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
Southern Rock Opera cover

Southern Rock Opera

Drive-By Truckers
Rags In Skull cover

Rags In Skull

George Brigman
Together cover

Together

Golden Earring
Rocks cover

Rocks

Aerosmith
Steppenwolf cover

Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf
Conspicuous Only in Its Absence cover

Conspicuous Only in Its Absence

Grace Slick & The Great Society
Sports cover

Sports

Huey Lewis & The News
Out of Our Heads cover

Out of Our Heads

The Rolling Stones
Kingdom Come cover

Kingdom Come

Sir Lord Baltimore