In a sense, you can’t fault ZZ Top for putting out a weak album
\nback in 1976. The little ol’ boogie band from Texas had cranked out
\nfour albums in three years, creating some songs which will probably
\nbe forever revered in the annals of Classic Rock Radio. But by the
\ntime of their live\/studio split
\nFandango!<\/i>, one could hear that Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and
\nFrank Beard were in serious need of a break.<\/p>\n
Pity they didn’t take it before they released
\nTejas<\/i>, easily ZZ Top’s weakest release to that point. A
\ncollection of re-hashed so-unds dipping back to their debut
\nrelease, it often sounds like ZZ Top is on cruise control – that
\nis, until you hit the final two songs. Unfortunately, by that time,
\nit’s far too late (and far too little material) to save this
\none.<\/p>\n
Never mind the fact that I’m listening to the absolutely crappy
\nremix that was the albatross of
\nThe ZZ Top Sixpack<\/i>, far too often the songs that Gibbons and
\ncompany offer up sound too much like ground that’s already been
\nwell tread upon. “El Diablo” has more than just trace elements of
\n“Goin’ Down To Mexico” off
\nZZ Top’s First Album<\/i>, while “Snappy Kakkie” is almost a
\nmirror image of “Neighbor, Neighbor” off that same album. “Pan Am
\nHighway Blues” is a less creative attempt to tap into the emotion
\nof “Blue Jean Blues” from
\nFandango!<\/i>, while “It’s Only Love” sounds like it was written
\nto be the “next hit single,” but it never really develops the kind
\nof legs it needs.<\/p>\n
Simply put, 80 percent of
\nTejas<\/i> has the sound of a band resting on its past glories –
\nand while I wouldn’t slander those moments (many of which I’ve
\nenjoyed over the years), this disc proves that the past wasn’t
\nenough to propel ZZ Top into the future. Tracks like “Arrested For
\nDriving While Blind,” “Enjoy And Get It On” and “Ten Dollar Man”
\nare limp and lifeless, daring to suggest that ZZ Top might have
\nlost their creative spark.<\/p>\n
Then come the final two tracks. “She’s A Heartbreaker” finds the
\nband tapping into a musical source they hadn’t previously
\ninvestigated, combining Southern rock with almost a Mexican
\ninfluence. Whatever the mixture, this one is a lot of fun to listen
\nto, and it would have been interesting to have seen how such a
\nconcept would have developed with the band. The album’s closer,
\n“Asleep In The Desert,” has ZZ Top tackling an instrumental and
\nturning in a performance that would have made Stevie Ray Vaughan
\nweep with joy. Gibbons’s understated guitar helps to drive this
\nsong home to the listener, and it delivers its payload well.<\/p>\n
If only
\nTejas<\/i> had more moments such as these, the disc may have been
\nsalvagable. As it is, though, the two great performances are
\noverwhelmed by the lackluster songwriting and performances which
\nmake up the bulk of the disc. If you’re exploring the musical
\nlandscape that is ZZ Top, it would be best to leave
\nTejas<\/i> off of your vacation plans.<\/p>\n
2002 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault”. All rights
\nreserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
\nwritten permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Full
\nMoon \/ Warner Brothers Records, and is used for informational
\npurposes only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5723],"rating":[11205],"class_list":["post-37386","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-zz-top","rating-rating-d-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37386"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37386"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}