Customer Reviews

Rancho Texicano: Very Best of Zz Top

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

THE BAND: Billy Gibbons (guitars, vocals, hermonica, fiddle, baritone sax, keyboards), Dusty Hill (bass, vocals, tenor sax, keyboards), Frank Beard (drums, percussion, vocals, alto sax). Bill Ham (manager, producer, inspiration).

THE DISCS: (2004) 38 tracks on two discs clocking in at approximately 154 minutes (78+ on Disc-1, 75+ on Disc-2). Included with the discs is an 18-page booklet containing a 12 pages of history and retrospective on the band, song titles/credits and chart success, assorted pictures, what songs came from which albums; 14 album covers pictured on 1 page, and thank you's. Digitally remastered sound. Label - Warner Bros.

ALBUM REPRESENTATION: ZZ Top's First Album (3), Rio Grande Mud (3), Tres Hombres (4), Fandango! (5), Tejas (2), Deguello (4), El Loco (2), Eliminator (4), Afterburner (5), Recycler (2), Greatest Hits (1), Promo Singles (3).

COMMENTS: 30+ years and still chugging along. ZZ Top has proven it's ability to rock & roll over the years. Complete with their trademark Texas-blues fused rock, overly long beards, (probably not cheap) sunglasses, love of fast hot rods, and seemingly countless videos on MTV. The liner notes are extensive in regards to the birth of the band - touching on family, teenage garage bands (The Moving Sidewalks & The Warlocks), running into producer Bill Ham (backstage at a Doors concert), first gig (1970), opening shows for Jimi Hendrix, etc. Outside of the 4-disc box set that's overly priced - as of 2004 this is now the best ZZ Top compilation available. The two other most notable 'best of' pacakges are now expendable. 9 of 10 songs are here on "Rancho Texicano" from ZZ Top's first 'Best Of' compilation (1977)... only song missing is "No Back Door Love Affair". 15 of the 18 songs off ZZ Top's "Greatest Hits (1992) are here as well (missing are "Gun Love", "Give It Up" and "Planet Of Women"). All of the omissions are OK in my book. The only songs I would have removed from "Rancho" would be "Mexican Blackbird" and "Woke Up With Wood"... and replaced them with the strangely absent "TV Dinners" and/or "Concrete And Steel". Overall though, the 38 songs are simply dead on accurate. All songs are the original studio versions except the last 2 dance remixes of "Legs" and "Velcro Fly" (you do however get the original versions of these 2 songs earlier on the disc), and 2 live songs ("Cheap Sunglasses" and "Thunderbird"). Anyone else find it interesting when reading the liner notes, that Billy, Frank, and Dusty all play the saxophone? Every rock & roll collection needs some ZZ TOP and this is the ideal place to start. Great set of discs (5 stars).

Been a ZZ Top fan for a long time, and I'm one of the people who likes both their early stuff, and the stuff in the Eliminator / Afterburner period (it seems most ZZ Top fans don't like both, just one era or the other). Anyway, if you don't own ZZ Top at all, this is the one to get, as you get all the big hits, and a few others you might not know of.

As usual with a Greatest Hits package, there's always stuff that's missing, and this is no exception. Despite being put out in 2004, it has nothing from the albums Antenna, Mescalero, XXX, & Rhythmeen. Rhythmeen is one of my favs by ZZ Top, so I was kind of disappointed that nothing was there from that. I understand that with Greatest Hits albums, that will always happen - someone's personal preference left off. I could accept that. But this colletion has THREE songs on there TWICE EACH! Cheap Sunglasses, Legs, & Velcro Fly are on here in live or alternate mixes. BORING! That's three spaces that could have been better allotted to songs from the albums not covered. That's the reason I gave this four stars - it would have been 5, and I would have given it 4.5 stars if I could.

But that I admit is my own personal gripe. What is here is most excellent, and as I said, if you don't have any ZZ Top at all, this is the one to get. This essentially replaces the most excellent 1992 "Greatest Hits" albums, with only two tracks that were on that one not here, but neither of them are a big loss at all.

Check it out!

Edit a week later: I found out why the four most recent albums aren't represented here. They're on a different label, that's why they're not here. Still would have been nice to have seen the entire career represented. After having listened to it for a couple of weeks now, it's a fabulous collection, and is a great pickup if you don't own all their albums already.

I own both this 2 cd collection and the "Chrome, Smoke & BBQ" 4 cd box. If you are a casual ZZ Top fan or want to add a ZZ Top album to your collection, this 2 cd set is the way to go. The sound is suberb and track selection excellent. "Rancho Texicano" flat out smokes any previous ZZ Top "greatest/best of" package of 2 cds or less. Plus, I praise the "Gods" of boogie for not including ZZ Top's worst song ever, "Heaven, Hell Or Houston", here. If you are more than a casual ZZ Top fan, bordering on or crossing into die-hard territory (like me) skip this set and drop the extra cash on the box set. The Moving Sidewalks tracks are a must. And, even though disc four of the box is a little weaker than the previous three, it is still essential ZZ Top. Finally, if you have the extra cash around, buy both!
"Rancho Texicano" is much more user friendly for the car.

It would be easy to roll your eyes at this CD and say, "God, not another ZZ Top Best-Of collection. Why bother?" That was pretty much what I thought, until I heard this album.

Hearing Disc 1 is like hearing ZZ Top anew. This was the first time I had ever heard the ORIGINAL mixes of their pre-Eliminator material, and what a difference it makes. The soulless 80's drum machines and re-recorded guitar and vocal parts that they released in the 80's are gone, leaving the original gritty blues-rock sensibilities that are at the core of this band's best music. These songs leave you feeling dirty and smelling of motor oil, cattle and cigarette smoke. (Conversely, the Six-Pack remixes felt more like someone's slick penthouse cocaine party.) It's the way the songs were meant to sound, and it's a pleasure to rediscover classic tracks that I had only previously heard in their inferior 6-Pack remixed form.

I have less to say about Disc 2. It covers their career from Eliminator onwards, and the post-Eliminator material (about half the disc) doesn't stand up too well to what came before it. The real reason to pick up this album is for the original mixes on Disc 1, and those are well worth the purchase price.

Disc ONE of Rancho Texicano is the ZZ Top collection I have been waiting to materialize for years. FINALY, a truly definitive gathering of the essential ZZ Top from the Warner Brothers years when Billy Gibbons played good raunchy blues guitar straight up... no synths, no drum machines, no distortion pedals. And while there remain arguments over content ["Manic Mechanic" over "Thunderbird" for one, no "Heaven, Hell or Houston"], it touches on ZZ Top as they were: a dirty, gritty blues band with a great sense of humor, long before they became cartoon characters with long beards passing out the keys that magically turned boys into chick magnets. From the chug of "Brown Sugar" [not in any way, shape or form the Stones song], to the stinging blues of "Just Got Back from Baby's", [blues guitar extraordinare that one Eric Clapton could only dream of these days] to the great riffing on "Just Got Paid", with itss Johhny Winter inspired slide work [and its sped up cousin "Heard It on the X"] to the Stones meets Johhny Winter of "Francene" to the twin kill of "Waitin for the Bus/ Jesus Just Left Chicago" to the slow Peter Green/ Fleetwood Mac inspired minor key blues [think "Love That Burns" and "Looking for Somebody"] "Blue Jean Blues" to the back beat driven, tongue in cheek of "Im Bad, Im Nationwide" and "A Fool for Your Stockings" and the funky cool of Isaac Hayes and David Porter's "I Thank You" to the crowning song of the great Deguello, "Cheap Sunglasses", it?s 75 minutes of almost totally essential ZZ Top.

Disc two however is a collection of after the fall ZZ Top. The over the Top innuendo of "Tube Snake Boogie" and "Pearl Necklace" leading into the mega-platinum MTV success years of Eliminator and Afterburner. Taken on its own, ELIMINATOR remains an album of great songs, though every song here [and from AFTERBURNER, except the ballad "Rough Boy"] is driven by a four-on-the-floor dance beat: thump-thump-thump-thump and guitars with enough distortion to make one think he is listening to a Ratt record. Not the natural distortion of a guitar and a Marshall stack turned up to ten, but the unnatural big fuzz of 80s hair bands? which in effect ZZ Top was except their hair was hanging down from their chins. The two tracks from RECYCLER, "Double Back" [which did double duty in one of the Back to the Future films too, I think] and "My Heads in Mississippi" are better, leaning back but not returning to their roots, but the inclusion of the terrible "Viva Las Vegas" and a 12" mix of 'Velcro Fly' leave me scratching my head. NOTHING else deserved to be on this collection, like "Dirty Dog", "TV Dinners" or "Bad Girl" from ELIMINATOR? We're not talking about a criminal offense here for NOT including these; not like X leaving the 12" of "Wild Thing" off their BEYOND AND BACK collection. The inclusion of the promo only live take of "Cheap Sunglasses" takes me further back to the days of real radio, Q102 in Dallas played it a lot, back when there was real Album Oriented Radio [AOR]. [Ask your parents if you don?t remember.]

Overall? Four and a half for Disc One, a GENEROUS Three and a Half for Disc Two, FOUR Les Pauls!

The weird thing about ZZ Top has to do with the remix jobs that were done on all of their early albums in the eighties and early nineties. ZZ Top, somehow went through a real heavy faze of synthing their drums on all of their albums between 1983 and 1990, and when they released their seventies albums onto CD the drums were remixed to give those albums a synth drum sound as well. To this day pretty much any Top album you buy on CD has been metamorphasized. Quite a shame since early Top had a real nice, gritty, dancin' in the dirt kind of sound. It's best to buy those albums on vinyl, cassette, or even 8-track.. way more bad Ace quality.

HOWEVER!!!!
The red disc in this 2-disc greatest hits packaged focuses specially on treating those old seventies rockers right, and for the first time on CD these songs sound the way they were meant to sound. RAW and glorious. This two disc collection is a must have, simply for the first disc alone.
Just listen to the difference on obvious songs like LA GRANGE and TUSH. The sound is supremely better here than on that other greatest hits pack, the one with the blonde bomshells on the cover? I bought that one years ago and couldn't figure out why my ZZ Top wasn't rockin'. Now I'm graced with songs that totally blow the speakers off, like JUST GOT PAID and BEER DRINKERS AND HELL RAISERS. They sound mint. Also a huge plus is the boozy JUST GOT BACK FROM BABY... totally forgot how much I dug that tune.

The Aqua Blue disc focuses on the 1980's pop MTV stuff. Some of it is ok. The first track TUBE SNAKE BOOGIE should have been on the red disc, but the rest belongs on this Diz-nee like rock disc. Like the eighties club version of Legs and the skinny tie martini version of Viva Las Vegas. Eh. BUT!! as I said... The Red Disc is where it's at.

If you BAD, then you should buy most of your ZZ Top stuff on wax, and keep this red disc handy to blow out some hot chickies speakers when the time is right. ZZ TOP truly was one of the greats.

Or maybe the place to end up for casual fans who just want one ZZ Top album in their collection.

"Rancho Texicano" gathers (most of) the best from ZZ Top's rough and tough 70s albums on disc one, and the 80s MTV hits on disc two, and while they shouldn't have ended the set with 12" remixes of "Legs" and "Velcro Fly" (which are here in their original versions as well), the tracks selection is generally very good, even if it largely ignores the band's 90's efforts.

There are still plenty of highlights, though, from the band's grittiest early blues-rock stompers "Brown Sugar" and "Francene" and the slow grind of "Just Got Back From Baby's" and "Fool For Your Stockings", to latter-day smashes such as "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs", and the dirty "Pearl Necklace". And the fact that this collection is not limited to hit singles means that somewhat lesser-known gems like "Waitin' For The Bus" and the supremely funky rave-up "Tube Snake Boogie" are included as well.

The layout is quite nice, the annotation is good without being magnificent, and while this is not quite everything you could ever want from ZZ Top, "Rancho Texicano" still blows "Greatest Hits" out of the water.
Unless you want to pick up the 4-disc "Smoke, Chrome & BBQ" box set right away, this fine career overview provides the best available introduction to the little ol' band from Texas.

If anyone gave this cd set less than a five star rating then you need to spend more than $49.95 on your audio gear. After listening to the entire set, both cds, this ZZ Top collection is some of the best remastered audio I've heard. It displays as "HD CD" on the processor and is SACD quality sound. Every track is balanced with parallel volume levels and the recording does not sound like a collection of greatest hits as much as a new recording that was performed in the studio for this release. All thanks to Bill Ham. Audiosnobs take note, this is a great listen.... "they gotta lota nice girls...."

Creedence Clearwater Revival was probably the first rock band to really bring back the original boogie rock sound originated by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and the other rock n' roll pioneers of the 1950's. When Creedence broke up in 1972, a gritty blues-rock trio from Texas called ZZ Top scored their first hit "La Grange" a year later and became the next band to carry that infectious three-chord boogie sound into the 70's and 80's at a time when most rock bands were focusing on heavy metal and other styles of rock.

Dusty Hill and Frank Beard make up one of the most rock solid rhythm sections in rock n' roll, and Billy Gibbons is surely one of the hottest blues-rock guitar masters out there. These three guys are responsible for some of the best blues-flavored rock n' roll of the past three decades, and all their classic hits and best-known material is here in this excellent two-disc compilation released in 2004. The first CD covers the best of the band's blues-flavored 70's material, and their more commercial, mainstream rock hits of the 80's are compiled on the second CD.

The only problem with this collection is the last half of the second disc. Rather than making the set more comprehensive by including some of ZZ's later material from the 90's, we get an average live recording of "Cheap Sunglasses" that adds nothing to the original version, a useless remake of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" {why did they choose to cover one of Elvis' worst songs?}, and unnecessary "remix" versions of "Legs" and the forgettable "Velcro Fly" which is surely one of ZZ Top's weakest songs. This is still the best greatest hits compilation currently available for the casual fan though. All of the band's best-loved material is presented here with great remastered sound.

Few bands from 40 years ago are still out there today with the original members in place. ZZ Top has survived into the new century and are still rockin' as strong as ever. I got the chance to catch them in concert on their 2003 tour with Ted Nugent and Kenny Wayne Shepherd as the opening acts. Billy, Dusty, and Frank delivered a sound so full and tight that it sounded like four or five guys on stage instead of three! What is sorely needed is a live concert DVD of these legendary rock n' roll hall of famers that has never been issued after all these years.

If you want to discover what REAL rock n' roll is all about, get a copy of this collection along with CCR's classic "Chronicle" CD.

Among the reigning kings of southern rock, ZZ Top's rich musical legacy has spanned over 35 years and several albums, hit singles and live concerts. They are still a favorite on radio stations across America, and have a devoted fan base to this day.

Like many bands of their stature, ZZ Top has several compilations of their work on their market. Most recently came the two disc "Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top", a two disc collection containing 38 of their biggest hits. How does it hold up? Read on for the positives and negatives.

Positives:
-All the ZZ Top classics are on here, including "Brown Sugar", "Francene", "Just Got Paid", "La Grange", "Jesus Just Left Chicago", "Arrested For Driving While Blind", "Sharp Dressed Man", "Sleeing Bag" and "Stages".
-Many underrated gems have been included as well.
-There are some rarities included: a live performance of "Cheap Sunglasses", a dance mix of "Legs" and a 12" remix of "Velco Fly".
-Excellent sound quality.
-Great liner notes.

Negatives:
-None. This collection is pretty much perfect.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go buy this cd today.