Fandango! [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: ZZ Top
Engineer: Terry Manning; Robin Brian; Jim Reeves; Terry Kane; Bob Ludwig; Terry Manning; Robin Brian
Producer: Bill Ham
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons (vocals, guitar); Dusty Hill (vocals, bass); Frank Beard (drums). FANDANGO, ZZ Top's fourth album, came out after five years of constant touring. With a studio/live format, it contained their first top-40 single ("Tush"). Also available with TRES HOMBRES on 1 cassette and as part of the ZZ Top 6 Pack. This is ZZ Top's fourth album. ZZ Top: Dusty Hill (bass guitar); Frank Beard, Billy Gibbons. Personnel: Billy Gibbons (vocals, guitar, slide guitar, harmonica); Dusty Hill (vocals); Frank Beard (drums). Audio Remasterer: Bob Ludwig. Liner Note Author: Tom Vickers. Photographer: Fin Costello. While ZZ Top's early '70s studio albums were indeed great examples of the blues rock genre, the band's live shows were where the band really shined. On 1975's FANDANGO!, the trio issued an album that contained an 'in-concert' first side and a 'studio' second. This was the album that catapulted ZZ Top to the summit of the '70s rock mountain, mainly due to the rowdy monster hit "Tush," which remains in rotation on rock radio to this day. Other highlights include the entire live turbo-charged first half ("Thunderbird," a cover of Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock," and the near 10-minute long "Backdoor Medley"), as well as the studio rockers "Balinese" and "Heard It on the X." Blessed with their first full-fledged hit album, ZZ Top followed it up with Fandango!, a record split between a side of live tracks and a side of new studio cuts. In a way, this might have made sense, since they were a kick-ass live band, and they do sound good here, but it's hard not to see this as a bit of a wasted opportunity in retrospect. Why? Because the studio side is a worthy successor to the all-fine Tres Hombres, driven by "Tush" and "Heard It on the X," two of their greatest songs that build on that album by consolidating their sound and amplifying their humor. If they had sustained this energy and quality throughout a full studio album, it would have been their greatest, but instead the mood is broken by the live cuts. Now, these are really good live cuts -- and "Backdoor Medley" and "Jailhouse Rock" were fine interpretations, making familiar songs sound utterly comfortable in their signature sound -- and Fandango! remains one of their better albums, but it's hard not to think that it could have been even better. [The 2006 reissue of the album adds three live tracks: "Jailhouse Rock," "Tush," and "Heard It on the X."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (p.71) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "This is where you'll find the archetypal Texas blues ZZ Top would trick out but never abandon as they became some of the most reliable road dogs in rock." Mojo (Publisher) (p.119) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The live stuff is impressively rowdy, but it's the studio cuts that really shine..."

Blues-rock has rarely gotten more down and dirty than with Texas's famous long-bearded trio ZZ Top. Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, and Dusty Hill are responsible for some of the greatest party anthems of all time. They produced a number of 1970s rock classics, and in the '80s they managed to adapt successfully to changing times, scoring hits with a souped-up, synth-flavored sound. Eventually, though, they got back to their gritty, bluesy roots, and in 2004 ZZ top's contribution to rock & roll was officially recognized via their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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