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Rating: Long beards.
Yet, the only one with a short beard is named Frankie Beard (exactly, beard)! These were my first thoughts the first time I heard about ZZ Top. Then one day, I was in Lyon on a school trip and in a used CD store, I stumbled upon “Fandango” the fourth album of the Texan trio, dated 1975. I don't even know why, but the cover and the album name attracted me terribly and I ended up buying the album blindly.
The album starts with the sound of an audience clamoring for the group’s entrance. We are at the Warehouse in New Orleans and a Texan trio is about to take the stage. A voice announces: “are you ready for ZZ top? Ladies and gentlemen, the fantastic ZZ top!” And it kicks off with an irresistible and tight boogie. It’s “Thunderbird,” a fast blues played with indescribable grit, truly an explosive start. Not even time to catch your breath, and the band plays the classic written by the famous Leiber/Stoller team for Elvis, “Jailhouse Rock,” with Billy Gibbons’ slide guitar at the forefront in the solo. Truly formidable, one of my favorite versions of this song. Not even a pause, and it’s immediately time for the nine-minute “Backdoor Medley”, a blues-rock collage consisting of “Backdoor love affair,” Wille Dixon’s “Mellow down easy,” the continuation of “Backdoor love affair,” and finally the “Long distance boogie.” ZZ Top are truly great musicians and excellent entertainers, engaging with their dirty and blazing blues rock.
Then, as is traditional for many rock-blues bands of the '60s and '70s, the second part of the album is a great side consisting of studio recordings. Certainly, the sounds are cleaner compared to the live part, but the tracks are in any case classics strictly composed by the group. “Nasty dogs and funky kings” with its sustained and syncopated rhythm starts this part, which continues with the tear-jerking blues “Blue Jean Blues,” a classic from their repertoire featuring the always excellent Gibbons’ soloing, very poignant in this track. “Balinese” is the usual excellent boogie, not too hard but well-paced and engaging, while “Mexican blackbird” is a carefree song with almost country tones, where the voice seems to mimic that of a heavy drinker sitting in a Texas saloon. Accentuating the feeling, there’s also a nice harmonica solo. The album closes beautifully with the two very fast and tight blues pieces “Head it on the X,” with the lively vocal alternation of Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, and especially with what I think is my favorite on the album, “Tush.” Memorable riff and the whole band truly shines with a rhythm that calling it driving is an understatement, almost a rock 'n' roll!
This “Fandango,” together with the previous “Tres Hombres,” is definitely one of the best episodes of the three bearded Texans, who unfortunately, over time, perhaps have leaned too much into popularity and abandoned the unique and personal Rock blues that characterized their initial sound to embrace a more banal rock but with better commercial “appeal,” while here we hear them as great performers both live and in the studio.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Thunderbird (04:09)
Get high, everybody, get high.
Get high, everybody, get high.
Get high, everybody, get high.
Get high, everybody, get high.
Have you heard? What's the word?
It's Thunderbird.
All you kids from Texas,
you grow so big and tall.
All of them kids from Texas
they grow so big and tall.
All of them like to roam
in that T-Bird hall.
Get hi-hi-high.
Really makes you feel so fine,
really goes down so smooth,
really puts you in the groove.
Have you heard? What's the word?
It's Thunderbird.
Juice, juice, juice
really makes you loose loose, loose,
really goes down so smooth,
really puts you in the groove.
Have you heard? What's the word?
It's Thunderbird.
Get hi-hi-high,
way up in the sky.
Gonna get, yes sirree,
if ya come and rock with me.
Have you heard? What's the word?
It's Thunderbird.
02 Jailhouse Rock (01:56)
Goin' to a party in the county jail,
Prison band was there and they began to wail.
Kid is shakin' and began to sing;
You should've heard them knocked out jailbirds sing.
Let's rock! Everybody, let's rock!
Everybody in the whole cell block
Was dancin' to the jailhouse rock.
Spider Murphy sittin' on a block of stone;
Little Joey blowin' on a slide trombone.
Come on, Silly Willy, don't you be no square.
If you cannot find a partner, use a wooden chair.
Let's rock! Everybody, let's rock!
Everybody in the whole cell block
Was dancin' to the jailhouse rock.
Shifty Henry said to Bugs,"For heaven's sake,
No one's lookin'; now's our chance to make a break."
Bugsy turned to Shifty and he said, "Nix nix. I
Wanna stick around awhile and get my kicks."
Let's rock! Everybody, let's rock!
Everybody in the whole cell block
Was dancin' to the jailhouse rock.
03 Backdoor Medley: Backdoor Love Affair / Mellow Down Easy / Backdoor Love Affair No. 2 / Long Distance Boogie (09:54)
05 Blue Jean Blues (04:45)
I done ran into my baby
and fin'lly found my old blue jean.
I done ran into my baby
and fin'lly found my old blue jean.
Well, I could tell that they was mine
from the oil and the gasoline.
If I ever get back my blue jean,
Lord, how happy could one man be.
If I ever get back my blue jean,
Lord, how happy could one man be.
'Cause if I get back those blue jean
you know, my baby be bringin' 'em home to me.
06 Balinese (02:38)
Deep in the South of Texas
not so long ago,
there on a crowded island
in the Gulf of Mexico
it didn't take too much money,
man, but it sure was nice.
You could dance all night if you felt all right,
drinking whiskey and throwing dice.
And everybody knows
it was hard to leave.
And everybody knows
it was down at the Balinese.
Yeah, I remember Ruby,
she always dressed in red
wearing skintight pants, Lord, and how she could dance
with a rag wrapped around her head.
And everybody knows
it was hard to leave.
And everybody knows
it was down at the Balinese.
And everybody knows
it was hard to leave.
And everybody knows
it was down at the Balinese,
it was down at the Balinese,
it was down at the Balinese.
07 Mexican Blackbird (03:05)
If you're down in Acuna and you ain't up to being alone
don't spend all your money on just any honey that's grown.
Go find the Mexican blackbird and send all your troubles back home.
They all call her her "puta" 'cause no one really knows her name.
She works the cantina, dancin' and a-lovin's her trade.
Her mama was Mez'can and her daddy was the ace of spades.
Oh, let's drive that old Chrysler down to Mexico, boy.
Said, keep your hands on the wheel there.
Oh, it sure is fine, ain't it?
Now, ya got it! Hand me another one of them brews from back there.
Oh, this is gonna be so good.
Mm, she's hot as a pepper but smooth as a Mexican brew.
So head for the border and put in an order or two.
The wings of the blackbird will spread like an eagle for you.
Oh, one more time,
can you roll me another Bull Durham, please?
Can't you do it with one hand, boy?
08 Heard It on the X (02:28)
Do you remember
back in nineteen sixty-six?
Country Jesus, hillbilly blues,
that's where I learned my licks.
Oh, from coast to coast and line to line
in every county there,
I'm talkin' 'bout that outlaw X
is cuttin' through the air.
Anywhere, y'all,
everywhere, y'all,
I heard it, I heard it,
I heard it on the X.
We can all thank Doctor B
who stepped across the line.
With lots of watts he took control,
the first one of its kind.
So listen to your radio
most each and every night
'cause if you don't I'm sure you won't
get to feeling right.
Anywhere, y'all,
everywhere, y'all,
I heard it, I heard it,
I heard it on the X.
09 Tush (02:14)
I been up, I been down.
Take my word, my way around.
I ain't askin' for much.
I said, Lord, take me downtown,
I'm just lookin' for some tush.
I been bad, I been good,
Dallas, Texas, Hollywood.
I ain't askin' for much.
I said, Lord, take me downtown,
I'm just lookin' for some tush.
Take me back way back home,
not by myself, not alone.
I ain't askin' for much.
I said, Lord, take me downtown,
I'm just lookin' for some tush.
- Frank Beard, Bill Gibbons & Dusty Hill
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