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Rating: Even 2012 has presented itself as the year of the return of numerous big rock names, and there's definitely no need to name them... what, I have to do it? Alright... Van Halen, Kiss, Muse, Green Day, Rush, The Cult, Smashing Pumpkins, Litfiba, and so on. Yes, I know, I mentioned the usual obvious names, mixing the good ones with the bad ones, and even those that have nothing to do with it, so I apologize. However, I only found out a few months ago about the upcoming release of a new effort from our old bearded Texas uncles, who are certainly not some random losers. I bet that any lover of good sweaty blues rock couldn't wait or at least wouldn't miss out on a listen, and I could easily consider myself among the first. But enough chatter, let's get to the album.
As I already said before, in the review of The Cult, "La Futura" carries with it the infamous legacy of the last album of original tracks, which of course is "Mescalero," dated a good twelve years ago. The main problem was the excessive length of the album, a full hour, distributed across sixteen grueling songs with an average of 4 minutes per track. A real exaggeration, especially for a band like this. Those who have had the chance to listen to it will understand what I am talking about. The terrible inconsistent quality of the songs, one after another. And also the questionable sound quality, completely alien to their genre. "La Futura" presents itself again, as Choice Of Weapon did for the aforementioned, as a true and absolute improvement in every sense: improved sound; reduced and sustained album duration, but above all: return to the roots and the 90s. Yes, indeed, ZZ Top takes us back in time to the great southern glories of the 70s and the magical moments of their rebirth in hard blues style, which happened between the first and the second half of the 90s, with those two tasty and flavorful gems of Antenna and Rhythmeen.
The opening track "I Gotsta Get Paid" gives us a slight preview of what the album will be with the subsequent listen, flaunting a very electric blues rock, perhaps even too electric. But the best of the whole album are the following 5 songs, which, when listened to in numerical order, are definitely worth the purchase of this album. "Chartreuse" and "Consumption" manage to perk up our ears by offering a powerful hard blues that is very rock'n'roll-like, and where the former, from the very first listen, oozes many references to that gem "Tush" from every pore. It is immediately followed by "Over You," the first slow track of the album, and absolutely the song that stands out the most in the entire tracklist, where dominating is the voice of Billy Gibbons, which, as he ages, becomes increasingly hoarse, deeper, bluesier, and more damnably rock. However, the listening begins to dip slightly, with the next tracks "Heartache in Blue" and "I Don't Wanna Lose, Lose, You," where it moves to that classic almost ordinary modern blues rock formula, as only the old uncles can do. It's also worth highlighting a remarkable guitar/harmonica duet in "Heartache in Blue." On my part, I would prefer to conclude this track-by-track disguised as a review here, as the subsequent tracks, as pleasant and similar to the last two mentioned as they are, come off drastically as filler (and understandably so, after a whopping forty years...), I would just like to mention "It's Too Easy Mañana," the second slow track of the album with another devastating performance of Billy's throat.
In conclusion, this is what I would like to define as the perfect album to close a career spanning over thirty years, the one I would so much like to expect from dozens of "field veterans" who still continue their journey in the show business, squeezing mercilessly both themselves and everything they have created and made us hope and even dream of, all in exchange for something far too common: money. The Texan trio, over the years and through masterpieces, have accumulated "enough," and this would be the perfect gift to say goodbye to everyone and hang the guitar on the wall for good. I didn't hope for such a result, for retirees in free fall since '99. Let this be a lesson for all today's young bands.
RATING = 82 / 100
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