ZZ Top
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ZZ Top: Long Beach Arena, California
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 15 March 1980
ALMOST THREE years ago ZZ Top became ZZ Stop, pensioned off the steers and circus animals Texas-style that went with their live performances and went ...
Review by Jeremy Clarke, Q, November 1990
ON RECYCLER, ZZ Top jettison the hi-tech adventurism of Afterburner, their last album, released in 1985, which, despite the brilliance and wit of tracks like ...
Audio interviews
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, May 1984
All tres hombres on Mexico, Houston, TV Dinners and what they did on their holidays; then solo Billy Gibbons ("The Reverend Billy G"), on the black roots of the Top, his love of Eno and guitar playing.
File format: mp3; file size: 52.2mb, interview length: 54' 21" sound quality: **
Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1990
The hirsute guitar wonder starts off with memories of recently-deceased fellow Texan Stevie Ray Vaughan, then discusses the new ZZ Top album Recycler... plus the trio's return to a rootsier sound; the technology used on preceding albums Eliminator and Afterburner; the place of the blues in today's music; and getting to play cards with Muddy Waters.
File format: mp3; file size: 23.8mb, interview length: 24' 48" sound quality: ***
Billy Gibbons on Robert Johnson (1990)
Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1990
The ZZ Topper talks about his enduring love for bluesman Robert Johnson: on first hearing Columbia's 1961 release King of the Delta Blues Singers; the dark impact of his music; the aspects of mystery surrounding Johnson; his favourite songs; Johnson's superb technique and delivery; the "pact with the Devil" myth, and being given dirt from that crossroads; the newly discovered photograph of Johnson, and his hands; his impact on ZZ Top, and the blues psychogeography of the Mississippi Delta.
File format: mp3; file size: 32.9mb, interview length: 34' 18" sound quality: ** (phoner)
List of articles in the library
Doobie Brothers, Mike Bloomfield, ZZ Top: Palladium, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 1973
DOOBIE QUINTET PLAYS UNCOMPLICATED ROCK ...
ZZ Top: Tres Hombres (London, Import)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
THERE'S A huge spread of all-American grub dominating the sleeve of this album. ZZ Top are a three-piece Southern fried chicken band from Texas, and ...
ZZ Top: Tres Hombres (London XPS 631)
Review by Bruce Malamut, Zoo World, 25 October 1973
THE TOTAL Tank. ...
ZZ Top, Elvin Bishop: Long Beach Arena, Long Beach CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 27 August 1974
ZZ Top a Sell-Out Sleeper ...
Overview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
"Oh yeah, who says?" asks a sceptical ROY CARR who, after swigging hard on the Confederacy's brew of Redneck Rebel Rock, remains stubbornly unintoxicated. ...
ZZ Top: Fandango (London FHU 8482) (31.00)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1975
ZZ Top will tear this country apart ...
ZZ Top, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express: Felt Forum, New York NY
Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Billboard, 7 June 1975
THERE IS A certain sector of the rock audience — very young and overstimulated — that cares little about what the group onstage is accomplishing ...
Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 7 June 1975
THE TWO guitarists, one long and lean and the other short and cuddly, twizzle forth in a grinding motion that reminds me of a curious ...
Z.Z. Top, Aerosmith: Los Angeles Forum
Live Review by Todd Everett, Rolling Stone, 31 July 1975
Something Borrowed, Something Blues, Y'All ...
ZZ Top: Exploring What's Behind That Li'l Ol' Texas Band
Report by Stephen K. Peeples, Cash Box, 27 December 1975
HINTS THAT interesting things were happening with ZZ Top have come from time to time as attendance and gross statistics for the Top's concerts were ...
Interview by Jon Tiven, Blast, August 1976
ZZ TOP DOESN'T exactly carry the image of being introspective, deep-thinking individuals. In fact, onstage they look like nothing other than a bunch of dumb ...
Report and Interview by Robert Duncan, Creem, October 1976
ZZ TOP IS sort of like Communism. Apparently there's about eight million of their fans out there but you can't really tell who they are ...
Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 19 February 1977
THE DESERT sand burnt holes in his feet. The sun's rays were spears piercing the top of his head. Three days and no sign of ...
Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, April 1977
AS POWER trios go, Grand Funk are no longer a trio, and not nearly so powerful as their obstinate primitivism once made them seem. Yet ...
ZZ Top: Deguello (Warner Brothers HS 3361 import) ****
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 15 December 1979
AS A ONE-time Spanish A-level student, I find myself in the privileged position of being able to tell you that 'deguello' means 'slaughter' or 'butchery', ...
ZZ Top: Deguello (Warner Bros.)
Review by Joe Nick Patoski, Creem, April 1980
FIRST TIME I heard "that lil' ole band from Texas" ZZ Top in the flesh was some five years ago in a football stadium where ...
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, November 1981
A COUPLE OF months ago, one of the editors noticed that the typeface on my typewriter looks like a computer print-out. I guess I might ...
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Kerrang!, 1 July 1982
Sylvie Simmons goes strictly Texas in Las Vegas. ZZ Top are in town... ...
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
TEXAN WEIRD BEARDS REVEAL THE FACE OF MODERN METAL. RICHARD GRABEL FINDS THAT HIRSUTE IS CUTE AND HAIR AIN'T SQUARE. ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
AS A WARM-UP – or should I say boil-up – bash for an imminent global over-haul, the three cosmic-hillbilly stooges of ZZ Top last week ...
Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 10 December 1983
A FEW days previously BBC 2 had scored a century with their brilliantly presented tribute to the "Soundies", the juke box visual clips of the ...
Interview by David Sinclair, Kerrang!, 15 December 1983
DAVID SINCLAIR takes it from the Top with Messrs. Hill and Beard ...
Report and Interview by Deborah Frost, Record, June 1984
One prayed to be square, one prays for good odds in Vegas and one worships at the shrine of Howard Hughes. Welcome to the eccentric ...
The Cats' Whiskers: Down Home with Z.Z. Top
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984
HOUSTON, OCTOBER: THE MONSOON SEASON in this blandly corporate boomtown. I descend through hot storms over a chrome metropolis built on flat sand and oil ...
Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 12 January 1985
STAR WEARS: Those sharp-dressed men ZZ Top explain the art of mix'n'matching Fila tracksuits, tuxedos and 14-inch beards. ...
ZZ Top/Marillion/Bon Jovi/Metallica/Ratt/Magnum: Donington Park, Leicestershire
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 24 August 1985
KINGS AND RATTS OF THE CASTLE Yes, it's that time of year when the Metal Mob gather at the shrine of Donington to pay homage to ...
ZZ Top: Afterburner (Warner Bros.)
Review by Deborah Frost, Rolling Stone, 5 December 1985
THE SOURCE of ZZ Top's appeal was never any secret to the beer drinkers and hell raisers who worshiped them the instant the band began ...
David Sinclair: Tres Hombres - The Story Of ZZ Top
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1986
YOUR HUMBLE reviewer is quoted in Tres Hombres as stating that ZZ Top are "the only hip boogie band in the entire universe", and it's ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, February 1986
ZZ Top doesn't care that it took people 15 years to discover their mega-greatness. They've known all along that if you feel sharp, you be ...
ZZ Top: Civic Center, Lake Charles LA
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 4 February 1986
ALTHOUGH A low-profile start to their lengthy American tour, ZZ Top's performance at this small lakeside township in Louisiana was anything but understated. With a ...
All The Things You Ever Wanted To Know About ZZ Top
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Creem, March 1986
Do you sleep with your beards over or under the bedclothes?Billy Gibbons: Well, there's only one way to find that out.... ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 October 1986
Heads in the clouds ...
Billy Gibbons: Sittin' On Top Of The World
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1986
"B.G. HERE," drawled the voice on the phone. Billy Gibbons was calling from Arizona where he was en route to Los Angeles for the filming ...
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
WHERE IS Tushmobile? On the basis of this show I'd guess it got lost somewhere in the mix. Lord knows I've waited to see ZZ ...
Review by David Sinclair, Q, January 1988
IN THE WORLD league table of entertainers' earnings recently compiled by Forbes magazine, only one rock group, U2, was thought to have amassed more than ...
Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, November 1990
DID YOU ever play with Stevie Ray? Of course. [ZZ Top's] Frank and Dusty grew up with him in Dallas, and just this morning we ...
Review by David Cavanagh, Select, November 1990
THIS ALBUM took five years to make. It sounds like it took a week and a half. How do ZZ Top do it? And, for ...
Review by Max Bell, Vox, November 1990
THE TEXAS TWISTERS RETURN with a vengeance for Recycler, pursuing their scorched earth policy on a record that's so hot it'll burn your eyeballs out. ...
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1990
THAT LITTLE OL' BAND from Texas is actually a corporate juggernaut that has raked in the millions in the 20 some-odd years it has been ...
ZZ Top: Welcome To Weirdsville…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, November 1990
ROBERT CRAY'S favourite ZZ Top story: the last time the Robert Cray Band played San Antonio, Billy Gibbons called up and requested tickets. Come show-time, ...
ZZ Top: Recycler (Warner Bros.) ****
Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 29 November 1990
ZZ Top Recycles the Blues ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 January 1991
From out of the Texan desert they came, with recycled riffs, "ironic" sexism and grotesque amounts of facial hair… the Middle Aged Mutant Guitar Heroes! ...
ZZ Top: Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA
Live Review by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 24 January 1991
WHO BUT ZZ Top would use laser lights to project a crude line drawing of a woman, naked save for cowboy hat and boots, onto ...
Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 26 January 1991
"A cuddly bear-cum-Santa Claus", "the Vesuvius of entertainment" and a man with an unfeasibly pronounced Texan drawl who 'really doesn't care a whole lot in ...
ZZ Top: Heaven, Hell... or Vegas!
Interview by Paul Elliott, Kerrang!, 25 April 1992
With their new single 'Viva Las Vegas' — a cover of an old Elvis Presley number — crashing into the UK Top 10 and a ...
Review by David Sinclair, Q, February 1994
THE LONGEST-RUNNING trio in rock, ZZ Top come down from the hills less frequently these days, yet they remain blithely impervious to the ravages of ...
Billy Gibbons: Texan Rabbi From Hell
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, March 1994
QUICK! APART FROM long beards, grotesque guitars and cheap sunglasses, what do ZZ Top and our dearly beloved and highly respected Prime Minister have in ...
ZZ Top: Can't Get Out Of Beard
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994
They were poor, humble boogie-woogie Texan boys. And then ZZ TOP discovered beards!, buffalo!, babes! and car seat covers! so they could take over the ...
ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons tells me "them low-down blues ain't bad"
Interview by Steve Newton, The Georgia Straight, September 1994
WHEN FAMOUS rock guitarists reminisce about their first instruments, the talk tends toward dirt-cheap acoustics with heavy strings set so high off the fretboard that ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Kerrang!, 1995
Incredible but true facts about ZZ Top. 1. Jimi Hendrix gave Billy Gibbons a guitar. 2. Dusty Hill wrote 'Tush' in ten minutes during a ...
Looking Back With Billy Gibbons
Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar School, March 1995
FORMED IN 1969, ZZ Top rode lascivious, raucous tunes like ‘Tush’ and ‘La Grange’ to stardom in the early and mid-Seventies, culminating in 1976 with ...
Ten Questions For ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, August 1996
Antenna and the new album Rhythmeen: returns to form for ZZ Top? ...
ZZ Top: Crazy 'bout a kitsch-dressed man
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, August 1996
ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons has reconnected his blues roots with African rhythm. Can he really be giving up trash in the interests of good taste, ...
Review and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, Mat Snow, MOJO, October 1996
JUST WHEN THE TOP WERE sounding like they'd run out of juice a mere 26 years into their career, they pull out a plum. Could ...
Billy Gibbons: Rhythmeen & Blues
Report and Interview by Mike Mettler, Guitar, May 1997
SEEING ZZ TOP'S Billy Gibbons without his trademark shades on is like viewing the emperor with no clothes: it's a startling vision. Yet here's the ...
Profile by Frank Tortorici, Addicted To Noise, 11 June 1998
ZZ TOP'S DRUMMER, Frank Beard, was born on this day in 1949 in Frankston, Texas. He began drumming in 1964 and formed ZZ Top, the ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 November 2002
IN A MYTHICAL COMPETITION to find more than seven wonders of the world, ZZ Top's beards must be in with a shout. Although this is ...
ZZ Top: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 3 August 2003
IT WAS A STROKE of genius, when you think about it. Call it the Clive Dunn Factor, if you will. When Billy Gibbons and Dusty ...
Retrospective and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 26 October 2006
The little recording studio on Madison has played a big part in Memphis music history. ...
High LOL-tage: Mike Diver's classic rock adventure
Live Review by Mike Diver, Drowned in Sound, 3 August 2010
The other day our former overlord Mike Diver phoned up DiS HQ to belligerently demand we implement what he described as "the final phase" of ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Guitar Aficionado, Fall 2010
"It's not really about fashion; it's only about STYLE. Style lives on and fashion dies." John Varvatos, contemporary menswear fashion designer* ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 22 September 2012
IN THE 1970s, ZZ Top broke through with a regional sound – simmering Texas blues – and then, in the next decade, reimagined their sound ...
Billy Gibbons and Dan Auerbach
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, October 2012
MISSISSIPPI FRED McDowell's haunted, woody voice sails through the air as the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach nurses a cup of coffee and flips through a ...
When Lightnin' Strikes: Billy Gibbons and Dan Auerbach talk Lightnin' Hopkins
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, October 2012
BILLY GIBBONS AND Dan Auerbach are standing shoulder to shoulder on Easy Eye Studio's checkerboard floor, trading lazy blues licks through a battered old Gibson ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Rock's Backpages, October 2012
"TWO FLAT TIRES on a muddy road. Thick and Throbbing. The rhythm section from Hell and holding on strong." ...
Southern Rock Gets a New Bible in Southbound
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 5 September 2014
WHILE THERE are plenty of musicians, record collectors and journos who will argue (as only musicians, record collectors and journos can) that all rock is ...
Billy Gibbons: The Songfacts Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 31 August 2018
Billy Gibbons on his solo album The Big Bad Blues, the hidden gem in the ZZ Top catalog, and how he feels about having a ...
see also Billy Gibbons
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