New Music From ZZ Top

Screamin' Armadillo · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:39 am

A new track from the Boyzz...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z6_yZJ3g_0

My very biased* opinion:
I like it. It's a good combo of old and new for the band...more harmonies than many recent recordings...tasty guitar licks...the chorus makes the song a bit "poppy", but that's not necessarily bad...good guitar solo, sounds like something from "Antenna" or a cleaned-up "Rhythmeen"...strange how the editing from guitar solo to final chorus seems tacked together (maybe a radio edit for length?)

It's not the best thing they've ever put out, but it ain't bad, either...it's nice to hear something I haven't heard before by them.

The new album (promised since 2004) is supposedly coming before the end of the year:

http://bit.ly/2011-06-20-mfh-bfg

*Full Disclosure: I am a HUGE ZZ Top fan...I own everything they've ever recorded, including foreign import-only tracks, bootlegged stuff, the various pre-ZZ bands and guest appearances they've made on other folks' records. I can be a somewhat fair critic, though...they have a few songs I don't like at all and a couple of moves they made (the remixes of the "Six Pack", etc.) confound me...and if all you've ever heard is the radio hits, you're missing out. Their best stuff is generally found deep on the album ("Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell", "She's A Heartbreaker", "El Diablo" and many, many more).

So you have the right to like them or not, but I know that you're wrong if you don't.

Rebelsoul · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:11 am

Love them,I had an album of their greatest songs with a picture of some cowboys by a campfire,and I wore that album out copping licks...I really like watching them perform and the moves Billy and Dusty come up with....the epitome of coolness.

cherokee747 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:41 am

I'll pre-order this weekend. What I've heard sounds good.The sidewalks are moving.........

tdanb2003 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:41 am

You know its them right off the bat and then comes the chorus? I didn't expect that...Who's singing the harmonies? I didn't know Dusty and Frank could sing that high... :lol:

Tasty licks though. Billy is the harmonic pinch master. Thanks SA...

Screamin' Armadillo · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:44 am

cherokee747 wrote:

The sidewalks are moving.........

Up to the 99th floor? :lol:

TimDrakeMusic · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:48 am

"I ain't gonna ask her any questions, so she ain't gotta lie." haha...great line. Overall the song was pretty good. I still like older ZZTop better, but this ain't bad at all.

Screamin' Armadillo · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:03 pm

tdanb2003 wrote:

You know its them right off the bat and then comes the chorus? I didn't expect that...Who's singing the harmonies? I didn't know Dusty and Frank could sing that high... :lol:

Billy, with the right amount of inspiration, can still hit some pretty high falsetto notes (see the song "Stackin' Paper" from Mescalero in 2003), but I bet there are going to be some "special guest stars" on this disc...Billy's been writing and hanging out with the Black Keys and also the Racontuers/Jack White a lot lately.

I wonder about the poppiness of the chorus, too. They seem to be trying to make it a bit more radio-friendly than the last three albums, with the "Bass-Drums-Fuzzy Guitar" soundscape. I don't know how that's going to work, because there aren't any stations that play new music by old artists anymore...when I was a kid, the "Classic Rock" station would play the new tracks by old bands--Stones, ZZ Top, whoever--but now they are only playing the same fifty (tired) songs over and over. I think they might be trying to reach out to the whole "American Idol" crowd like they did backing up that David Whats-his-name, creating a song that sounds like it could be covered by a pop/rocker.

I know part of their separation from RCA was based upon the lack of hits they had and lack promotion/support the label (and Clive Davis specifically) gave to the band. Jive, er, um...Clive wanted to take over the "Mescalero" album much like he did Carlos Santana's "Supernatural" disc--produce, engineer, choose songs (everything), and the boyzz didn't want to do that. He got ticked off, sat on Mescalero and poisoned the waters towards it...it wasn't a bad album, although it lacked a little focus...he chose the wrong song for the "single", too..."Buck Nekkid" wasn't a bad song, but there were several songs that kicked its' butt on the disc, like "Alley-Gator", "Two Ways To Play" and the title track ("Mescalero").

Drew365 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:32 pm

I've been in a ZZ Top frenzy for a couple of months, listening to a lot of their stuff over and over. This new song hit me like vanilla ice creme. Good, but I expected so much more. They need some kind of change up between the end of the solo and the last chorus. It almost sounds like there was something there and some marketing guy decided his focus group wouldn't like it, so it got edited out. I wonder who is producing. That may be the key to the weirdness.

tbazzone · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:44 pm

I like it!

Screamin' Armadillo · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:52 pm

Drew365 wrote:

I wonder who is producing. That may be the key to the weirdness.

They're supposedly working with Rick Rubin as producer, but this sure doesn't sound like anything he's ever done before (at least to my ears)...maybe this is a rough/early version, from a production standpoint...I don't even know if it's a leaked song or what.

This may even be something very old that's not ever been released...the production quality/songwriting vaguely reminds me of "Antenna" (1994), Billy Gibbons' first swing at sitting in the producer's chair (co- with Bill Ham). They've only had two producers prior to this album, Bill Ham and Billy Gibbons...

I just know it's new to me, and I'm glad to hear a new song by them.

stroker vance · **Joined:** Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:01 am **Posts:** 2842

Excellent- I think it's a hit...... and that's what all the big dudes want you know. It has mucho mass appeal I think. Very catchy choros you can sing along with. I think chicks will like it. Maybe that's not common for alot of ZZ music BUT if the chicks like it.... well, you got it made.

I always thought Rythemeen (spell?) was the best album for years and years from them- but I don't think many thought the same-- I don't know.

In the case of the bigs you have to kind of forget your own personal tastes alot of the time and you try to write a song with a good hook or choros so it can SELL! That is what it's all about. That is why ZZ Topp has been around a long time. Sure they play stuff they like but I can tell you- they want hits. It ain't about savin' the whales man.

texasguitarslinger · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:51 pm

stroker vance wrote:

I think chicks will like it. Maybe that's not common for alot of ZZ music BUT if the chicks like it.... well, you got it made.

Well... Not me at least. Honestly I didn't really like it that much, and I'm a huge ZZ Top fan. I just don't dig generic pop choruses in rock songs. I feel like it's just a come on.

Bands writing songs with watered down pop choruses under the assumption that that's what chicks like is one of my biggest pet peeves. It's the main reason why I don't like John Mayer. It just kind of annoys me to think that sometimes it seems like everyone thinks girls can't or don't like rock music, or blues, or any music with substance and/or any music that's heavy. I mean, you'll always have the girls who do fit the stereotype and buy into the commercial pop stuff, but not everyone.

So anyway, enough of my rant about commercial chick music. :lol:

I'm not offended or angry or anything like that. And of course I still love ZZ Top! I just thought that I'd have something a little different to offer since I'm coming at it from another perspective. I'm also not saying the song is bad, just not my cup of tea. And I'd still take it any day over Justin Bieber.

Solid Body Love Songs · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:41 pm

Thanks for posting SA. I agree with everyone that you can tell it is them right away. ZZ Top is a favorite band of mine. The original Texas hardcore rockers. As for the pop-style chorus it is Dusty on the harmony's sounds like to me and with a little sweetness added to the chorus, excuses singing the words "fly high, touch the sky" repeatedly in the chorus.

Reminded me of Purple Haze and Jimi. I had to smile, love the ZZ top band.

Screamin' Armadillo · **Posted:** Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:25 am

stroker vance wrote:

I always thought Rythemeen (spell?) was the best album for years and years from them- but I don't think many thought the same-- I don't know.

Rhythmeen is one of the best albums of their career...I rank it up there in their best albums.

It's a sonic roadtrip from New Orleans to Tijuana, staying on the seedy side of the street...

nikininja · **Posted:** Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:42 am

I'll bet Ian Killminster is on the credits for that track. Sounds like his penning.

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