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Rating: Introduction:
When you're goofing around, you must always remember to let irony shine through. If not, you'll come across as tacky, ridiculous, ultimately ignorant; which is one of the worst flaws you can have in this world.
Irony has never been lacking for ZZ Top, and here they are, on this cover, playing dumb and accommodating, but with jaws wide open in laughter for the photographer while pretending to be caught with their hands in the cookie jar, actually marijuana, by some kind of sheriff... The scene was surely photographed in the White Sands desert in New Mexico, not too far from their home in Houston, a place like that (they've exploded I don't know how many nuclear bombs there, long before the current globalization).
Context:
We're at the seventh album and the beards of two of them, soon to become famous, have now grown to the standard length for the rest of their career. This, moreover, is the work that immediately precedes the eighth and historic "Eliminator," where besides the big beards, there will be the red thirties Ford coupé with their logo on the side and in the keychain pendant, the teasing bombshells, the 360° rotating guitars with fur, and more. With all this paraphernalia around, ZZ Top will manage to become "commercial" while keeping the music at excellent levels, just garnishing it with attractive gadgets (including some sneering synthesizers and drum parts forced into a certain "danceable" stiffness).
Strengths and Weaknesses:
"El Loco" was released in 1981 and it isn't among the best nor the worst records of the Texan trio: it gets by decently. The intelligence and admirable minimalism of the three instrumentalists allow us to appreciate their musical philosophy, that sly way of playing without hurry or stress, leaving voids, pauses, and syncopations, and the drums alone here and there, without inflating the music with unnecessary overdubs.
Album Highlights:
"I Wanna Drive You Home" is a hypnotic rock blues resting on the bass pedal. Gibbons' slide guitar solo is masterful, capable of elevating the hypnosis to true psychedelia.
"Leila" is such a sunny country rock ballad, but in my opinion, it's ironic, almost mocking the Eagles, including the very scholastic steel guitar that brushes here and there. It works, to break up all that muddy blues of the other tracks.
"Pearl Necklace" would be a pearl necklace, but perhaps the track celebrates once again Gibbons' favorite guitar, a Gibson Les Paul he named Pearly Gates, from which he never parts and which is certainly played on the piece, highlighting the incomparable sustain, guaranteed by almost five kilos of precious wood it’s made of.
"Groovy Little Pad" is emblematic because it introduces synthesizers and electronic effects, which will sparingly but clearly inflate the sound of ZZ Top for the rest of the '80s. Thus relative thematic and melodic importance, but strong historical impact.
Incredibly, almost at the end, comes something practically Zappa-like with the delightful "Heaven, Hell or Houston", a very quirky affair where the chorus doesn't match the verses, there are little effects and noises here and there, and the whole thing has nothing to do with the usual southern rock blues of ours.
The Rest:
In the opening track "Tube Snake Boogie", leader Billy Gibbons dishes out once again a nice slice of rock'n'roll phrasing, memorized by him since a very young age: as he also updates us on the huskiness of his vocal emission, which has now reached the ideal point.
If you want to realize what the voice of a drunk Texan sounds like, there's this "Ten Foot Pole" as the third track: you can't understand anything of what he mumbles, you have to pull the lyrics off the Internet... The guitar solo, however, is perfectly enjoyable, soaked in tremolo and very knowledgeable.
In "Don’t Tease Me", bassist Dusty Hill also sings with his clearer and less smoker-like tone. Even if here the production tries to render his vocal style similar to that of his partner.
"It's so Hard" is southern rhythm & blues, if you can say that, and as such insignificant. The guitar sounds clean and stereotyped, so much so that it seems like a mockery of the genre even in this release of theirs.
The microphone is taken up again by the bassist in the concluding "Party on the Patio", with the creative rhythmic conduction by the excellent Frank Beard. Among exaggerated echoes and strange new wave tones, it could even pass for a Cars song, imagine that.
Final Judgment:
This album presents ZZ Top as they continue to evolve (they started with "Deguello," two years before) and try to ride through the difficult eighties for those who've been on the scene since the late sixties.
Starting from the absolutely uncomfortable position of a Texan boogie band anchored to the fifties rock'n'roll, they will incredibly manage to bring in quite a bundle of money throughout the rest of the eighties. In the nineties, the lush period will end, and they, serious and passionate people despite the goofy grimaces, will continue to stay together.
They've been in the same formation for over fifty years, damn: maximum respect.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Tube Snake Boogie (03:05)
I got a girl she lives cross town,
She's the one that really gets down.
When she boogie,
She do the tube snake boogie.
Well now boogie little baby,
Boogie woogie all night long.
I got a girl she lives on the block,
She kinda funky with her pink and black socks.
She likes to boogie,
She do the tube snake boogie.
Well now boogie woogie baby,
Boogie woogie all night long.
I got a girl, she lives on the hill.
She won't do it but her sister will,
When she boogie,
She do the tube snake boogie.
Well now boogie little baby,
Boogie woogie all night long.
Blow your top blow your top blow your top.
03 Ten Foot Pole (04:23)
Tidify da, sinmah gough dah hep haing ding fum gogamamo.
Stry da fings thadd awondt oont do butt any il thang thad a wondt meeto.
Shees my nurirng my nu esit seten' ra mind at a ros reshoo.
I don loo kadang doo my net loohah leten meen you
Hmm, I wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole.
Try-da-fy thedit dern tasgoo
Itel dang ifl eeton if airs ron wichoo
Day me dy ron my nek
Thars a dang ana ding doo itan beegon
Shee kina sitn wita ly dou fang
Let it ang wit a itin imin babee
Ide oln lee pak da thangs yoodo
Letit ang ifen eeton wacha ron wichoo
I wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole.
I wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole.
You just don't know what shape I'm in.
04 Leila (03:17)
She had a look in her eye that could make you melt,
Made me feel better than I ever felt.
But bless her heart, she couldn't stay,
I begged her not to go away.
She left my ex best friend out in old Tucson,
Told me she was leavin and would be rollin on.
Now the days just pass on by,
Losin' her is the reason why.
Leila, Leila your mind will be flying high
And everything will be alright.
You know I love you girl more than I can say,
I still think about you each and every day.
My lonesome old heart still feels the same,
So Leila won't you steal away.
Leila, Leila your mind, will be flying high
And everything will be alright.
Leila, Leila your mind, will be flying high
And everything will be alright.
05 Don't Tease Me (04:24)
Baby, baby, I need you,
I'll lay it on you with a straight shot
Baby, baby, I love you,
I'll give it ev'rything I got.
I'm gonna try my best to hold you baby,
Hold you in my arms.
Tryin' my best to please you,
Never ever tease you,
Don't you go and break my heart.
Don't burn me like a jet fuel,
Baby just be cool,
Don't go tearin' me apart.
Baby, baby I want you,
I know we're thinkin' 'bout the same thing.
Lord have mercy,
I need you, I can read you like a magazine.
I'm gonna try my best to hold you baby,
Hold you in my arms.
Tryin' my best to please you,
Never ever tease you,
Don't you go and break my heart.
Don't burn me like a jet fuel,
Baby just be cool,
Don't go tearin' me apart.
You know what I'm talkin' 'bout
Because I'm givin' you the head lines.
Baby, baby I love you,
Let's get ready for the good times.
I'm gonna try my best to hold you baby,
Hold you in my arms.
Tryin' my best to please you,
Never ever tease you,
Don't you go and break my heart.
Don't burn me like a jet fuel,
Baby just be cool,
Don't go tearin' me apart.
06 It's So Hard (05:11)
When the light comes and yu're feelin' down
Cause your baby's out there somewhere runnin' round.
Don't start feeling blue and feeling lonely too,
It's hard I know when that love ain't true.
You just can't explain, but you know it's there,
That empty feeling seems so unfair.
What can you do when it's gone, it's gone,
'Cause those lovin' feelings seem to hurt so long.
So if you feel like cryin', go ahead and cry,
A heartbreak will cool as time goes by.
And it's so hard baby, it's so hard to take.
It's so hard baby, it's so hard to take.
Well you work so long every day and night,
Tryin' every thing that seems so right.
But when a love falls a heart must break,
And it's so hard baby, it's so hard to take.
07 Pearl Necklace (04:07)
Pearl Necklace
She's really upset with me again,
I didn't give her what she likes.
I don't know what to tell her,
Don't know what to say.
Everything got funky last night.
She was really bombed,
And I was really blown away,
Until I asked her what she wanted,
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She gets a charge out of bein' so weird,
Digs gettin' downright strange.
But I can keep a handle on anything,
Just this side of deranged.
She was gettin' bombed,
And I was gettin' blown away,
And she held it in her hand
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She's so cold, as pure as the driven slush.
And that's not jewelry she's talkin'about, [see notes]
It really don't cost that much.
She was gettin' bombed,
And I was gettin' blown away,
And she took it in her hand,
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
08 Groovy Little Hippie Pad (02:44)
I'm gonna find me a groovy little hippie pad.
I'm gonna find me a groovy little hippie pad.
I work a hundred grand scam from a border town.
Well, I'll be feeling glad.
I'm gonna find me a blonde-haired mama,
In a Jeep with a German Shepherd by her side.
I'm gonna find me a blonde-haired mama,
With boots and a fourty-four on her side.
And if I ain't too hjigh or used up,
I'll have her take me for a groovy little hippie ride.
I'm gonna fix brown rice every day,
And drink down a bottle of Midnight Red.
I'm gonna fix brown rice every day,
And drink down a bottle of Midnight Red.
That's all I need to get groovy,
That's what all the little hippie said.
10 Party on the Patio (02:49)
I found an empty house in my neighborhood,
I knew that wer shouldn't but I thought we could.
Knew it wouldn't be hard to slide into the backyard,
Called all my friends and slipped a hundred to the guard.
We turned on the radio and had a party on the patio.
Betty's in the sauna and she's getting kind of hot,
Mary's in the icebox wishin' she was not.
Connie's in the whirlpool, Jimmy's tryin' to be cool,
Libby's in the bushes 'cause she's nobody's fool.
We turned the lights down low and had a party on the patio.
Heard the cops are coming so we tried to jump the fence,
Mary didn't make it and we haven't seen her since.
Connie had another drink, Jimmy simply couldn't think,
Billy G. was passed out underneath the sink.
But everybody's gonna show for another party on the patio.
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Other reviews
By Turbitt
"El Loco can be considered the most creative album of the trio, thanks to the variety of approaches within the individual tracks."
"The true strength of El Loco is its informal and laid-back atmosphere... almost relaxed, I would say."
