ZZ Top
 

Are they as good as the sound to me? I don’t play an instrument or do anything musical so I always wonder if I am just way off on talent. There seems to be a lot of little things going on in the music besides the main chords, riffs or whatever you call it. Small, short in time background noises that pop up here and there.
Thoughts?

I have been to their concerts several times of the many years. The sure sound good live.

I have been a big fan of them since Tres Hombres hit the market. After that I bought all there albums. A haw haw.

For Tres hombres, I first bought it on 8 Track Quadraphonic. When that wore out I had to replace it with a regular stereo version. I wore that one out so I bought it on Cassette. That one died and I finally figured out it was better to buy an album, and make cassettes. Then cassettes went the way of 8 tracks and I bought the CD. Then I bought the 6 Pack, and it has a full version of Tres Hombres. So I have bought it 6 times. It is still a favorite!

If you want some Dusty Hill memorabilia, I just found this auction notice in my mailbox.

Some cool stuff to look at in here.

http://www.julienslive.com/auctions/catalog/id/505

No question they have backup musicians and or tracks on 'tape' and live. I've seen them live and was great of course, but all that doesn't come from 1 guitar and 1 bassist. I heard backing guitar ........

I wouldn't mind owning that Nudie "Fandango" jacket!

Similar to Angus Young. AC DC sounds simple on the surface, but there's always intricacies going on that set great guitar work apart from basic chords.

Just some person's opinion here... A different list gets different results.
https://www.guitarworld.com/features/the-100-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time

Keith Richards is still the most amazing and diversified guitarist to me, when I listen to the variety of Stones music how innovative he is.

Interesting. I've seen them live more than once as well, once in a pretty small venue. I never got that impression. Seemed pretty "real" to me, but what do I know. On a side note, they just played a couple of our Tribal casinos here in Washington. My, how the mighty have fallen... reminds me of Spinal Tap...

Reminds me of a story as well. When Led Zeppelin released the album with Achille's Last Stand on it, Peter Townsend approached them offering to play second guitar on their upcoming tour. He was sure that Jimmy Page could never play that song live all by himself. Well, he did. I watched him do it. Astonishing, really. I don't think they ever over dubbed anything, but I could be wrong. I'd rather listen and enjoy than worry about things like that.

give me their first album Can remember getting from the record store in Athens, OH. Raw and to the point blues
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Soon after moving to the Houston area in 1967, I became a fan of the Moving Sidewalks, Billy Gibbons' first band. When ZZ Top was formed, it was not long before I became a fan of them seeking out the local clubs where they were playing. The little brother of a good friend of mine frequented the Chicken Ranch and regaled us with his adventures there, so when the song La Grange came out we teased him about it. The Mexican Blackbird was another that we would give him grief about.

I dunno, one concert I went to was their Eliminator tour at the Capitol Center in MD with a fair amount of 'techno' sound effects in the background. Specifically "Legs" ...................

I’ve been going to their shows for the better part of 50 years and I can tell you that they pare things down in a live show, compared to some of the recordings.

Their early blues work needs to be heard on a really good stereo system.

That was pretty much the height of their career, wasn't it (the Eliminator tour)? Doesn't surprise me in the least if they were doing that at that point, especially playing big venues like that. I only saw them early on, when I was still in junior high school in the early '70's, then much, much later (maybe a few years before Dusty died) after their popularity had waned a bit. No effects at all, just three guys playing.

Looks like I'm not keeping up...

Absolutely, java, their early blues material. I related on a thread some time ago about how I was playing them in my room as a kid when my dad opened the door and asked when I had discovered The Blues. I told him this was rock'n'roll, never heard of this thing called "The Blues". That was when my education started. And a life time love affair. "The Blues done had a baby, and she called him 'Rock'n'Roll'"... Muddy Waters quote...

They were doing big stadium shows long before Eliminator came out. I saw them in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas sometime in the 1970s along with quite a few other big acts.

Eliminator and Afterburner made ZZ Top very wealthy indeed, especially after signing an enormous contract with Sony. But as sales started to fizzle after those two MTV-fueled megasellers, the band eventually returned to their roots as a 3 piece band playing great, hard, in your face blues-rock.

(Fun fact, Billy, Dusty and Frank all played saxophone on Deguello)

One of my favorite ZZ Top albums is still Antenna, which never got great reviews, and I Gotsta Get Paid is one of my favorite "New" ZZ Top songs. (It came out in 2012)

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And this is Billy F Gibbons reading a story to some little kids. The guy is a national treasure.

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Brown Sugar
Hot, Blue and Righteous
Just got Back from Baby’s

Get a copy of One Foot in the Blues, those three are together on that album.

Kinda funny what song they use for the background for the 2nd graders visit.

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IMO, ZZ Top isn't the most technically skilled musicians (although not shabby for sure) but, they have a groove that is just so good and tight that you just want to play along. Its a blast.

There was a TV series called Bones. Billy Gibbons plays the Rock star father of one of the main charterers. There are several scenes when he actually takes off his sunglasses and you can see his eyes. He is not on much, just a side character.

It's never too early for kids in Texas to learn about the rumors goin' round in that Texas Town.