap Sunglasses".  A couple years later, El Loco came out, featuring a huge favorite of mine, "Tube Snake Boogie", as well as "Pearl Necklace", "Don't Tease Me" and "Party On The Patio".  As great as the album was, the accompanying tour was even better as I attended my first ZZ Top concert on August 13, 1981 at Kemper Arena (with Loverboy opening), and I was totally blown away by how much rhythmic noise three guys in coveralls could make when "Waitin' For The Bus" nearly rattled the (brand new) roof off Kemper Arena.  Oddly enough, up to that point ZZ Top had never done videos for any of their stuff...

...until 1983 when their classic LP Eliminator came out.  "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" comprised the video trilogy featuring those bearded nomads with cosmic key chains and those chicks in the '32 Ford Coupe.  That album also featured a few other favorites of mine, like "Got Me Under Pressure", "I Got The Six", "Bad Girl", "If I Could Only Flag Her Down" and "Dirty Dog".  For their next album, 1985's Afterburner, the '32 Ford morphed into the Space Shuttle Eliminator in the videos for "Sleeping Bag", "Stages" and "Rough Boy".  The album featured other dandy tracks like "Woke Up With Wood", "Can't Stop Rockin'" and "Delirious", too.  After another lengthy layoff—nearly four years, this time—ZZ Top released Recycler in 1990.  Awesome concert tour (which I took in twice) for only a half-decent album, although it did have standout tracks like "Give It Up", "Burger Man" and "My Head's In Mississippi".  At this point, the ZZ Top I know and love ceased to be...

...and they were replaced by this half-assed clone of a band that looks like ZZ Top, but merely complacently plays the same bland songs on all their new albums ad nauseam, beginning with 1994's Antenna on RCA Records, continuing with Rhythmeen and XXX, to the point where I can't tell one backing track from another.  And with lame subject matter like "Girl In A T-Shirt", "Pincushion", "Bang Bang My Shang-A-Lang" (wasn't that an Archies song?!?), "Zipper Job" and "Sinpusher", et al, it's like someone came along and stole the sense of humor and witty songwriting right out from under this once-mighty band's collective noses.  Not unlike Van Halen, this band hasn't been relevant since the early '90s, and that's a dirty shame...

Another thing that's always troubled me about this band is they've never done a live album or live video (apart from the live side of Fandango!, anyway) and ZZ Top is far too good a live act to not show off.  They made two appearances on "King Biscuit Flower Hour" back in the early '80s that were great, and one of those is now available on-line at the KBFH website, and the recent re-issues of Tres Hombres and Fandango! have some live bonus cuts as well, but that's about it.  Unless you go the bootleg route like I did a few years ago, and I highly recommend the CD Jesus Left Chicago (sic) from the Afterburner tour.  It's a little raggedy in places, but for a bootleg, the sound quality is surprisingly good overall.

My All-Time ZZ Top 20
20) "I Got The Six" (1983)  I'll give you three guesses what goes with the six...
19) "Got Me Under Pressure" (1983)  Another Eliminator track that's often a ZZ concert opener. Billy G. sings it on record, but Dusty usually sings it live...
18) "Cheap Sunglasses" (1979)  Great Album Rock radio track that's even better live in concert with the lazers and such.
17) "Dirty Dog" (1983)  Another Eliminator tune, featuring the classic line, "Your problem's cured with a dollar bill/And if it won't, I know a flea collar will..."
16) "I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide" (1979)  Degüello classic all about being content (as one with a New York brim and a gold tooth displayed could possibly be...)
15) "Manic Mechanic" (1979)  Another Degüello classic, and ZZ's answer to Bruce Springsteen's "Racing In The Streets".  "Have mercy, Miss Percy," indeed...
14) "Can’t Stop Rockin’" (1985)  Dusty Hill screamer from Afterburner that "really hits you like a shot on a dime."
13) "La Grange" (1973)  Greatest song in history about a whorehouse, but now I might be mistaken...
12) "Arrested For Driving While Blind" (1976)  Now politically-incorrect song which posed the burning question "How could anyone be so unkind—to arrest a man for driving while blind?"
11) "If I Could Only Flag Her Down" (1983)  Back to Eliminator again—I just love this funky little song, even if the lyrics don't make a whole lot of sense...
10) "Pearl Necklace" (1981)  Song about inexpensive jewelry all for a girl "as pure as the driven slush".  Pretty self-explanatory...
9) "Waitin’ For The Bus"/"Jesus Just Left Chicago" (1973)  The seque here was totally unintentional, but it's as if these two were all one song anyway.
8) "Delirious" (1985)  The other Dusty Hill screamer and closer for Afterburner, featuring a great final verse, "I'm overloaded and I saw the light/Decadence was on my mind/Everything was getting ridiculous—'til everybody got delirious!"
7) "Mexican Blackbird" (1975)  Another politically-incorrect classic, complete with the line "Her mama was Mexican and her Daddy was the Ace of Spades".
6) "Party On The Patio" (1981)  Underrated song all about a night of debauchery at an abandoned house in the neighborhood.
5) "Ten Foot Pole" (1981)  Another El Loco tune with rather indiscernible lyrics.  Anybody have a clue about the subtle hidden meaning therein?
4) [Tie]"Heard It On The X" (1975)/"Sharp Dressed Man" (1983)  The former is a tribute to legendary south-of-the-border radio station XERF, founded by a character named Doc Brinkley ("Dr. B" in the song) that was the one-time radio home to a cat named Wolfman Jack.  Killer riff there, too.  The latter is that famous ode to sartorial eloquence that apparently every girl's crazy 'bout.  I never tire of hearing this song, even though it gets played to death on the radio.
3) "My Head’s In Mississippi" (1990)  Easily the best track off the rather weak Recycler album all about a fairly memorable night in Memphis featuring some naked cowgirl dancing on the ceiling and an invisible 7-Eleven...
2) "Tube Snake Boogie" (1981)  Totally irresistible track off El Loco during which the listener is urged to blow their top. I always loved how during concerts, the roadies would lower maracas on ropes down to Billy and Dusty solely for the intro.
1) "Tush" (1975)  Song that features my favorite Rock 'N' Roll guitar riff in this world, ever.  Legend has it that Rev. Billy G. came up it with at a sound check in 1975.  Quite possibly Dusty Hill's finest vocal performance, too.

And oh wait, just 'cus I've reached the Z's in my CD collection, the trek ain't over just yet. There's still all those movie soundtracks and various artists compilations, not to mention all of my "little creations", which should keep me going until after the first of the year...