Customer Reviews

Sharp Dressed Men: Tribute to Zz Top

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

 

 

If you are a ZZ-TOP fan SECOND and a country fan FIRST, this is one of the greatest albums ever. If you are not a country fan, you likely won't enjoy this album, as many other reviewers can attest. The problem is you get ZZ-TOP fans who are expecting some sort of a Rythmeen concoction (Which happens to be my favorite ZZ-TOP album). It's nothing of the sort. It's pure country. Lonestar SOUNDS like Lonestar. Brad Paisley is 100% Paisley. As are Willie, Kenny Chesney, Tracy Bird et al. They ALL sound great on this album, and all manage to make the songs their own.
Buy it because you like Dwight Yoakam, Phil Vassar, Bocephus, but not because you want to hear ZZ-TOP. ZZ-TOP already has their OWN albums out. ;) Leave bluesy, humbucking, grungy goodness to the TOPs. That's what they do best. Country needs to be played by Country.
Y'all take care, now,

WYK
Austin, TX

Anybody dissing this record just don't get it. I have downloaded and bought a lot music over the years and this is one of the most entertaining listens i can remember in a long time. All the songs are well done and sound super. There is nothing weird on here just great covers of zz top originals. This record kicks off with a bang and just never stops, soulful blues and smoking rock with a little country twang thrown in on occassion. Not one bad song on this disc, how many of your others discs can you say that about!

This project just goes to show how far country has come in 10 years. Also gives a taste of what some of these acts would probably would have been doing if people like Brooks and Dunn or Vince Gill didn't introduce the country audience to the electric guitar.

Easy to say if the Eagles came out today, they would only be welcome in the country format - listening to some of country's stars and you have to wonder if they came around 15 years ago if we'd be hearing them on our favorite rock station rather than beside Hank, Waylon, and Willie.

This is one of those projects that you just have to sample song to song - some sound like karaoke gone way too far ("Gimme All Your Lovin' - Lonestar, "La Grange" Tracy Byrd, "Fearless Boogie" Hank III), others rock out quite nicely while the artists do their best impersonations of the Brothers Gibbons ("Rough Boy" B&D, "Legs" Trace Adkins, "Cheap Sunglasses" - Warren Brothers, "I Want to Thank You" Phil Vassar), then there are some tunes that are worth hearing - the ones that some of the better performers of today take on and actually put there own voice and own country style behind - and pull it off ("Tush" Kenny Chesney, "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" Dwight Yoakam, "Sure Got Cold..." Alan Jackson and "Sharp Dressed Man" Brad Paisley).

Give country credit - this isn't as embarrassing to rock as was the Beatles and the Rolling Stones attempt. Unlike the latter, these guys know ZZ Top quite well - the vast majority being Texans who did time in the club circuit before getting record deals, which your not going to survive unless you can rock southern style.

Have to say, though, after waiting years for Brooks and Dunn to cover their hero's would've loved to hear "Legs" or one of their more rockin' tunes.

If you like uptempo country, especially stuff that rocks, this ones worth a listen. This CD makes you realize just how much Nashville boxes in some genuinely talented artists that could rock out if given the chance.

Yep... 5 songs that make this worth owning. Paisley, Yoakam, Willie, Hank III and Alan Jackson give very very respectable versions of ZZ classics. Everybody else just sound like ZZ wannabe's. And for that I could have just gotten a ZZ Top Greatest Hits album and stuck with the original. Brad Paisley lends his excellent guitar picking and sound to Sharp Dressed Man. Dwight Yoakam hillbilly version of I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide is awesome. Willie does the "Willie Western Swing" on She Loves My Automobile- and gives ZZ Top a run for their money on who's is better. Hank Williams III has an old radio sound on Fearless Boogie. Alan Jackson renders a truly nice performance of Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell (with a nice pickin finish). I listened to Jesus Just Left Chicago/ Waitin For the Bus (by Hank Jr.) once. I prefer to just skip it over entirely. It's terrible. Everybody else could have just lip sync-ed and played air guitar like the rest of us. If you are interested in those 5 unique versions, then buy it... if you just want ZZ Top, get the Greatest Hits album.

An excellent tribute album due to the fact that all the country
singers stay true to the form of the song, and isn't some overdone
industrial rock version. The country singers are all well known,
and will turn any fan into a ZZtop fan. Being raised on ZZtop,
I can say that this is an excellent addition to anyones library.

Well, after listening to this tribute cd my opinion is: stick to the original. Several of the covers are OK, and I have to agree that the only person that "got it" was Willie Nelson. This is coming from someone that is NOT a Willie Nelson fan, but he actually did what the album is about: Making a country version of a rock song, and making it hold up as a country song. Kinda like Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" (a Nine Inch Nails song). Those two versions will never be confused, but they both stand up in their respective categories.
My biggest problem with this cd is that hardly any of the songs have soul. It sounds generic. I think the main problem is that most country singers today use studio musicians, and they play what they are told. So if you tell them to play a country version of a rock song, that's what they do. But they don't make it personal, and that is what is missing.
What are some of the pluses on the album? Well, I have to say that the Warren Brothers did a good job on "Cheap Sunglasses", and I really enjoyed Hank III's version of "Fearless Boogie". "Just Got Paid" by Montgomery Gentry just ROCKS. I was glad of that, because "Just Got Paid" has one of the best guitar riffs ever. Period.
For the most part, this tribute album lacks soul, and in spots the singing is laughable. If you're looking for an album like the Eagles' tribute "Common Thread", you're not gonna find it here. Too bad Travis Tritt coundn't have added a song to this album.

If you like most of what Nashville has been putting out over the last decade or two and grew-up on country and rock, this will be a nice addition to your collection. If you like traditional country and only traditional classic country and are somewhat close-minded about various musical genres and believe that covers of other peoples music is supposed to sound exactly like the famous or popular version, this would be a waste of your money. I am 42 and have been into the "modern" era of country since about 1978. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the classic country of days gone by , and truely like a lot of the "old stuff" from the 50s and 60s. While I like nice soulful ballads, I really prefer the harder-edged stuff, the Johnny Cash, Hank Jr, Waylon, Willie, the Derailers, Swingin' Steaks, the "Outlaw" thing, Rock-a-billy, as well as most of the "modern pop" brand of country. I was raised on rock, top-40 AM radio, some hard some pop, I even tapped my foot and would have liked to dance in the (thank God) short-lived Disco era, but give my ears some hard fiddle playin' and some serious guitar work, and I can hear things in my neck and back go crack. Each of the artists on this CD were obviously ZZ fans back in the day. I own most of what ZZ ever did. I own at least one CD from every artist on this tribute CD. These country sangers did ZZ justice. Boo hoo...don't buy this because it doesn't sound like the original? Bee Ess to that! Even a Hank Sr (may God bless him) concert or a Hank Jr concert didn't sound like a Hank Sr record or a Hank Jr record. "Country" people will like it. "Rock"ers will like it. Even toothless old Grandma in her porch chair would turn off her Conway and say "Crank them ZZ wannbes, boy!" Buy it. Turn it up. You will move...and if old enough, might even hear things go crack in your spine and back.

Well, let's start with the possitive. Wille Nelson did a great job. Willie always does a great job, but he's one of the last hold outs from when country music had character. Nowadays, what's called "country" is nothing more than utra formulated wannabe rock. Take rock and remove all the dynamics, innovation, and character, then add a southern accent and you have modern "country." Well, this is what they did to ZZ Top, and now we have this album. If you are a ZZ Top fan, don't buy this album. If you are a country fan, don't buy this album either: go buy some Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams sr., Patsey Cline, etc.

P.S. As a ZZ Top fan, I am extremely offended by the comments in the editorial review. At one point, Bob allen remarks that these "country" versions "imbue them with a measure of bluesy soulfulness." Has this person ever even listened to ZZ Top? ZZ Top IS bluesy soulfulness. He also remarks that we might be "surprised to discover that these familiar songs do actually have lyrics" and refers to ZZ Top's style as a "sleek hit-making formula." These comments could not be further from the mark. I suggest the reviewer go buy another ZZ Top album other than Greatest Hits. And actually listen to it! (not Recycler, though, that album [stinks]. Any other ZZ Top album, Bob.)