Mean Rhythm

1977. Worldwide Texas Tour. ZZ Top is hitting an intense stride, night after night playing loud, gritty, powerful Texas blues.

1980. Touring on the strength of "Deguello". The beginning of countless renditions of "Cheap Sunglasses" and "I'm Bad, I'm Nationdwide". Each show is full of energy, moderate variation, guts and glory.

1981. "El Loco". Flawless and more polished performances. Featuring cuts such as "Don't Tease Me" and "I Wanna Drive You Home". Billy especially is aggressive and fluent in his leads.

A study of ZZ's performances over the years inevitably results in an analysis of what period, or what year, the band reached their live peak. The very early years, '70 - '75, shows the band fleshing out their sound, full of boundless enthusiasm but lacking the structure and confidence of a mature band, wherein each member is assured of the other members' next move.

To me the band would reach a summit under the stage lights in 1977, during the Texas tour. The shows featured an abundance of "Tejas" material (an underrated record) as well as an ever changing collection of the group's earlier works. Each 28 years of age, they display the perfect combination of youth and maturity, looseness and structure, grit and polish. The tour was very well received by fans and critics, and did much to get the groups name on the public's mind.

But then, having exhausted themselves, the band took a break, a long one. Two years. The return to the stage in 1980 would present a different group. Still hungry, but with a new mindset. A determination to make it big, really big. The group played hard, sang hard, toured hard. They would present to festivals and multi-band concerts. They would push their name, riding the success of the rock radio play of select tracks from "Deguello". ZZ would also begin to flesh out their live sound, piping in basic keyboard chords and drum beats. This would serve to further polish the live presentation, perhaps at the expense of the rugged and aggressive playing of the past.

"El Loco" as an album, while pleasing to the ZZ fan, would present as a misfire. Featuring minor hits in the form of "Tube Snake Boogie" and "Pearl Necklace" the album did little to enhance the popularity of the Texas trio. The subsequent tour however once again proved to be an exhibition of the band's ability to motive and cultivate the audience into a frenzy. 1981 may have been the last year Billy let fly on the guitar, consistently changing his solos to reflect his moods. His playing would prove flawless, full of intense blues and blazing notes, set against the background of a mean rhythm section. The setlist itself became more structured and featured less frequent inclusions of rare tracks, the occasional variation often coming during the encore.

We all know what happened in 1983. There have been other excellent tours, 1994's Antenna (excellent) and 1990's Recycler (very long shows). But post '81, the group just didn't mix it up as much, and became increasing predictable, to the extent that each night would showcase the same moves, the same sequence of songs, the same solos. But history shows that many bands, as they mature, leave spontanaeity behind. Of late the band, especially Billy, have received moments of inspiration, and have broken out into "Dust My Broom" and an almost complete "My Head's In Mississippi". A refreshing change, leaving one wanting more and longing for nostalga.

1977. Worldwide Texas Tour. ZZ Top is hitting an intense stride, night after night playing loud, gritty, powerful Texas blues.