The band has been absent from the studio for much of the 2000s, though, ZZ Top’s last studio album also the fourth release under a reported $35 million deal with RCA Records. When 2003’s Mescalero met with diminished commercial returns, however, the band was left in the hinterlands without a label deal, and save for a couple of well-received live releases – including Live In Germany 1980 – ZZ Top has done much of their talking from the stage. Changes were afoot, however, and around 2008 the band broke with long-time manager Bill Ham and signed with producer Rick Rubin’s American Recordings, the result being La Futura, the band’s first studio effort in over nine years.
ZZ Top’s La Futura
Four years in the making, La Futura takes ZZ Top recklessly into
the future while unashamedly drawing upon the band’s storied past. Gibbons and
gang delve into a bit of what Chris Thomas King calls the “21st century
hip-hop blues” for the album-opening “I Gotsta Get Paid.” The song is based on
a 1990s track by Houston rapper DJ DMD (“Lighters”), and the ZZ crew dirty it
up a bit with some Rio Grande mud, drawing out the groove to a monolithic
drone while Gibbons’ guitar screams and stutters like James Blood Ulmer’s
Harmolodic blues. More of a greasy Texas blues-rock vamp than anything
remotely hip-hop, it’s an interesting and edgy direction for the aging
greybeards in ZZ Top. By comparison, “Chartreuse” is a mid-tempo boogie-blues
tune firmly in the band’s wheelhouse, a rolling, rollicking beat punctuated by
Gibbons’ fuzzy, frenetic guitarplay.
La Futura also takes ZZ
Top onto new musical turf with the emotionally-raw and darkly elegant ballad
“Over You.” Co-written with roots ‘n’ blues musician and songwriter Tom
Hambridge, “Over You” is a slow-paced, smoldering, and heartfelt ode that
levels Gibbons’ rough-throated, heartbroken vocals over a swelling crescendo
of sound. His fretwork here evokes the best of every blues guitarist that
comes to mind, but especially Albert King for its raw strength, and Otis Rush
for its understated beauty. Gibbons’ shaky, slightly distorted tone adds to
the mournful resonance of his solos. Revisiting the twelve-bar blues of their
youth, “Heartache In Blue” is a torrid, mid-tempo rocker with Hound Dog Taylor
roots, Gibbons’ torn ‘n’ frayed vocals complimented by rolling blasts from
James Harman’s harmonica and his own switchblade guitar notes.
Big Shiny Nine
Another Hambridge co-write, “I Don’t Want To Lose, Lose You,” treads
similar lyrical ground, but with a bigger, bolder sound, the double-tracked
machine-gun guitars reminding of the band’s Tres Hombres era, Gibbons’
blustery vocals backed by a choogling rhythm (think “Beer Drinkers & Hell
Raisers” on steroids) and sonic blasts of razor-sharp guitar licks. “Flyin’
High” sounds more like the Eliminator ‘80s, but with less emphasis on
synthesizer hum, the song copping a melody from a vaguely-remembered minor hit
of the era and embroidering it with classic rock chops – soaring guitarplay,
riffs that circle back around on you, a mean-as-hell backbeat, and a heavy
bass line.
The trio visits Nashville for a cover of country-folk
duo David Rawlings and Gillian Welch’s “It’s Too Easy Manana.” Much as they
did with the aforementioned rap song, ZZ slaps layers of bluesy grime and grit
onto the song like cheap paint at Earl Scheib. Slowing down the pace to a
dinosaur plod, texture is provided by Gibbons’ electronically-enhanced guitar
sound, a big drum blast, and world-weary vocals. It’s a great performance that
bears repeated listens. Ditto for “Big Shiny Nine,” possibly the best…or at
least the most fun…song on La Futura, a blues-rock romp from the 1970s
with flamethrower guitar and driving rhythms. Gibbons’ guttural, growling
vocals (think Howlin’ Wolf with a cold) are matched only by his jagged git
solos and the song’s fluid groove. Down ‘n’ dirty in the pocket for “Have A
Little Mercy,” the band closes with another throwback to the early ‘70s, the
song bringing to mind “Waitin’ For The Bus” but with a slightly-funky,
slow-boiling groove and shards of deep-cutting, raw-boned
guitar.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Bringing a fresh perspective into the studio in the form of producer
Rick Rubin – the first person not named “Gibbons” or “Ham” to sit in that
chair since 1970 – has paid off in spades for ZZ Top, the band delivering its
most inspired work since 1983’s Eliminator, and possibly its most
blues-oriented album since Tres Hombres, nearly 40 years ago. The band
has never strayed far from its Texas blues roots, but the synthesizer overkill
that characterized its chart-topping tunes of the 1980s has been dialed back
to a mild buzz, allowing Billy Gibbons’ joyful guitar playing to dominate the
performances and lead the band back into the blues-rock spotlight. (American
Recordings, released September 11, 2012)
Buy the CD from Amazon.com:
ZZ Top’s La Futura
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