ZZ Top
El Loco

THE REVIEW

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.