ZZ Top has put out some enjoyable music since forming in Houston in 1969. Playing Texas-style blues boogie, the three original members have had their fair share of hits.
In 1973, guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard (the only beardless member of the band), rocked radios with the bluesy, crank-the-knob-in-your-El-Camino riff on top 40 hit \La Grange.""
1983's , sporting playfully raunchy jams like ""Sharp Dressed Man,"" ""Gimme All Your Lovin'"" and ""Legs,"" represents the likely climax of ZZ Top's career. The album is worthwhile, if only for the classic videos premised on such ever-popular themes as magical cars, easy women and pimple-faced geeks being granted popularity as well as sexual virility by weird guys with long beards and furry guitars.
The band's latest release, , betrays little of the band's former, semi-ironic glory. The album's title means ""maker of mescal."" As anyone who has ever had mescal can tell you, it only leads to bad things.
The album begins with a title track that sounds like entrance music for an anonymous WWE wrestler. Unfortunately, this sets a low standard the rest of the album only hurdles sporadically.
Several of the songs, including the title track and the truly odd ditty ""Que Lastima,"" are performed by Billy Gibbons in Spanish. English-speaking listeners may wish the songs that were performed in English had been performed in Spanish (and vice-versa). Titles like ""Buck Nekkid,"" ""Me So Stupid,"" ""Piece"" and ""Punk Ass Boyfriend"" adequately encapsulate the intellectual level at which the lyrics are carried off. Of course, ""She's got legs/She knows how to use them,"" is not exactly Tolstoy, but ""Legs"" had a riff to back it up.
The most baffling thing about the album is Gibbon's production. The album would be better if he had kept his hands off. The bass is muddy and only aggravates annoying and totally superfluous computerized noises. The drumming lacks force. Gibbon's scratchy voice is alternately toyed with and then left alone. On tracks like the transcendentally awful ""Me So Stupid"" Gibbons recalls Sammy Hagar.
Bright spots on the album come late. The blues-country two-stepper ""What Would You Do,"" is an interesting listen. The odd production actually works on this song, making it a unique rethinking of a common theme. The drumming and guitar work on ""What it is Kid"" are impressive.
There is a bonus track. Not surprisingly, it is not worth the wait.
ZZ Top used to write music that rocked. is almost bereft of music that rocks-and magic hot rods.
