Deguello
ZZ Top
Warner Brothers Records, 1979
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/17/1998
Doesn't it seem a bit odd to think that in 1979 ZZ Top was in
the process of releasing a "comeback" album?
After five moderately well-received albums and a top 20 hit in
"Tush," the Texas trio took a hiatus in 1976 following a year-long
world tour. Maybe they wanted to submerge themselves in their roots
again, maybe they wanted just to kick back after a grueling tour -
truth is, I dunno. But when Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank
Beard returned to the studio in 1979, they came back with a
vengenace with
Deguello, their best album to that point.
Their blues roots are very evident here, though ZZ Top always
have gloried in the blues. "Dust My Broom" might be more electric
than the original version by Robert Johnson, but this version is
incredibly close to the bone. The slide guitar of Gibbons clinches
it here; his leads are so fluid.
A few of the cuts on
Deguello have become standard classic rock radio fare.
"Cheap Sunglasses" is probably one of the best-known songs on this
disc, and Gibbons's guitar work especially stands out, but it
really isn't the best song on the disc. "I Thank You" shows its
power in a more minimal arrangement, while "I'm Bad, I'm
Nationwide" is just an average ZZ Top song.
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