A Six Pack of (Stale) Beer

In 1987 "Six Pack" was released. Consisting of three CD's, it covered six of the bands albums: "ZZ Top's First Album", "Rio Grande Mud", "Tres Hombres", "Fandango", "Tejas" and "El Loco". "Deguello" was not included due to a song-writing credit issue having to do with the track "Dust My Broom".

At first glance this doesn't seem like a bad idea. Release the band's earlier albums for the first time on CD, and allow a younger audience to experience the band for the first time. After all, the band was at a near high in popularity, and those who had only heard "Eliminator" and "Afterburner" needed to know that the band had created many other sounds prior to the current 80's technique.

Someone got an idea that the album's should be remastered. They should reflect a more current sound, which was keyboard and pop driven. So each album had tons and tons of reverb pumped into them, resulting in a thin, artificial reproduction of the instruments. Even the vocals have been altered, losing their emotion and human aspect.

My point is who thought this was a good idea? Bill Ham? Billy Gibbons? Warner Brothers? It is especially unusual, virtually unheard of, that an artist or group would allow their work, their music, to be so harshly and overwhelmingly tampered with. Surely the band cringed when they heard "Brown Sugar" so heavily changed from the version recorded by the 21 year old men in 1970. A original version with the drive, excitement and ambition that only youth can create. Did the band really want people to hear "Tejas" that way? Were they okay with people getting the wrong idea, that ZZ Top could only create one sound, one type of music, one pop and synth driven song after another.

"Stale" can refer to two things:
- The staleness of the keyboard/synth sound by 1987. The 80's unique pop formula was beginning to experience a decline. The fact the band tried to exploit this sound during the decline is dumbfounding.
- The staleness of ZZ Top's efforts in the 1980's. The band had reached superstar status with "Eliminator" and had continued the ride, to an extent, with "Afterburner". But maybe even the band realized that this was not who they were. Like any good band, and any band that expects to last, ZZ Top always recorded based on the mood they were in, based on what they felt like recording, satisfying their own musical desires, not the wants of a record company or the public at large. Maybe "Afterburner" just didn't feel completely like the Top. To try to capitalize on the sound of "Eliminator" and "Afterburner" with "Six Pack" was a poor decision when reflecting back. "Six Pack" remains heavily criticized, both for it's impurity and it's slick profit feel.

"Six Pack" serves as one of the few errors of judgement in the band's history. Bill Ham and Billy Gibbons were geniuses when it came to capitalizing on opportunities, and were impeccable in their timing and exploitation of any given scenario, always being able to create a "buzz" and "demand" about and for the Top. This would be one time where the opportunity passed them by.