ZZ Top Album: “El Loco”

Wondering what they're doing in those greasy overalls shown on the cover? They were working very hard on another sweet album!

ZZ sounds more contemporary on this album than they ever had before, while at the same time throwing down some funky blues (Tube Snake Boogie, Don't Be Cruel), sweet 70's country-flavored ballads (Leila, It's So Hard), and a couple truly bizarre, genius tracks (10 Foot Pole, Heaven Hell or Houston).

As with Tejas, Billy's tones are more frequently in the Strat realm than the fat Les Paul territory he is widely known for. He doesn't hold back on this one, slingling his gun with great zeal. Tube Snake, Don't Be Cruel, and Heaven, Hell or Houston all feature some of his sweetest solo work, in my opinion.

Out of my five star rating I give one star to each of these tracks:

*Tube Snake

Whoops, that's 6 stars. It's just a sweet thing!

'El Loco' is the Top's last LP before they did before they started overdoing it with the synths.And,it can be argued,this is their last great album.The boogie is there.The humor is their.And,of course,the ever-present sexual euphamisms are there.

Never being a "serious fan" of ZZ TOP, other than seeing their now familiar series of videos on MTV in the mid- Eighties, I never took the plunge and purchased a full length album from these legendary Texas rockers until a few years ago. A friend of mine turned me on to this cassette about ten years ago and I copied it, loving all the songs. Seriously fun, boogie-woogie blues, rockers, a few ballads, even a dance song ( the middle part of "Heaven Hell or Houston" has a great dance beat as well as some incrdeible guitar playing. ) ZZ TOP purists would probably hate me for saying this, but I think it's their best overall album ( I have since purchased quite a few of their discs. ) Oddly enough, my favourite track on this album is the most unconventional, most "this doesn't sound like ZZ TOP" song "Groovie Little Hippie Pad" starts with a few synth squiggles, then blasts off with a herky jerky rhythm and drum machine patterns that quite frankly wouldn't have sounded out of place on the first B-52's album ( and to me, that's not a bad thing.) Finally, a hard rocking album you can dance to. Great at parties, there's something here for literally everyone.

It's ZZ Top! Of course it's good! No, it's great! I'll never get enough of Texican Rock & Roll. Looking forward to more!

For a ZZ Top album this is quite Mellow and has a lot of variety. There is also a lot of experimentation, especially experimenting with guitar tones.

There are some very strong songs on El Loco, The country-ballad 'Leila' is quite heartfelt and has some beautiful steel-guitar playing, though I'm not sure if it's a real steel guitar. The zany 'Groovy Little Hippie Pad' has a very strong main hook 'groooooovy little hippie paaadd' or so Billy sings it like that, is very memorable and catchy, and really grows on you. The track 'I Wanna Drive You Home' seems like a lyrical continuation of 'She likes my automobile', and it's another winner, with an awesome hook and great guitar grooves.

'Don't Tease Me' and 'It's So Hard' are fifties pop sounding, a bit insincere actually, but enjoyable enough. Then 'Tube Snake Boogie' and 'Party on the Patio' are fifties rock 'n' roll songs. The other songs are more experimental, interesting and with some good guitar.

Mellow and synthetic guitar tones dominate this album, that also tries to look back at more roots music, there are also a few rather bizarre and experimental songs. It's still an enjoyable album, a bit uneven, so about 2.5 to 3.0 stars.