Earlier ZZTop.....this IS the blues personified.....

Many people are familiar with ZZ Top from their commercially successful 'Eliminator' album. But their earlier work as per this piece, really shows their incredible raw and dynamic blues. Backtrack more you guys, they're a music treat!

Beer Drinkers, and Hell Raisers I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide La Grange Just Got Paid Blue Jeans Blues These are a few more songs by ZZ Top that you should check out.

70's era ZZ Top rules! From what I understand, "Waitin' For The Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago" were supposed to be separate songs but a production mistake made along the way to releasing the album left the two songs back to back and the band liked the transition so much they kept the mistake in place. When you're ready for more from them, check out "La Grange", "Tush", "Just Got Paid", "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide", "I Thank You", and "Heard It On The X" which tells a story about listening to rock-n-roll, blues, and other "forbidden" music during the segregated 50's on border radio stations broadcast out of Mexico at 50,000+ watts so that their signals reached well over a hundred miles across the border into Texas.

ZZ Top "Blue Jean Blues"...Nuff Said.

Yes. You're right. They remixed these albums back in the 90s and added all this echo shit. Broke my Texan heart. I loved the originals. Sounded like you were in the room.

I love the inside of the album jacket. A big authentic tex-mex meal!

I first saw them on this tour, back in 1973, they were the opener for Uriah Heep and blew the crowd away with heavy blues the likes of which was new and exciting. Been a fan ever since. Try Just Got Paid next, another of their classics from back in the day. Enjoy! 🎵🎸🎤🎸🎶

Thanks y'all! Love love love! Their tunes Tush, Blue Jean Blues, I Gotsta Get Paid, Thank you - all kick azz & are well worth your' time!

"Takin' care of business is His name." My all time favorite ZZT cut! Thanks, guys!

My favorite ZZ Top album. Beer Drinkers, and Hell Raisers, is another great song from this album. Great job guys.

Watching you guys Bob your heads is cracking me up.

Their sound is tight.. ... The sound was tight in the 70's..... I'm so glad that y'all recognize. These boys out of Houston. I want the same high School the two of them went to...👊❤️😎

I'm generally in the minority but I think "Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell" and "Brown Sugar" are 2 of their most powerful songs, off their first 2 albums. Check them out some time.

Early ZZ Top is a treasure trove of Texas blues. You’ll love this part of their discography. Thanks for reacting to this. Have a happy new year. 🔥

These are great tracks, no doubt. Some other excellent ones are: Nasty dogs and funky kings Heard it on the X Manic Mechanic My Head's in Mississippi Balinese 2000 Blues I Thank You

Blue Jean Blues fits in this style of theirs. It’s my favorite song of theirs.

You guys are definitely hitting on all my favorite ZZ hits. I wasn't even a fan until some friends invited me to attend a concert. I've seen dozens of bands in concert and ZZ Top is the funnest time. Had so much fun we drove to a 2nd show just a couple of days later. Lifelong fan now.

Fabulous…. My favorite ZZ Track ever… extremely under appreciated band…

Such a crazy good combo. So glad to see you get here early in your journey with ZZ Top.

The best little band fromTexas. There is a line from their song "Heard it on the X" which says " country Jesus and hillbilly blues is where I learned my licks" which is a perfect example of their sound.

Gotta love that "little ol' band from Texas"!

I think you guys are listening to the remastered version that added more reverb, so, good ear that picked up the difference in sound. The original vinyl is the best way to go!

You’ll never go wrong with that lil ol band from Texas!

I seen ZZ Top in '90 at the Cotton Bowl with Santana and Steve Miller.... ZZ Top Sounded so good...! Better than any other band I've seen live...!

Best ZZ Top song’s ever. Thanks.

Y'all keep bringing me back to high school freshman year, ZZ Top was truly spectacular!

Now that I'm messing around with the guitar, Billy Gibbons has really caught my attention. I've seen them live, but didn't really appreciate them like I do now.

Originally from 1973, this version is a 1980s mix with a bunch of added reverb on the drums and some compression on the lead guitar. The -73 original sound has super-crsip, tight drum sound and an overall less processed ambience. It's a matter of taste but we old head ZZ Top fans love that crisp blues rock from the first few albums.

ZZ perfectly replicated the Mississippi Delta blues sound on Jesus left Chicago. One of my very favorite songs of all time.

They were awesome in the 70s! I had every album and saw every concert here in Memphis!!!

ZZ Tops sound is distinct. As the story goes, the guys were looking for their own sound ans the manager had his vision. They were in the studio and trying different things but their manager kept budding in. So they him out for food at place that was at least an hour one way. Shall we say 'the rest is history'. Their sound was born.

Glad you played these two songs together, they ain't the same when played separate. Good work ✌️

Here in Houston, we had a radio station for 34 years with the call letters KLOL. You could count on them to play Top every couple of hours, and with their portfolio you never got tired of it!

From New Orleans, to Austin, to San Francisco, to the Philippines then back to Memphis... these guys anchored me. Paused in there to get a hat at Texas Hatters.

Love the Texas blues and Billy and Dustys tone

I'm glad you're giving ZZ TOP a listen to, hope you guys give my favorite song a listen to, "Fool for your Stockings", you wouldn't be disappointed 👍

I saw them in concert several times and they were amazing!

Right on, I'm glad you came back around for more ZZ Top. It looks like I'm getting to keep my $2 bill as you guys should wake up to 5k in the morning. Happy(almost) New Years Gentlemen.

AHH TAKE ME WITH YOU JESUS into that solo gives me stank face everytime

Down home Texas all the way🤠🔥✌🤘

Billy Gibbons had the most efficient sense of timing. If aliens came down and said, "Pick one person to play one note at the absolute perfect time or we blow up the world," he is my choice. Phenomenal guitarist.

Jesus Just Left Chicago, is inspired by picking up a Chicago radio station. I’m from a tow an hour away from Memphis., and in the 70s, at night, we could listen to WLS Chicago. It was great times!

🎶✨🎶✨😖😣🤩✨👌Got DAAAANG!!! That was good! I really enjoyed listening to this ol classic from ZZ Top with you guys. Big love from H-Town, TX. ❤️🙏🫶🤠✨✨✨

Personally I have an obsession with ZZ Top’s album XXX. A lot of fans who only like their old stuff either hate it or have never listened to it. But, it has some of the most insane mixing & layering of guitar, bass, & drum tones, possibly ever. The lyrics are surreal & weird, & the technology to implement samples had evolved enough to finally catch up with ZZ Top. It’s like a cosmic, heavy, blues rock on acid fever dream, from another dimension. I don’t know how it sounds like they put hot deep fried gristle in a pair of maracas & made it an integral part of the mix next to fuzzed out guitars, but by god they did it. The drum tones on “It should be made into a movie” are out of this world. Lyrics about poke chop sandwiches & thunderbirds & ladies… 12/10 for me. It would be awesome to see the album get some exposure on KZfaq reactions.

Living in Houston growing up listening to ZZ TOP is like listening to your neighbor next door.

My fave ZZ Top! I know that you are gonna enjoy before I even watch

Congratulations guys!!! It's amazing how You analyze this great great music!!!

The gritch grassiness of that crunchy tone is blues groovin'...😁😁😁🤣 Just got Paid should be next up for a listen.

Just got your vids tonight. Nice job. I’m impressed with your musical knowledge. I luvs ZZ Top. Thanks to my brothers.

Have mercy! Been waiting on the bus all day!

I was at the 1982 Nationwide tour. Hoosier Dome in Indy. Yeah it was amazing, the entire collosium would shake, ZZ Top always had the house shakin' for sure.

You guys totally get it, and I very much enjoy your reactions. 1970's ZZ Top is just downright kick-ass. Although it's a relatively short song, I highly recommend "Heard It On The X" Peace Out 😊✌️

Back in 1967 Jimi Hendrix saw Billy Gibbons and ZZ Topp and offered them the warm-up Band job on his first tour as "The Jimi Hendrix Experience," in Europe. Jimi and Billy got along famously from the very beginning.

Tres Hombres came out in like early 1970s been listening to them all my life 1 of my top 5 bands

Billy Gibbons and the Fender Telecaster were a match made in heaven

ZZ Top, SRV, Fabulous Thunderbirds are all part of Texas Blues and very revered in Texas 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

You didn’t have to listen like you you did, but you did, but you did and your ears thank you.

Love y’all’s reactions…you guys get it!

The reverb on the drums on this album is so amazing.

Thanks for pointing this out to me. I'll definitely be checking more of y'all out

When Billy Gibbons and his first band The Moving Sidewalks opened for Jimi Hendrix on his first official US tour in 1968, Jimi called him the best guitarist he'd ever heard and gifted him a pink stratocaster (Billy played it in concert recently). Billy revealed that he thought Jimi's greatest innovation in guitar playing was “Jimi took the three-way toggle switch into five-way... He’s the one that discovered the in-between positions, and in order for that not to pop out of place, he showed me how to take off the back scratch plate and remove the spring within the toggle switch, so it would more or less stay in place! And that sound had this extra chimeyness to it."

My head's in mississippi. Zz top. Great song

💙 that little ole band from Texas!

I prefer ZZ's Texas boogie to their blues, that is to say, I'll take Waitin for the Bus over Jesus Just Left Chicago any day. Other bands can do blues as well or better, but nobody else can do Texas boogie. ZZ was my first album and first concert growing up in H-town. Don't sleep on (I'm Bad I'm) Nationwide. Probably my favorite song of theirs. You guys will dig the vibe (also another Cadillac reference). By the way, one time I was driving to the beach to Galveston with some friends early on a Saturday morning. On the freeway in Houston, who should pass us on the right, but Dusty Hill, ZZ Top's bassist, top-down in a brand new 1983 or 1984 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with all gold trim instead of chrome, and a 6 foot wide set of Texas longhorns for a hood ornament. His beard was blowing in the wind and he had a blonde groupie in the passenger seat. So they weren't just singing about the lifestyle.

I believe this is a remastered version of the song. A legit version, tho...I believe it was released in the 90s when CDs were en vogue. The original is a just a wee bit muddier. But there's no question they re-remastered some of these tracks in the 90s and they are a lot "crisper" than the original LP versions. These dudes were my idols growing up in Texas. Finally got to see them in '81 (aged 17). Saw them again in '82 (twice), '99, and '04 (pretty much front row for that show at the beautiful Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington. They always tore the roof off the place.

Whole Fandango album is worth a listen. Expertly engineered and produced.

They turned a little too commercial towards the end but , come on man ................ZZ Top ROCKS ! ..and the Blues to boot ! Peace and love

It's pretty amazing that you guys also picked up on the sonic and/or engineering differences in this track. You are actually listening to a more modern remastering of the song probably from the 1990s. The original 1973 vinyl had a much more dry & muscular right in your face punch to the sound. A few vinyl versions have been previously uploaded to KZfaq to hear the difference. At some point during the 1990s when album remastering started to become the norm, someone decided "badly" in my opinion how to remix early Z Z Top records which included an almost cavernous reverb applied mostly to the drum tracks only and sometimes added to the whole mix. When you hear the original, there is no comparison. The original mix is rough, tough, dry & dirty sounding. The 90s remixed version sounds "overproduced" and loses much of its snarling "in yo face" attitude. Another great Z Z Top track that features a much better dry to wet sound using reverb on the guitar from the time of recording and original mixing is to listen to "Blue Jean Blues" off their 1975 album "Fandango". The song features a similar dry, up close & personal tone. By the middle of the song during the entry of the 2nd guitar solo, more reverb is added giving the impression of a deeper listening space and distance of the guitar as if it has gone up a mountain to be heard for miles. When used judiciously, sound effects can be really tastefully effective. 😎🎸🎶

Hard to believe it was only 3 dudes. Two of my favorite cuts.

"I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide". ZZ anthem for the ages....& everybody listening gets a little (ALOT) badass in their own movies. Saw them OPEN for Aerosmith in 200-?-something. That evening did not suck.

"Well you don't have to worry, 'cause takin' care of business is his name"

The top local band when I was in high school on Texas Gulf Coast. Back up into the FIRST ALBUM for their early blues sound. First regional hit: Neighbor, Neighbor.

ZZ Top is probably the only band I've seen play in four different decades. 70s 80s 90s and early 2000s. If you grew up in Texas (I did) they were always around. That little O'band from Texas ain't no lie.

Im from Texas and they are loved I've seen them several times, met Billy G. He's just the koolist in person and personable

Took bus to school from 7th to 12th grade!!! And family had many Cadillacs!!!!😎😎😎😎😍😍😍😍

Billy and the boys were from Houston. They could stop in and listen to Lightning Hopkins, Albert Collins or Johnny Winter live anytime. They soaked it up.

Jesus just Left Chicago, is an homage to blues music. The places he mentions are all areas with a blues history. Chicago, New Orleans, Mississippi. I think that the implication, is that, Jesus goes where the Blues is!

Their first three albums is a must to listen to... Blues packed all the way....

I like listening to music with you - you both really listen. I get the feeling you are both musicians. I’ve watched several Stevie Ray Vaughans, one of the Allmann Brothers, and now this one. I will keep checking out your reactions. You don’t need suggestions from me, but I will still add a few: 1. “Snarky Puppy - Lingus (We Like It Here), 2.“Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (Secret World, Live), and 3. “The Band - The Weight (with the Staple Singers at The Last Waltz)

I've seen them in Atlanta it was the afterburner show but all their music sounds like they were straight in the studio it was a fabulous performance clear crisp you just couldn't believe it was a live show

Been Arrested for Driving while Blind and It’s Only Love are two of my favorite songs by ZZ Top.

Man, the blues coming down town!

Hot, Blue and Righteous

In 1973, the recording and effects techniques were very different to later in the 70's, and early 80's. I think that, and the vocal reverb were what you were hearing. The dynamics of early ZZ Top were easily more noticeable with the stripped down recording techniques. They were a 3 piece band, and the sound of that is more obvious in their early recordings. Their later recordings had a lot of over dubs, and multitracked guitars to fill in the sound.

Back in the '90s, maybe early 2000s, I found a compilation CD of theirs titled 'One Foot In The Blues'. It's their more blues-ey stuff obviously. It's ALL phenomenal. My favorite period of their music though was the '70s for sure.

I was blessed to see this live, about 45years ago, still love zz always will

I was born in Chicago and grew up in LA. Been to Mississippi and through the Georia Pines. Pretty sure this is my jam!

"Just got paid" is about my favorite faster zz top song. But you should also try "blue jean blues", super mellow blues.

You need to check out Johnny and Edgar Winter. You want some Texas Blues, they'll blow you away. Check out Tobacco Road. The live version on video

Give "Blue Jean Blues," a listen by ZZTop

Just saw ZZTOP in Sept 2022 in Loveland Colorado USA and they were great. Shredded it, and played a Fun Show. 🎼🎼🎼🎼

You guys are going to love this early ZZ Top classic.

I get it! It's Texas blues! Love it....'Deguello' Album is the last 70s offering before the 80s commercial sound. Lots of great tracks on Deguello.

Kicks ass every time.

Have mercy

ZZ top just flat gets it!! down and dirty.

I appreciate how you pay attention to the lyrics

This is a remastered version that came out in the late 80s called The ZZ Top SixPack. The record label remastered their first six albums for a multi disk set release. If you listen to these songs from the original albums, there's a pretty distinct difference. You both called it. It's highly compressed from the original mix. It upset most of the ZZ Top purists, but it's still great!

Best ZZ Top songs.