ZZ Top - Tres Hombres

Have mercy. Next up on our Snowpocalypse Staycation of Doom we have the soundtrack i wish i'd had back when Skip was waiting for the bus all day after getting lost. 2 dudes and a Rube playing Blues Rock in the fine Texas tradition, it's ZZ Top's 3rd album, Tres Hombres. Quite a few Classic Rock staples on this one, Bus, Chicago, La Grange. this is one of those "Boogie Woogie" albums critics liked to dismiss until the mainstream listener got a hold of Eliminator and put a stop to that nonsense.

I'm not gonna add much, if you don't adore ZZ Top then there's no helping you. There's a fair bit of not radio single material, but it's interesting. If you thought ZZ Top was all boogie all the time, Hot, Blue and Righteous will surprise you. Slow dance jam with vocal harmony in 6/8 that one, the good stuff.

You might not be accustomed to Dusty Hill's vocals, and it can throw you for a loop if all you've ever heard is Billy singing. You'll get over it, Dusty's just as good if not quite as distinctive. It's a bit like Canned Heat or Grateful Dead in that respect, you get locked into 1 vocalist and lose the larger picture.

This is another one of those variety albums, as clearly depicted in the borderline grotesque gatefold photo of every possible combination of meat, cheese, tortillas, and hot sauce that restraunt could sloppily pile on a plate. Garnish with enough pinch harmonics to heat-stroke a horse, wash it down with a rapidly approaching room temperature beer, that's a recipe for pretty tasty in my book.