Terzo e più importante disco del trio con le barbone lunghe. In 33 minuti e 35 secondi magistrali Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill e Frank Beard snocciolano 10 brani che definiscono il suono e lo spirito del gruppo.
Gioie e dolori, questo album: "La Grange" il pezzo migliore del disco, primo del gruppo ad entrare in classifica, costa ai tre barbuti una causa da parte di un discografico di John Lee Hooker per "una certa somiglianza" con "Boogie Chillen". Pur vincendo il processo i tre escono un po' ammaccati sul piano dell'immagine. Ma che brano, ragazzi! Breve introduzione quasi parlata, poi via con un suono tipicamente blues nel sussegursi dei tre accordi e nel giro di basso fino ad un'assolo tirato. Il disco si apre efficacemente con il riff "Waiting For The Bus", bluesettone semplice e diretto con un bel passaggio di armonica che diventa un solo di chitarra col timbro abbastanza particolare di Gibbons. Non c'è tempo di riprendere fiato: un bel cambio di tempo e voilà, il brano diventa "Jesus Just Left Chicago" come in una sorta di medley. "Gesù ha lasciato Chicago e va verso New Orleans/ Si è tuffato nel Missisipi e le acque limacciose sono diventate vino". Piccolo cambio di rotta e si va verso il southern rock di "Beer Drinker & Hell Risers", brano con un titolo che è tutto un programma. Voci a chiamarsi e rispondersi sopra una ritmica solida e con un timbro riconoscibile. Se metà del brano è fatto di "call and response" l'altra metà sono assoloni efficaci e diretti di Gibbons, giusto per non perdersi. Segue "Master of Sparks", con un suono che anticipa un po', assoli a parte, quella "El Diablo" che sarà la perla del successivo disco "Tejas". Il brano, pur ottimo, sembra sparire un po', venendo dal precedente "Beer Drinker & Hell Risers". Tempo di ballad: "Hot Blue And Righteous" lascia molto più spazio alle voci che alle chitarre. Assolo come da tradizione, nuovamente voci, poi tocca a "Move Me On Down The Line" far riprendere ritmo al disco, che passando attraverso il suono particolare di "Precious And Grace", va verso la perla... "La Grange": "Ci sono voci che ormai girano tutto il Texas/ Parlano di una casetta un po' fuori/ La Grange/ Tu sai di che parlo/ Dimmi sono che vuoi andare in quella casa nella campagna sterminata/ C'è molta gente e belle donne". Il tema è chiaro e tipicamente blues. Chiudono la più tranquilla "Sheik" e "Have you Heard" con chitarre dal suono più pulito del solito. Se i Lynyrd sono la parte del southern rock più vicina al rock, gli ZZ Top sono più verso il blues e dimostrano che non occorre essere neri per fare dell'ottimo blues. Molti i fan degli ZZ Top, che pur mantenendo il primitivo amore per il blues-rock, in anni più recenti hanno virato un po' verso l'elettronica.
Continuo a ritenere "Tres Hombres" il loro disco più riuscito.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Waitin' for the Bus (03:03)
Have mercy, been waitin' for the bus all day.
Have mercy, been waitin' for the bus all day.
I got my brown paper bag and my take-home pay.
Have mercy, old bus be packed up tight.
Have mercy, old bus be packed up tight.
Well, I'm glad just to get on and home tonight.
Right on, that bus done got me back.
Right on, that bus done got me back.
Well, I'll be ridin' on the bus till I Cadillac.
02 Jesus Just Left Chicago (03:33)
Jesus just left Chicago and he's bound for New Orleans.
Well now, Jesus just left Chicago and he's bound for New Orleans.
Yeah, yeah.
Workin' from one end to the other and all points in between.
Took a jump through Mississippi, well, muddy water turned to wine.
Took a jump through Mississippi, muddy water turned to wine.
Yeah, yeah.
Then out to California through the forests and the pines.
Ah, take me with you, Jesus.
You might not see him in person but he'll see you just the same.
You might not see him in person but he'll see you just the same.
Yeah, yeah.
You don't have to worry 'cause takin' care of business is his name.
03 Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers (03:28)
If you see me walkin' down the line
With my fav'rite honky tonk in mind,
Well, I'll be here around suppertime
With my can of dinner and a bunch of fine.
Beer drinkers and hell raisers, yeah.
Uh-huh-huh, baby, don't you wanna come with me?
The crowd gets loud when the band gets right,
Steel guitar cryin' through the night.
Yeah, try'n to cover up the corner fight
But ev'rything's cool 'cause they's just tight.
Beer drinkers and hell raisers, yeah.
Huh, baby, don't you wanna come with me?
Ah, play it boy.
The joint was jumpin' like a cat on hot tin.
Lord, I thought the floor was gonna give in.
Soundin' a lot like a House Congressional
'Cause we're experimental and professional.
Beer drinkers, hell raisers, yeah.
Well, baby, don't you wanna come with me?
04 Master of Sparks (03:36)
High class Slim came floatin' in
down from the county line.
Just gettin' right on Saturday night,
ridin' with some friends of mine.
They invited me just to come and see
just what was on their minds
and then I took my first long look
at the Master of Sparks on high.
In the back of Jimmy's Mack
stood a round steel cage
welded into shape by Slim,
made out of sucker gauge.
How fine, they cried, now with you inside,
strapped in there safe and sound.
I thought, my-o-my, how the sparks will fly
if that thing ever hit the ground.
Slim was so pleased when I had eased
into his trap of death.
He had slammed the door but I said no more
and I thought I'd breathed my last breath.
We was out in the sticks down Highway Six
and the crowd was just about right.
The speed was too, so out I flew
like a stick of rollin' dynamite.
When I hit the ground you could hear the sound
and see the sparks a country mile.
End over end I began to spin
but the ball started runnin' wild.
But it was too late as I met my fate
and the ball started gettin' hot.
But through the sparks and the flame I knew that the claim
of the Master of Sparks was gone.
07 Precious and Grace (03:14)
Ridin' top the floodway on a Friday night,
the landscape's a fine and nat'ral sight.
Just cruisin' slow through the dark of night.
With Precious and Grace ev'rything's all right.
Good God Almighty, we was goin' down slow,
yeah, if we knew just where we had to go.
Cryin', just a flyin' down a put out road
with Precious and Grace in my flathead Ford.
So if you're out rollin' late some night,
yeah, and you need that supernatural delight, I'm talkin' to you, brother,
I know somebody's, they's just out of sight.
Get with Precious and Grace, they gonna treat you right.
08 La Grange (03:55)
Rumour spreadin' around
In that Texas town
About that shack outside La Grange
And you know what I'm talkin' about.
Just let me know if you wanna go
To that home out on the range.
They gotta lotta nice girls.
Have mercy.
A haw, haw, haw, haw, a haw.
A haw, haw, haw.
Well, I hear it's fine if you got the time
And the ten to get yourself in.
A hmm, hmm.
And I hear it's tight most every night,
But now I might be mistaken.
hmm, hmm, hmm.
Ah have mercy.
- Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill & Frank Beard
09 Shiek (04:10)
I met a shiek from Mozambique
who led me to the Congo.
He dreamed to go to Mexico
and sample a burrito.
My tempature had risen again,
it must have been a hundred and ten.
Under the oaks I was telling some jokes
and thinkin' I had it made-
Gettin' on with the folks, havin' some Coke
and coolin' off in the shade.
My tempature had risen again,
and it must have been a hundred and ten.
I took a boat that couldn't float
to Rio de Janeiro.
So with my scuba I swam to Cuba
but I'll be gone tomorrow.
My tempature had risen again,
it must have been a hundred and ten.
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