So, what have you been listening to lately?

[uwe]

The most un-Chicago song by Chicago ever. Still great.

[uwe]

I of course knew the song, but I had never seen the vid, it's a hoot, Nazi fiends getting their a-SS-es royally stars & stripedly kicked (by T-6 Texans naturally) ... go, Patti Mae Andrzejewski, go!!!

[Dave W]

[gearHed289]

I of course knew the song, but I had never seen the vid, it's a hoot, Nazi fiends getting their a-SS-es royally stars & stripedly kicked (by T-6 Texans naturally) ... go, Patti Mae Andrzejewski, go!!!

What the heck is Judge Reinhold doing in a PT video?  At 00:59.

[gearHed289]

That was a mess.

[Pilgrim]

I've loved that tune ever since I first heard the Spencer Davis version with Steve Winwood.  Chicago's version is fantastic!!

[Basvarken]

That was a mess.

Ow yeah. Horrible.

First time on live tv? I think not:

[uwe]

What about their Europe-wide televised Rockpalast live gig on 19 April 1980? That established them in Germany and it was when they were still playing real trio music without backing tapes and drum machine enhancement. (Oh, I just saw that Rob made the same point. OTOH a filmed live gig is not the same thing as a live performance in a TV studio environment, those can go horribly wrong as they obviously did here.)



For me, ZZ Top peaked with Degüello (released 1979). I thought their 1980ies era gimmicky.

And btw: Trapeze want their 1974 riff back and played at the proper speed (at 00:18):





As for the Carson clip, the horn section was obviously under-rehearsed and missed a bar or two, not knowing where it was. Shit happens. The band was surprised and on TV not confident enough to actually wait a bar or two out to have everything in sync. The horn arrangement as such wasn't so bad, just in an alternative universe. Not sure whether backing tapes were used (by that time they employed them abundantly), Beard has earphones, but he might be listening to just a click. Of course, if a backing tape was running, that meant they couldn't sit a bar or two out to help the horn section catch up. Everything comes at a price.

This will probably get me bashed, but I think ZZ Top are one of the most overrated bands ever. I find very little trio ingenuity in them, give me Cream, Police, Robin Trower, UK, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, ELP, Rory Gallagher or Rush any day, they have all stretched the format. Much like the Ramones, ZZ Top have this cartoonish image that made them an international brand (mostly via their videos), but the music? There is nothing in it that REQUIRES them to be a trio (certainly not improvisational ambition or going off on tangents), it's just an image thing, like Sabbath or Ozzy operating without a visible keyboarder. I've seen ZZ Top live together with Status Quo. In terms of energy, Quo wiped the floor with them and they didn't use tapes to augment their sound either.

I also have issues with calling a band 'rootsy' that uses tapes as much as they do. If Muse feel they have to do it, ok (not that I like them, but their music is orchestral). With ZZ Top, I always wondered why. Sure, it would sound sparser live and they would have to decide more often what part to play and what to leave out, but that is the charm and the challenge of a trio.

[gearHed289]

They were rolling with the times. MTV and synthesizers ruled the day for a while, and they got onboard. But I agree - Degüello was the end for me. I was not a huge fan to begin with, but I do really like the early stuff. Even as a young man, I found the sexual innuendo in some of their lyrics and song titles kind of cringe-y.

[uwe]

Semenly so!



There's a way to be sexist and fun and another one to be sexist and dumb.

[Alanko]

Tony Ashton comes across like a drunk cattle auctioneer in those videos. Sad to see Bernie Marsden as nothing more than a bit player there, as his vocal contributions are quite a bit better!

[uwe]

Tony wasn't much of a singer and never professed to be. Lord and Paice shoehorned him into that role, I guess they wanted someone who sings totally un-Purple - they got that with Tony for sure, but he wasn't the guy to front a band in even a medium-sized hall, he was essentially a club musician, yet PAL was constructed around him. It took only a few gigs to realize that it wouldn't work out as planned though everyone who played with PAL is proud of the album and has fond memories making it.

On the studio album, all of Ashton's lead vocals are double-tracked with Bernie Marsden's co-lead vocals in the background (which can actually carry a melody while Tony Ashton more or less talks over the music).








Marsden had actually quite a bit of influence on PAL as he had on early Whitesnake: strong writer, good singer, melodious guitarist, he wasn't just a sideman. He's the co-writer of Here I Go Again and Fool For Your Loving.

Jon Lord said in an interview at the time that he wanted PAL to sound like a mix between Little Feat and Elton John - for someone coming from a Deep Purple background (with fans reared on that type of music) that was perhaps a tad bit overambitious.

[westen44]

Like Muse, ZZ Top reached a peak with their third album.  If you listen to Muse's Absolution and ZZ Top's Tres Hombres, you've heard about all you need to hear by either band.  You can't say that, for example, about a band like Cream.  Even after all these years, I still can't say what my favorite Cream album is. 

[Dave W]

This will probably get me bashed, but I think ZZ Top are one of the most overrated bands ever. I find very little trio ingenuity in them, give me Cream, Police, Robin Trower, UK, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, ELP, Rory Gallagher or Rush any day, they have all stretched the format. Much like the Ramones, ZZ Top have this cartoonish image that made them an international brand (mostly via their videos), but the music? There is nothing in it that REQUIRES them to be a trio (certainly not improvisational ambition or going off on tangents), it's just an image thing, like Sabbath or Ozzy operating without a visible keyboarder. I've seen ZZ Top live together with Status Quo. In terms of energy, Quo wiped the floor with them and they didn't use tapes to augment their sound either.

I wouldn't call them one of the most overrated ever, but I agree that there was little ingenuity. OTOH people were (and still are) entertained by them, and that's worth something.

[westen44]

This will probably get me bashed, but I think ZZ Top are one of the most overrated bands ever. I find very little trio ingenuity in them, give me Cream, Police, Robin Trower, UK, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, ELP, Rory Gallagher or Rush any day, they have all stretched the format. Much like the Ramones, ZZ Top have this cartoonish image that made them an international brand (mostly via their videos), but the music? There is nothing in it that REQUIRES them to be a trio (certainly not improvisational ambition or going off on tangents), it's just an image thing, like Sabbath or Ozzy operating without a visible keyboarder. I've seen ZZ Top live together with Status Quo. In terms of energy, Quo wiped the floor with them and they didn't use tapes to augment their sound either.

I wouldn't call them one of the most overrated ever, but I agree that there was little ingenuity. OTOH people were (and still are) entertained by them, and that's worth something.

I saw them before they had their beards and even before they released Tres Hombres.  It was pure, raw rock with no gimmicks at all.  It was
hard to tell who was more into the music--the crowd or the band itself.