ZZ Top Album: “The Very Best of Zz Top: Rancho Texicano”

Been a ZZ Top fan for a long time, and I'm one of the people who likes both their early stuff, and the stuff in the Eliminator / Afterburner period (it seems most ZZ Top fans don't like both, just one era or the other). Anyway, if you don't own ZZ Top at all, this is the one to get, as you get all the big hits, and a few others you might not know of.

As usual with a Greatest Hits package, there's always stuff that's missing, and this is no exception. Despite being put out in 2004, it has nothing from the albums Antenna, Mescalero, XXX, & Rhythmeen. Rhythmeen is one of my favs by ZZ Top, so I was kind of disappointed that nothing was there from that. I understand that with Greatest Hits albums, that will always happen - someone's personal preference left off. I could accept that. But this colletion has THREE songs on there TWICE EACH! Cheap Sunglasses, Legs, & Velcro Fly are on here in live or alternate mixes. BORING! That's three spaces that could have been better allotted to songs from the albums not covered. That's the reason I gave this four stars - it would have been 5, and I would have given it 4.5 stars if I could.

But that I admit is my own personal gripe. What is here is most excellent, and as I said, if you don't have any ZZ Top at all, this is the one to get. This essentially replaces the most excellent 1992 "Greatest Hits" albums, with only two tracks that were on that one not here, but neither of them are a big loss at all.

Check it out!

Edit a week later: I found out why the four most recent albums aren't represented here. They're on a different label, that's why they're not here. Still would have been nice to have seen the entire career represented. After having listened to it for a couple of weeks now, it's a fabulous collection, and is a great pickup if you don't own all their albums already.

It would be easy to roll your eyes at this CD and say, "God, not another ZZ Top Best-Of collection. Why bother?" That was pretty much what I thought, until I heard this album.

Hearing Disc 1 is like hearing ZZ Top anew. This was the first time I had ever heard the ORIGINAL mixes of their pre-Eliminator material, and what a difference it makes. The soulless 80's drum machines and re-recorded guitar and vocal parts that they released in the 80's are gone, leaving the original gritty blues-rock sensibilities that are at the core of this band's best music. These songs leave you feeling dirty and smelling of motor oil, cattle and cigarette smoke. (Conversely, the Six-Pack remixes felt more like someone's slick penthouse cocaine party.) It's the way the songs were meant to sound, and it's a pleasure to rediscover classic tracks that I had only previously heard in their inferior 6-Pack remixed form.

I have less to say about Disc 2. It covers their career from Eliminator onwards, and the post-Eliminator material (about half the disc) doesn't stand up too well to what came before it. The real reason to pick up this album is for the original mixes on Disc 1, and those are well worth the purchase price.

Ah, yes. ZZ Top made some of the best music of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Whether they were performing blues rock songs or winning over audiences on MTV, these Texans proved that they knew how to make great rock and roll and survive for numerous generations, and amazingly, they still continue to perform and tour today with the original members.

2004's 'Rancho Texicano - The Very Best of ZZ Top,' gives ZZ Top the two disc retrospective it's long needed. If you are a casual fan that wants more than what 1992's 'Greatest Hits' or 1977's 'The Best of ZZ Top' offers, than look no further.

Unfortunately, this disc stops at 1992, which is a shame, because their RCA material from 1994-2003 is really great too. Oh well.

Well, here is the album by album, track by track review.

Tracks from ZZ Top's First Album (1971)

'Brown Sugar,' 'Goin' Back To Mexico,' 'Just Got Back From Baby's'

Review: Their 1971 debut is by far their most blues oriented. One question though, where is 'Backdoor Love Affair'? That's probably my favorite song from this album. That's a disappointing omission.

Tracks from Rio Grande Mud (1972)

'Francine,' 'Just Got Paid,' 'Bar-B-Q'

Review: The three best songs from their sophomore effort. Blues rock at it's finest. Rhino Records selected the very best from this album.

Tracks from Tres Hombres (1973)

'La Grange,' 'Waitin' For The Bus,' 'Jesus Just Left Chicago,' 'Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers'

Review: Arguably ZZ Top's best album gets great coverage here. The four great ones and standouts from this album appear on 'Rancho Texicano.' The whole album is great, so you may want to buy that album as well.

Tracks from Fandango! (1975)

'Mexican Blackbird,' 'Tush,' 'Blue Jean Blues,' 'Heard It On The X,' 'Thunderbird'

Review: Half studio album, half live album, 'Fandango!' remains my all time favorite ZZ Top album. Their last album for London Records, they definitely went out with a bang. The five essentials from this album are here. No complaints.

Tracks from Tejas (1976)

'It's Only Love,' 'Arrested For Driving While Blind'

Review: I have always thought of 'Tejas' to be the forgotten ZZ Top album. I have no complaints about what's featured, but where the heck is 'Snappy Kakkie'? That's arguably one of their best, and it's omission is irritating.

Tracks from Deguello (1979)

'I Thank You,' 'I'm Bad I'm Nationwide,' 'Cheap Sunglasses,' 'A Fool For Your Stockings'

Review: After 'Tejas,' ZZ Top took a three year break, and returned in 1979 with 'Deguello.' This album contains two of my all time favorites from ZZ Top, 'I'm Bad I'm Nationwide' and 'Cheap Sunglasses.' This was their last album before Billy Gibbons discovered the synthesizer. Rhino selected the four great tracks from this album. ZZ Top closed the 1970s with a bang here.

Tracks from El Loco (1981)

'Tube Snake Boogie,' 'Pearl Necklace'

Review: It's amazing how much ZZ Top changed in two years. Still, change isn't always a bad thing, and in this case, it isn't. This is a pretty good album, and these are the two really good songs from 'El Loco.' Enough said!

Tracks from Eliminator (1983)

'Gimme All Your Lovin,' 'Sharp Dressed Man,' 'Legs,' 'Got Me Under Pressure'

Review: Enter the MTV years of ZZ Top. One of their most successful albums to date, 'Eliminator' spawned four major MTV hits and radio hits alike for ZZ Top. This album is a classic, and while fans of the 1970s ZZ Top were very turned off by this, it's considered a 1980s classic. These are the four great ones from this album. Wouldn't mind seeing 'Thug' here, but that's nothing to cry about.

Tracks from Afterburner (1985)

'Sleeping Bag,' 'Stages,' 'Rough Boy,' 'Velcro Fly,' 'Woke Up With Wood'

Review: Their most synth-driven album, 'Afterburner' is an interesting album. Personally, this is probably my least favorite ZZ Top album, but it's still pretty good. I guess Rhino picked the bright spots from this album. I have no say here, really.

Tracks from Recycler (1990)

'Doubleback,' 'My Head's In Mississippi'

Review: ZZ Top's last official studio album for Warner Bros. Records. 'Recycler' was not a bright spot for the band, but they were as popular on MTV as ever, though. The return to blues rock in 'My Head's In Mississippi' was a pleasant surprise for '70s ZZ Top, and 'Doubleback' showed flashes of 'Deguello'-era ZZ Top, but still, they were very much powered by synthesizers here.

Tracks from Greatest Hits (1992)

'Viva Las Vegas'

Review: Bassist Dusty Hill takes the lead vocals job here, and he does a pretty good job covering Elvis (this is his second Elvis cover; he covered Elvis in 1975 for the live version of 'Jailhouse Rock' that appears on 'Fandango!'). This is actually one of my favorite ZZ Top recordings from the 1983-1992 period. They did a pretty good job here.

Assorted tracks

'Cheap Sunglasses (live),' 'Velcro Fly (12" remix),' 'Legs (Dance Remix)'

Review: The live version of 'Cheap Sunglasses' is pretty good, although the remixes I think don't need to be included here.

Overall, this is the best available overview of ZZ Top. I strongly recommend this for casual fans, new fans and die hard fans alike.

Highly recommended for any ZZ Top fan. Two CDs of pure goodness. The most comprehensive ZZ Top collection on the market, with the exception of the box sets, of course.

ENJOY!!!

Or maybe the place to end up for casual fans who just want one ZZ Top album in their collection.

"Rancho Texicano" gathers (most of) the best from ZZ Top's rough and tough 70s albums on disc one, and the 80s MTV hits on disc two, and while they shouldn't have ended the set with 12" remixes of "Legs" and "Velcro Fly" (which are here in their original versions as well), the tracks selection is generally very good, even if it largely ignores the band's 90's efforts.

There are still plenty of highlights, though, from the band's grittiest early blues-rock stompers "Brown Sugar" and "Francene" and the slow grind of "Just Got Back From Baby's" and "Fool For Your Stockings", to latter-day smashes such as "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs", and the dirty "Pearl Necklace". And the fact that this collection is not limited to hit singles means that somewhat lesser-known gems like "Waitin' For The Bus" and the supremely funky rave-up "Tube Snake Boogie" are included as well.

The layout is quite nice, the annotation is good without being magnificent, and while this is not quite everything you could ever want from ZZ Top, "Rancho Texicano" still blows "Greatest Hits" out of the water.

Unless you want to pick up the 4-disc "Smoke, Chrome & BBQ" box set right away, this fine career overview provides the best available introduction to the little ol' band from Texas.

Creedence Clearwater Revival was probably the first rock band to really bring back the original boogie rock sound originated by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and the other rock n' roll pioneers of the 1950's. When Creedence broke up in 1972, a gritty blues-rock trio from Texas called ZZ Top scored their first hit "La Grange" a year later and became the next band to carry that infectious three-chord boogie sound into the 70's and 80's at a time when most rock bands were focusing on heavy metal and other styles of rock.

Dusty Hill and Frank Beard make up one of the most rock solid rhythm sections in rock n' roll, and Billy Gibbons is surely one of the hottest blues-rock guitar masters out there. These three guys are responsible for some of the best blues-flavored rock n' roll of the past three decades, and all their classic hits and best-known material is here in this excellent two-disc compilation released in 2004. The first CD covers the best of the band's blues-flavored 70's material, and their more commercial, mainstream rock hits of the 80's are compiled on the second CD.

The only problem with this collection is the last half of the second disc. Rather than making the set more comprehensive by including some of ZZ's later material from the 90's, we get an average live recording of "Cheap Sunglasses" that adds nothing to the original version, a useless remake of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" {why did they choose to cover one of Elvis' worst songs?}, and unnecessary "remix" versions of "Legs" and the forgettable "Velcro Fly" which is surely one of ZZ Top's weakest songs. This is still the best greatest hits compilation currently available for the casual fan though. All of the band's best-loved material is presented here with great remastered sound.

Few bands from 40 years ago are still out there today with the original members in place. ZZ Top has survived into the new century and are still rockin' as strong as ever. I got the chance to catch them in concert on their 2003 tour with Ted Nugent and Kenny Wayne Shepherd as the opening acts. Billy, Dusty, and Frank delivered a sound so full and tight that it sounded like four or five guys on stage instead of three! What is sorely needed is a live concert DVD of these legendary rock n' roll hall of famers that has never been issued after all these years.

If you want to discover what REAL rock n' roll is all about, get a copy of this collection along with CCR's classic "Chronicle" CD.