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ZZ Top - First Album (1970)

Track listing:
  1. Shaking Your Tree 2:26
  2. Brown Sugar 5:16
  3. Squank 2:46
  4. Goin' Down To Mexico 3:21
  5. Old Man 3:29
  6. Neighbor, Neighbor 2:18
  7. Certified Blues 3:25
  8. Bedroom Thang 3:51
  9. Just Got Back from Baby's 4:10
  10. Backdoor Love Affair 2:36

Notes


ZZ Top's First Album may not be perfectly polished, but it does establish their sound, attitude, and quirks. Simply put, it's a dirty little blues-rock record, filled with fuzzy guitars, barrelhouse rhythms, dirty jokes, and Texan slang. They have a good, ballsy sound that hits at gut level, and if the record's not entirely satisfying, it's because they're still learning how to craft records — which means that they're still learning pacing as much as they're learning how to assemble a set of indelible material. Too much of this record glides by on its sound, without offering any true substance, but the tracks that really work — "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree," "Backdoor Love Affair," "Brown Sugar," and "Goin' Down to Mexico," among them - show that ZZ Top was that lil' ol' blues band from Texas from their very first record on.