Now, we flip the script and head to the other end of the Alphabet to give the last album in my catalog a spin. ZZ Top's 1983 smash "Eliminator". It was either this or my first foray into the Association. After a hard day at work I really wasn't feeling the whole 60's boy band/barber shop quartet vibe. Was much more in the mode for some good Texas Blues infused Rock with a side of 80's synth for good measure. Billy shredding away on the guitar with Frank and Dusty just trying to keep up. Paired this listen with a bomber of New Belgium's Lips of Faith, Tart Lychee. Why? Why not, had this sitting in the fridge for about a week and have been looking forward to popping the top. Love this beer, anyway... on to side one!
Boom, right out of the gate: "Gimmie All You Lovin'", "Got Me Under Pressure" and "Sharp Dressed Man". Talk about the 1927 Yankees of 80's rock. You would be very hard pressed to find three better side one, track one through three. All three walk the perfect line between grungy bluesy guitar riffs and polished, synthesized 80's rock. Out of the three I like "Sharp Dressed Man" the best. Great lyrics, an unforgettable guitar hook, just blasts straight through the whole song, not a down note in the whole thing. If I had a band this would be one song I would insist that we covered.
The Beer: Yum!! For some reason my pallet has moved on from big hop bombs and on to sour and wild ales. Love the funk, the unpredictability. The Tart Lychee has a slightly vinegary nose, smooth in the mouth, picked up raspberry, cinnamon, vanilla. Just the right amount of oak, not to much to come out in the flavor but you can tell its back there playing second violin. Nice pucker, hangs around in the mouth quite a bit after you have swallowed. Head flattens out quickly, color is a hazy light copper. Really wish this was a year round brew. I'll rate it 4 pints out of 5.
Back to the tunes..... After basking in the afterglow of "Sharp Dressed Man", the rest of side one back off a bit. "I Need You Tonight" sounds like something off a Thin Lizzy B-side (not entirely a bad thing). "I Got the Six" picks the speed up a bit, sounds like Dusty is singing this one, Dusty shouldn't sing any. It does sound like a great song to haul ass to in the middle of the night though.
Side jumps right back off the mat and hits you in the face with "Legs". Anyone of a certain age remembers this video, the car and the girls. I do like the song but have always felt it could drop about a minute and a half and be just about perfect. The outro gets a bit repetitive and long winded. "Thug" is next, did Law and Order come on all of a sudden? Base line sounds just like the old Law and Order intro from the early 90's. Did Dick Wolf own this album, here this song and say "I want that base line as part of the intro for this new series I have thought up" ? Other than that teaser, a completely forgettable song. "TV Dinners"? Ugh, no thanks. This is when I really start to remember why being able to skip songs quickly on a CD was such a big deal. A few words on the rest of the songs; "Dirty Dog" a slightly worse take on the Legs theme, "Flag Her Down" Was Swing time rockabilly infused Texas Rock ever popular? Had to be written in the middle of a 3 day bender, "Bad Girl" Sounds like Sammy Hagar used this to write Wango Tango from, that is not a good thing.
To Wrap up, I really wanted to love this album, and I really like 3 and a half songs out of the 11. Too much filler, drum machine (sounds like a 5 year old programmed it at that). The "filler" songs may have sounded fresh in 1983 but end up all sounding waaaay too dated now. I do love my some ZZ and am looking froward to listening to Tres Hombres in a few weeks. Wonder how that one will end up grading out? If I am going to have to start giving a score, let's just use a scale of 0 to 10. I'll give this one a middling 5.
Happy Drinking and Listening!!!
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