Tejas cover

Tejas

Released

Even in their early blues ’n’ boogie days, ZZ Top were always weirder than people gave them credit for. Their fourth full-length studio album (following the half-studio/half-live Fandango!) is one of their most stylistically adventurous. Billy Gibbons’ guitars are slipperier, twanging where they might be expected to crunch, and Frank Beard’s drums are loose and dry, leaving plenty of air in the grooves. “Arrested For Driving While Blind” features booze-based lyrical puns worthy of George Thorogood, and “El Diablo” is a mellowed-out, rambling tale of south-of-the-border criminality. From the opening “It’s Only Love” to “Pan Am Highway Blues” to the closing instrumental “Asleep In The Desert,” this is closer to psychedelic country rock than the heavy Texas blues that ZZ Top made their name with.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Face to Face cover

Face to Face

Angel City
Monster cover

Monster

Steppenwolf
You Do Your Thing cover

You Do Your Thing

Montgomery Gentry
Together cover

Together

Golden Earring
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man cover

Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man

The Bob Seger System
Rags In Skull cover

Rags In Skull

George Brigman
Exile on Main St. cover

Exile on Main St.

The Rolling Stones
Green River cover

Green River

Creedence Clearwater Revival
Framed cover

Framed

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band