Best ZZ Top Albums: All 15 Records, Ranked And Reviewed

15: ‘ZZ Top’s First Album’ (1971)

Formed in Houston, Texas, by guitarist and frontman Billy Gibbons, the embryonic ZZ Top cut an initial single, Salt Lick, in 1969. However, the band’s classic line-up coalesced at the the turn of the decade, with Gibbons, bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard performing their first show together in Beaumont, Texas, in February 1970.

Despite playing every funky Lone Star joint that would endorse them over the next six months, the trio were largely ignored by US record companies, and they signed to London Records (then the US affiliate of the UK’s Decca imprint) for their debut album. Effectively a reflection of their stage show at the time, the self-explanatory ZZ Top’s First Album proved to be a more than decent start. It didn’t chart, but it offered a heady, tightly-executed mix of tough Texan blues, hard-edged rootsy rock and – on slightly risqué songs such as Bedroom Thang and Backdoor Love Affair – just enough salaciousness to leave the group’s nascent fanbase wanting plenty more.

Must hear: (Somebody Else Been) Shakin’ Your Tree

14: ‘Antenna’ (1994)

Thanks to the technological upgrade they gave their signature sound, ZZ Top flew high during the 80s, enjoying massive hits with albums such as Eliminator and Afterburner at a time when the blues was largely out of fashion. However, the Texan trio had another storm to weather after grunge broke on a global scale following the success of Nirvana’s Nevermind in the latter half of 1991.

Taking their time in following up 1990’s Recycler, ZZ Top eventually responded with Antenna: a record which retained much of what Billy Gibbons called the “cyber-blues” of the band’s 80s records (the mechanised beats and electronic filigree) but also chimed with the times, thanks to its heavy grooves and dirty, fuzz-drenched guitars. Tracks such as Fuzzbox Voodoo, Cover Your Rig and the radio smash Pincushion helped the album go platinum in the US and succeeded in dragging the blues kicking and screaming into the alt-rock era.

Must hear: Fuzzbox Voodoo

13: ‘Tejas’ (1976)

Possibly because it came on the back of a killer trio of titles – Rio Grande Mud, Tres Hombres and Fandango! – ZZ Top’s fifth album, Tejas, has often been overlooked, with Billy Gibbons even telling MusicRadar, “It’s fair to say that this is a transitional record, although I’m not really sure what we were transitioning from and what we were becoming.”

With hindsight, though, Tejas (the title deriving from the Native American for “friends”) more than deserves to a place among the best ZZ Top albums. Its opening track, It’s Only Love, reflected its creators’ collective love of traditional country music, while the likes of She’s A Heartbreaker, the haunting El Diablo and the rollicking, DUI misadventure tale Arrested For Driving While Blind still stack up favourably against the band’s finest moments.

Must hear: Arrested For Driving While Blind

12: ‘Afterburner’ (1985)

An entirely logical successor to Eliminator, 1985’s Afterburner doubled down on its illustrious predecessor’s electronic filigree and dancefloor-friendly production by throwing drum loops and prominent keyboard textures into the mix. Beaneath it all, ZZ Top’s ribald sense of humour and Billy Gibbons’ inherent knack for infectious, bluesy melodies remained intact on song such as Rough Boy, Velcro Fly, Stages and the ubiquitous Sleeping Bag, fanning the flames for fans who rushed to send the album towards multi-platinum sales figures.

Must hear: Sleeping Bag

11: ‘Rhythmeen’ (1996)

The “cyber-blues” sound that brought ZZ Top mainstream success with 1983’s fantastic Eliminator served them well for the next decade, but, following 1994’s Antenna, the group gradually jettisoned the synths and turned back towards the badass Texan boogie sound which birthed them.

As their next album, Rhythmeen, revealed, they didn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, but they did make changes, with Gibbons and Hill exploring lower tunings, and Frank Beard’s notably more organic drum sound inspiring the album’s title: “There was a definite m-e-e-e-an feeling behind the percussion as the drum sound was captured from a live room and ended up fraught with this mean rhythm,” Gibbons later said. In a separate interview, he also described the album as “stripped down and streamlined”, and that verdict certainly holds true on Rhythmeen’s best songs, not least its gritty title track, the chilling Vincent Price Blues and the grinding, Jimi Hendrix-esque Black Fly.

Must hear: Black Fly

10: ‘XXX’ (1999)

Released to coincide with the band’s 30th anniversary, ZZ Top’s 13th album, XXX, revisited the half studio/half live approach that had shaped 1975’s Fandango! Despite this apparent glance backwards, XXX is more than worthy of its place among the best ZZ Top albums, as its studio tracks, which range from the suitably titled Fearless Boogie to the organ- and sample-led Dreadmonboogaloo, are admirably diverse. Its live cuts, meanwhile, include a smoking version of Hey Mr Millionaire, featuring quicksilver lead guitar from a guesting Jeff Beck.

Must hear: Fearless Boogie

9: ‘Recycler’ (1990)

The third and final instalment in ZZ Top’s chart-busting “cyber-blues” trio, Recycler broadly fell back on the band’s polished, electronically enhanced production style, but it also dropped hints that Gibbons, Hill and Beard wished to return to the organic blues-rock sound that had sired them.

This change of heart was partly brokered by the album’s later sessions in Memphis. While waiting for their high-tech gear to arrive, the band decided to set up in a circle in the studio and jam – the way they always did during their early years. This looser, more organic approach would filter in to some of Recycler’s best cuts, not least the swaggering My Head’s In Mississippi and the brooding neo-ballad 2000 Blues. A UK and US Top 10 smash, the album also included more polished, sequencer-based tracks such as Concrete And Steel and Doubleback (which also featured in the Back To The Future III soundtrack), but, as Gibbons told Guitar World, Recycler marked the point where ZZ Top “allowed some of the rougher elements of the band to come shining through again”.

Must hear: My Head’s In Mississippi

8: ‘La Futura’ (2012)

The long-awaited follow-up to 2003’s Mescalero, the Rick Rubin-produced La Futura found ZZ Top back in more familiar blues- and boogie-based territory. ZZ Top’s most organic-sounding record in years, the album was helped greatly by Rubin’s approach to the sessions – what Gibbons would describe as a pressure-free acceptance that “it was gonna take as long as it takes”.

This clearly suited the band, for while La Futura still threw a curveball or two (lead single I Gotsta Get Paid was based upon Houston rapper DJ DMD’s track 25 Lighters), tracks such as the shuffling Chartreuse, the swampy boogie of Consumption and the glorious, Stax-style soul ballad Over You mostly allowed the trio to do what they do best. ZZ Top’s final record with Dusty Hill, La Futura brokered their return to the Top 10 of the US Billboard 200, and it still ranks highly among the best ZZ Top albums.

Must hear: I Gotsta Get Paid

7: ‘Mescalero’ (2003)

Though less celebrated than their legend-enshrining music from the 70s and 80s, ZZ Top’s latter-day albums still contain plenty of fine music, with 2003’s Mescalero arguably remaining the group’s most engaging 21st-century release. Broader in scope than most of the band’s blues- and rock-based records, the album explores the trio’s collective love of Tex-Mex music, with accordion, harmonica and marimbas significantly broadening the group’s sound palette on Mariachi-flavoured tracks such as Mescalero, Alley-Gator and Buck Nekkid, and Gibbons trading Steve Cropper-esque licks with pedal steel alumnus Dan Dugmore on the record’s choice ballad, Goin’ So Good.

Must hear: Goin’ So Good

6: ‘Fandango!’ (1975)

Following a significant hit record, Tres Hombres, with an album split between live and studio cuts might seem like a risky move on paper, but as Billy Gibbons later told MusicRadar, it proved to be “a winning combination” for 1975’s Fandango! Recorded in New Orleans, the live half of the album featured a breathtaking ten-minute medley of ZZ Top’s own Backdoor Love Affair, Willie Dixon’s Mellow Down Easy and John Lee Hooker’s Long Distance Boogie, while the studio cuts proffered enduring classics in the shape of the heartfelt border-radio tribute Heard It On The X and Dusty Hill’s innuendo-laden Tush, the latter an endearing throwaway, written in 20 minutes, which rewarded ZZ Top with their Billboard Top 20 breakthrough.

Must hear: Tush

5: ‘El Loco’ (1981)

Rather like Tejas, 1981’s El Loco is another title deserving of greater respect among the Best ZZ Top albums. Simply for arriving between the triumphant Degüello and the all-conquering Eliminator, it’s generally regarded as a bit-player in the band’s wider story, yet its importance shouldn’t be overlooked. Indeed, revisited today, El Loco reveals hidden depths. Its rich and varied tracklist includes several of the band’s quintessential Southern boogie workouts (Tube Snake Boogie, Pearl Necklace) alongside the hauntingly melancholic ballad I Wanna Drive You Home, but it also finds room for some fascinating left-field diversions (Groovy Little Hippie Pad, Party On Your Patio) which stemmed from experiments with a newly-acquired Fairlight synthesiser which Billy Gibbons would soon deploy so decisively in the creation of the chart-busting Eliminator.

Must hear: I Wanna Drive You Home

4: ‘Rio Grande Mud’ (1972)

ZZ Top’s First Album certainly had its moments, but its immediate successor, Rio Grande Mud, is the one where Gibbons, Hill and Beard really began to morph into the lean, mean, blues and badass-boogie machine which has been firing on all cylinders ever since. With their non-stop gigging having honed them into a near-perfect live act, the Texan trio were able to let loose on a slew of fantastic hook-laden rock songs such as Francine, Just Got Paid, Chevrolet and Whiskey’n Mama, all of which still rank among the best ZZ Top songs. Released as a spin-off single, Francine also rewarded the group with their first Billboard Hot 100 success and access to a much bigger audience – something they would capitalise on with their next record, 1973’s potent US Top 10 hit Tres Hombres.

Must hear: Just Got Paid

3: ‘Degüello’ (1979)

The Spanish title of ZZ Top’s sixth album loosely translates into English as “no quarter given” – fitting for a band that took no prisoners on the record which arguably stands as the noisiest and most animated in their discography. The belated follow-up to 1976’s Tejas, the popular, platinum-selling Degüello captured the band sounding refreshed after a lay-off during which Billy Gibbons spent some time in Europe and discovered the burgeoning punk scene. However, while the aggression of that movement seeps into several of the album’s rockers (Cheap Sunglasses; I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide), the record’s wry humour suggests that Gibbons, Hill and Beard swerved the nihilism of punk and instead let their own freak flag fly high.

Must hear: Cheap Sunglasses

2: ‘Tres Hombres’ (1973)

ZZ Top’s major commercial breakthrough came with their third album, 1973’s potent Tres Hombres, which smashed into the US Top 10 and rewarded the Texan trio with their first gold disc. With hindsight, it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving record, for Tres Hombres was – and remains – the most complete of the band’s 70s albums. Powerful, tight and full of what Billy Gibbons referred to as “the grit and grunge” of the blues, it was stuffed with classic tracks such as Move Me Down The Line and the anthemic Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers (later covered by Motörhead), but its tracklist showed that Gibbons, Hill and Beard also had the chops to pull off set-pieces as daring as the Thin Lizzy-esque Master Of Sparks and the yearning, Stax-style soul of Hot, Blue And Righteous. The much-loved La Grange (a tribute to the real-life “best little whorehouse in Texas”) was the record’s spin-off hit, but Tres Hombres was a study in consistency, and it remains a refreshingly filler-free entry among the best ZZ Top albums.

Must hear: La Grange

1: ‘Eliminator’ (1983)

ZZ Top had been experimenting with new technology as far back as 1979’s Degüello, when they added pitch-shifting effects to the song Manic Mechanic. However, as the 80s rolled on, Billy Gibbons became increasingly determined to move with the times and create a unique hybridised sound which respected his band’s Texan blues and boogie roots while also enabling them to remain relevant in a new era.

His persistence paid off, for the group cracked it in style with 1983’s Eliminator, a truly epochal record which spawned four massive hit singles (Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sharp Dressed Man, TV Dinners and Legs) and went on to obliterate the competition. Arriving right on time to embrace the arrival of MTV, its hits were promoted by a series of cars’n’girls-themed videos which led to the album receiving a diamond certificate (for sales of over ten million) in the US, turning ZZ Top into a household name. The sound of man and machine in perfect harmony, Eliminator remains one of the greatest albums of the 80s, and it pretty much places itself at the top of this list of the best ZZ Top albums, too.

Must hear: Gimme All Your Lovin’

Looking for more? Check out the best ZZ Top songs.

Original article: 11 June 2024

Updated: 15 December 2024