ZZ Top Album: “Tres Hombres”

ZZ Top's Tres Hombres is a classic rock album, perhaps one of the all-time best. I consider it ZZ Top's best album, being the finest representation of their sound and containing their highest-quality material as far as both performances and songwriting are concerned. Their second album, Rio Grande Mud is almost as good, however Tres Hombres gets an edge because the songs are more instantly memorable and are all high quality. There is not a single weak moment on Tres Hombres. Every cut is top notch. There's quite a bit of variety too, from the mid-tempo blues of Jesus Just Left Chicago to the hard rock of Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers to the Memphis soul of Hot, Blue and Righteous to the John Lee Hooker boogie of La Grange. Even lesser known album cuts like Precious and Grace, Shiek and Master of Sparks are excellent. Forget the compilations, if you're looking for the absolute best of the Little Old Band from Texas, look no further. Tres Hombres is it. It is an essential album than any fan of blues-oriented rock and roll needs to have.

Finally after many years, the original sound mix is available on CD. This new remastered edition eliminates the horrible 1980s remix which piled on echo and fake drums, completely ruining the raw, bluesy feel of the original album. Finally, that mistake has been corrected to the delight and relief of ZZ Top fans everywhere. It's just too bad that it took over a decade for it to happen. The new CD sounds great and includes very informative liner notes giving background information on the recording of the album, as well as three live bonus tracks.

Now, as for the bonus tracks. They're great and I'm very glad they were included, but as was the case with Fandango they simply left me wanting more. Any live ZZ Top material is much appreciated as this is one thing sadly lacking from the Top catalog. Until now, the live side of Fandango was the only live representation that the band had (except for a couple of live cuts on the XXX album from 1999). The live tracks on Tres Hombres are very good. They are obviously not from the era in which the album was recorded. They sound like they were recorded in the '90s or even 2000s perhaps. That's okay, though. It's still ZZ Top live. Waitin' on the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago and La Grange are solid staples of the band's live repertoire and it's great to hear them in concert setting. The only disappointing thing is that there are only three of them. I want much, much more. A whole album of ZZ Top live tracks would be awesome, particularly if it consisted of tracks recorded in the '70s. They're such a great live band, they truly deserve a live album. Hopefully, someday soon Warner will open up the archives and pull out some of those live recordings that are just sitting there gathering dust.

In summary, if you could own only one ZZ Top album, Tres Hombres should be the one. I would also recommend Rio Grande Mud, Fandango, Deguello and Rythmeen. If you're going to buy Tres Hombres make sure that you get the new remastered CD with the original mix restored. Avoid the old one at all costs. Or else just get it on vinyl.

The only way to have this release until now was on vinyl. The CD release before this had been tampered with to give it more of a modern/dance tone - and was not the real thing at all. This release finally remasters from the original tapes and it sounds great. Good bonus live tracks too.

The remixing of this great album is atrocious. I bought Tres Hombres on cassette hoping that the remix was limited to the CD only. Much to my dismay, I was wrong. The same fake drums are to be found on the cassette tape as well. Please Warner, remaster this and the rest of ZZ Top's 70's albums and restore the original sound mixes!!! The echo and synthesized drums may have been cute in 1987 but are all but irrelevant and detract from the quality of the music today.

So many classic albums are getting the treatment they deserve with remastering for better sound quality and extras such as bonus tracks, liner notes and photos. Warner should really get with the program and reissue these great albums with proper remastering and restoration of the ORIGINAL sound mix.

As for the album itself, it's great. ZZ Top truly perfects their mix of rock and Texas blues. As good as Rio Grande Mud was, Tres Hombres is even better. It's a truly classic blues- rock album. Unfortunately other than the vinyl record, you won't be able to find the original mix. Soon, hopefully, Warner will FINALLY remaster Tres Hombres and all of Top's early albums.

There ain't nothin quite like sitting down after a long workday, pouring myself a long, tall cold one and sitting down to my Tex-Mex audio feast of ZZ Top's classic Tres Hombres album. From the beautifully dark wah-drenched solo in Waiting For the Bus to the trippy, bongo-backed rhythm that is Shiek, the result is truly one of the finest crafted rock albums of all time. Sadly enough, PLEASE choose carefully when making your purchase, for when this album was remastered for compact disc, the rhythmic tightness was all but lost in a sea of electronics, with the drums sounding more like a track from a Bananarama ballad than an actual 1970s Texas blues-based-playing-to-packed-beer-soaked-taverns-7-nights-a-week band. Chalk it up under "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time" on behalf of the label, but times have changed, and I know I speak for the majority of ZZ fans who agree that the 1970s era albums (or is it 1980s? I'm still not sure!) deserve to be preserved in their original integrity and re-released with the original, bare-bones, untarnished tracks. I'm hoping it's only a matter of time before Bill, Dusty and Frank come to their senses and make this possible, for their 1970s masterpieces deserve to be heard as they intended, as unpretentious as the music itself.

There's no doubt about the musical quality of this album, but it sounds like the band were playing in the inside of a tunnel. I'm so disappointed, because I first bought the "Six Pack", and looking for the original sound I've bought TRES HOMBRES. Surprise it's the same remastered recording¡