Singing the Blues

Transitioning to a gravely, low rumble B.F.Gibbons voice has changed from it's once clear and youthful tone. The past 10 to 15 years has seen a dramatic shift in the comfortable vocal range of what Billy can sing. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, and more or less serves to add labor, vintage and maturity to ZZ's songs. But it also has it's disadvantages.

A number of the group's songs over the years have been lip-synced, some out of necessity. "Manic Mechanic" has had vocals piped in, and so did "Ten Foot Pole". These songs contained muddy and indistinguishable lyrics on the actual albums so it made sense to have a similar sound onstage. Others, such as "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" have been lip-synced from almost the very beginning. Perhaps now it makes sense as the songs cannot be sung by Billy in their original key, but why they were synced in the 80's is a mystery, at least to me. Perhaps the band was never happy with how the vocals sounded live.

Dusty's voice on the other hand remains for the most part very strong. While recent live renditions of "Party On the Patio" have proven to be a bit of a stretch you have to admire the guts in belting out the tune in it's original key. To my point, performances such as "I Loved a Woman" have shown Dusty at his continued finest, full of range and power.

Based on this contrast, do I suggest that Dusty have a chance to sing more songs on the new album, maybe half, maybe the majority? Two albums feature Dusty extensively, "Tejas" and "Antenna". "Rhythmeen" and "Mescalero" only had one track each featuring "the Dust" on lead vocals, and "XXX" didn't have any (I'm pretty sure as I think about it and write this)! Maybe it's time to mix things up. Dusty has been known to say he loves singing as much as playing bass. His performances on "Loaded" and "Piece" show that, even with the most simplistic of lyrics, he can make a song his own. Here's to an album with more than one Dusty song! How about another Elvis cover? How about a live performance of something other than "Jailhouse Rock".

Nobody beats Billy for singing down and out Blues, down and dirty funk. Dusty's complement to this is excitement and gusto. With a good mixture of both the next album could set a new benchmark, a new style, a new version of ZZ Top, 40+ years on.


?Has anybody heard if Frank Beard can sing?