ZZ Top "Fandango"

When I tell people that I’m a huge ZZ Top fan, they usually groan and have a chortle but long before ZZ Top became a top 40 band in the eighties with hits like “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Legs” and “Rough Boy,” they were known as “that L’il ‘Ol Band from Texas.” And let me tell you that they were a band that could lay the shit down bar-b-queue style. There weren’t many bands that could compete live with ZZ Top in their prime. That’s not to say that they didn’t have some interesting material later on in their career but the first five or six albums will kick your ass in a serious way.

Today I’m going to discuss their 1975 half live album, “Fandango.” This album is brilliant for so many reasons. Firstly, the cover. A simple live shot showing the band in full flight rocking out in their super-snappy Nudie suits and totally bitchin’ Texas size cowboy hats, Billy Gibbons upping the cool factor to a whole other level by sporting a Gibson Flying V. Now that’s bad-ass.

Side one is the live side and it blasts off from beat one into a hyper speed southern boogie called “Thunderbird” full of their usual filthy dirty guitar tones and tasty licks. Short, sweet and to the point. The second track is a cover of the classic “Jailhouse Rock” but with a sleazy swing to it. Even Elvis the Pelvis would need to take a shower after hearing this version. At this point the band kicks into a medley including a ‘bringin’ it down’ part that’s more like bringin’ it up. Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill spewing out a vocal scat section at a million miles an hour that sounds more like a helicopter than humans, leaving poor Frank Beard for what seems like an eternity to pound out lightning fast triplets on his kick drum while the boys lament on rabble rousing in New Orleans. Side one…done. Total schlock, and why not?

Side two pretty much sums up all that is glorious about the early years of ZZ Top. “Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings” is just about the coolest song ever written. Full of the funkiest deep fried riffs that you’ve ever heard with Dusty Hill and Frank Beard sitting in a rhythm pocket so deep there is no sun. The riff cup over-floweth on this song. As always, Billy Gibbons’ guitar tones are unsurpassed by any in the genre or perhaps even all of rock itself. My only complaint about this track is that it’s only two and a half minutes long.

Next is the beautiful “Blue Jean Blues” with its mournful guitar leads and tortured vocals. A song of lost love executed to perfection by a band steeped in blues history.

“Balinese” is a mid-tempo rocker reminiscing about a bar in the Gulf of Mexico. The song jerks along with a southern swing until yet another tasty guitar solo falls from the heavens.

My favourite song on the album comes next. “Mexican Blackbird” is classic blues rock with some very tastefully played slide guitar rolling around on top. ZZ Top really hit the mark here with a super catchy song that makes you smirk the whole way through. The Texas drawl seems almost cartoonish on this little number about a lovely lady from a whorehouse in Mexico. You can almost taste the Corona as the solo section slides on home.

“Heard It On the X” is an up-tempo history lesson about a radio station called the X. Frank Beard lays down some exciting drums all the way through, never once giving in to the standard ‘four on the floor.’

The album finishes off far too soon with another deep fried romp by the name of “Tush.” No explanation necessary on the topic. ZZ Top doesn’t re-invent the wheel on “Fandango” but they sure as hell do light it on fire. A rock solid rhythm section with a deep understanding of the blues leave all the space in the world for one of rock’s greatest guitarists to shine. Witty lyrics and blazing solos make this album undeniably fun and musically stunning. So if you’ve only ever heard “Sharp Dressed Man” and wanted to know what ZZ Top was in the seventies, “Fandango” is a great place to start. Mike Maggot.