ZZ Top Album: “Rhythmeen”

That's what this CD is. And I mean that in a good way. The hardest ZZ Top album EVER, IMHO. Yeah, the lyrics are goofy, but they're been lame ever since Eliminator, for the most part. Focus on the sound... that grinding, distorted, blistering lead guitar sound on some great Texas blues melodies... I've played it over and over again, and I just don't get tired of this dirty little grease monkey.

I picked this album up the other day in the used CD bin for six bucks. I am a longtime ZZ fan, but not too fond of their post-Deguello work. I had heard a few cuts on this in the past, and thought I'd give it a chance. This album is really one of their better "new ZZ" records. This is a very back-to-basics recording, no sequencers and synths here. It sounds like they set up a couple of amps and a drum kit in the studio and just rolled the tape. Few if any overdubs, basic song structures. The best thing of course, is Reverend Billy G's AWESOME guitar tone. Almost every song uses a dropped low E string which really gives it that low, heavy, down & dirty blues-rock sound. Love that tremelo, too!

The only weakness of this album is the writing, a lot of the lyrics are just goofy as hell, but then most of ZZ's later stuff is that way anyhow.

Bottom line: great music, goofy songs, still not as good as their old stuff.

This is my favorite up to date ZZ Top album their dirty guitar picking, distorted sound, and their loud amps makes this ZZ Top album much better than XXX. I believe this was the first album that ZZ Top switched over to RCA the record label. I know the best songs on this album are Bang Bang which is really cool the vocals may have no meaning but man its all about the music!!!! I also love the blues songs included on this one Vincent Prince Blues is a great jam. Hummbucking, Part 2 has a really cool grove. The whole band including Dusty Hall, Frank Beard, and Billy F. Gibbons just rock their Rhythmeen!!!This is a must have ZZ Top album!!!!

Wow. Absolutely Amazing. This is where the goods are right here boy. This is dirty, "Mud Music". Like a freight train in a short skirt drivin through a sludge pond. Complete with grinding rhythms, wierd shrieks, and all the phlegmy gutteral moans you can chew, that'll have you checking the liner notes to see if what you heard was actually a word or not. It's a yummy mudpie.

In the long discography of ZZ Top, there are certain albums that stand out.

-1971's "First Album" showed the world that the then-emerging "southern rock" genre had a tougher, grittier but ultimately humorous cousin in "Texas Blues/Rock/Roadhouse Music".

-1973's "Tres Hombres" stands out for solidifying the classic ZZ Top sound and style.

-1975's "Fandango" rises due to a great live side one, and an even greater studio side two.

-1983's RIAA Diamond Certified "Eliminator" combined electronic synthesizers with the classic ZZ Top "wink-and-a-smile-boogie-blues" and benefitted from the new phenomenon of MTV, a red 1933 Ford and some leggy chicks.

"Rhythmeen" is as strong as any of those albums, whether from the standpoint of creativity and artistic ability, continuation of a well-established thread, or just plain fun boogie-blues.

By 1996, the 1980s Texas Blues Revolution had suffered the loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan, grunge had peaked and was quickly collapsing, "Eliminator" was a pleasant-but-distant memory, and ZZ Top was making their second disc for their new label (RCA). Time to re-tool, re-invent and re-invigorate...

The Boyzz tuned down (in some cases, two full steps below 440/concert pitch!), turned up the distortion, and went on a seedy surrealistic sonic roadtrip from New Orleans to Tijuana. This is the first disc of the Drums-Bass-Fuzzy Guitar trilogy (continued and completed by 1999's "XXX" and 2003's Mescalero").

From the first track to the last, your senses are pleasantly assaulted by reverb- and tremolo-drenched distortion and crunch, heavy drums, growly vocals and rumbling bass. The disc pushes forward with a slightly ominous tone reminiscent of heavier Black Keys tracks (who are, according to 2008 Billboard[...] reports, writing material with Billy Gibbons for a new ZZ Top disc to be produced by Rick Rubin).

One note for the casual ZZ Top fan; this disc requires more than one listen to fully appreciate and enjoy the full effect, much like the Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street".

If you can find it, and if you can afford it, the Japanese import version of the CD is desirable, due to the inclusion of the bonus track "Isn't Love Amazing".

Either way, Buy This Disc and TURN IT UP! Good Vibes To Y'all...