ZZ Top Album: “Antenna”

On ANTENNA, ZZ TOP try to return to their pre ELIMANATOR style. By that I mean, more blues riffs and a more blusey sound instead of trying to be so polished. While this is not a great ZZ TOP album, it is by no means a bad one. The album has some good riffs to it and has some good rocking songs. I like the songs PINCUSHION, WORLD OF SWIRL, FUZZBOX VOODOO, COVER YOUR RIG, LIZARD LIFE. If you found about this group from thier videos, then I suggest this album for you so you can get an understanding of what the group was about before than. They are just a little ol' blues band from Texas that continues to make some good music. How can you argue with a group that has been together and still has the same members after 30 years. I think that this album should be a welcomed addition to your CD collection.

I must say that Antenna is growing on me, but I also

must say that...of all ZZ Top albums I've heard, this

one is the weakest. Pincushion is cool, but I prefer

the Sin-Pusher version on XXX. Antenna Head is fun...

but not in the great category. The CD, in my opinion,

has one fantastic track, and that is the song that could

save your life: Cover Your Rig...an ode to safe sex.

That song is excellent slow blues in the best ZZ tradition.

So I would recommend this CD to ZZ fanatics, just don't have too high hopes for it.

It seems ZZ Top was done messing with sequencers and programmed "synthesized" drums by the time '94 rolled around. That's not to say this album is a total return to the sound that made up their earliest albums. No, because the production and song-writing on Antenna just won't allow for that. But having said that, it is the blusiest release by the boys since at least Deguello or perhaps even Tejas. Gibbons guitar tone is low-down and dirty, making one forget all about those glittering (Slide It In-era) Whitesnake-style riffs and solos that so generously filled Afterburner and occassionally still reared their commericial head on Recycler. Even the likes of "My Head's In Mississippi" from Recycler can't compete with the rejuvenated passion in the blues Gibbons had displayed throughout Antenna. "Breakaway" is the first real clue here that the boys mean business, and the spirit is maintained well thru "World of Swirl" and "Fuzzbox Voodoo." "PCH" begins with a devastatingly down and dirty Gibbons lick, and just forces the tried and true Top fan to crack a smile and leaves them ready for more. The upbeat tempos of the previous three outings are mostly maintained here, but at least it appears to the naked ear that Beard is actually rappin' on the skins once again.

Top seems destined to roll along with relative ease, changing their sound a bit here and there, while rolling up and taking back down bits of the future as well as the past in the process. At this point, they seem incapable of putting out an unenjoyable release. Just having some fun while poppin' the "Top" down and soakin' up the sun...

ZZ Top achieved their greatest commercial success in the early and mid 1980s with the albums "Eliminator" and "Afterburner", and to a lesser extent "Recycler." And while all three are very good discs, they have a more "modern" feel than such classic ZZ Top albums as "First Album", "Tres Hombres", and "Deguello." With Antenna, however, the modern sound is abandoned somewhat in favor of an earlier, grittier sound. There is not a single bad song on the album, which cannot be said of "Afterburner", perhaps the most commercialized and synthesized of ZZ Top's discs. Standout tracks include the opener "Pincushion", "Fuzzbox Voodoo," and "Cherry Red." All in all, this may be a more hardcore album than most casual fans (that own Eliminator and perhaps Greatest Hits) may be willing to buy, but for anyone looking for a truly great blues/rock album, this is a sure bet.

Its a solid 4 but Im giving it a 5 to bring up the rating because of the other only review by that clown Gary Fredrick that gave it a 1.Is it any wonder?Check out all his reviews which are all negative.

Back to the cd.Alot of good blues guitar licks.

Definitely worth the purchase.