ZZ Top - La Futura (Album Review)
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Friday, 21 September 2012 |
Written by Simon Ramsay
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For a 'little ol' band from Texas' ZZ Top have crafted one hell of a large legacy. Famed the world over for their roasting blues rock repertoire and iconic image they've continually moved with the times, seamlessly stitching their earthy aesthetic to the trends of the day. From their early seventies bare knuckled blues, to incorporating new wave nuances by the decade's end (when singer/guitarist Billy Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill developed an aversion to shaving and bright lights), to the zeitgeist crashing pop rock dynamics of their all conquering 1980's albums, they've forged an indelible identity that's resonated with fans around the globe. However, by the nineties they'd become cheesy caricatures, more famous for their appearance and videos than for their music. Attempts at reinvention met with mixed results, and since '2003's 'Mescalero' they've been happy to tour without releasing new material. Until now – returning with impeccable timing as blues based music is enjoying a healthy resurgence, thanks to modern acts like The Black Keys making the stripped down rock sound cool again. Thus, to fit in circa 2012 ZZ Top don't need to be anything but their sharp suited, snakeskin booted selves. And that's exactly what they do on 'La Futura'.
 The three amigos were initially reluctant to record again, feeling their previous albums had strayed too far from their roots. They needed to find themselves. To discover the right ZZ Top groove. Enter producer Rick Rubin, who has injected new life into an ageing beast. As Gibbons explains: “When we go together with Rick Rubin, he said, ‘Hey man, I don’t have to rewire ZZ Top. My idea of ZZ Top is three guys playing together at the same time with the red light turned on.' That sounded just right to us”. Now in their 42nd year with the same line-up Gibbons, Hill and drummer Frank Beard have rediscovered their musical mojo “We thought long and hard about what this album should be. We wanted to recall the directness of our early stuff but not turn our backs on contemporary technology. The result of this melding of the past and the present is, of course, ‘La Futura.’", proclaims Gibbons
The album was recorded over a four year period and it's structure is decidedly old school; ten songs lasting just shy of forty minutes. 'La Futura' doesn't reinvent the wheel, but encompasses a sparkling mix of everything ZZ Top, boasting bad to the bone blues, strong commercial hooks and a fistful of contemporary grit. The ear rollicking opener 'I Gotsa Get Paid' ticks all those boxes and then some. Originally based on a hip hop song called '25 Lighters', it's about crack dealers using empty bic lighter cases to store and sell cocaine. Gibbons bristling guitar leads the band into a scorching start-stop barrage of stomping rhythmic blasts, screeching guitar fills and clattering percussion. Although similar to The White Stripes stripped down bluster, the nail gargling vocals and laid back Texan cool make it unmistakeably ZZ Top. It's an impressive start, featuring something old (the band), something new (Black Keys dynamic), something borrowed (rap song lyrics) and something oh so blues to create an intoxicating marriage of the past and present.
The hombres then cut loose on a series of supreme tail shakers, beginning with 'Chartreuse' where an awesome fuzz fuelled riff, like Rainbow's 'Long Live Rock and Roll' cross-bred with their own 'Tush', rips it up in vintage fashion. Chugging along on a sassy Texan backbeat it's full of ZZ's lascivious leanings, declaring 'Chartreuse – you know I like a big caboose'! Gibbons still sings from the groin with a twinkle in his eye, particularly on the innuendo laden 'Big Shiny Nine', as saucy guitars cruise through a romp of time honoured bluesy double entendres like 'big shiny nine she's built so fine, waiting to impress my hippie queen'. It's about a Texan boy carrying a 9mm pistol. Honest. More familiar lyrical ground is covered on 'Consumption', a scarifying barrage of dirty biker blues with Gibbons barbecued growl sponsored by Marlboro as he mulls over the nastiness of addiction. And it's back to the eighties on 'I Don't Wanna Lose, Lose, you', with a hypnotic hook and Toptastic staccato groove complemented by flame throwing lead licks galore as Gibbons fretboard screams with an unquenchable vigour throughout, bearing all his idiosyncratic traits; effortlessly fluid, sharp as a tack phrasing, squealing pinch harmonics and adrenalised slide flourishes.
The most surprising track on the album is Tom Waits sound alike 'Over You', about a heartbroken guy down on his luck and willing himself to recover. It's a bummed out bijou of beautiful melancholia, as the guitar's arpeggiated pattern is echoed by a haunting piano, inverting the same melody to cultivate a lonely late night feel of reflection and redemption. Whilst 'La Futura' has a more prototypical ZZ Top feel, the minimalistic blues of their early days only materialises on 'Have A Little Mercy'. By giving BB King's 'Rock Me Baby' a new arrangement, fresh lyrics and a devilish solo full of lightning bolt blues they've conjured a dirty strut that will thrill fans of 'Tres Hombres'.
'La Futura' isn't flawless. 'Heartache in Blue' is a harmonica led ditty featuring feisty vocal affectations that recall 'La Grange', as well as Dusty Hill's full bellied background roar. But it doesn't know how to finish, as the closing guitar and harmonica duel drones on, loses direction and then stops dead. Almost like the band got bored and sodded off to the bar for some tequila. Furthermore 'It's Too Easy Manana' is a brooding, ambient dirge reminiscent of 'House Of The Rising Sun' if heard through a marijuana filter. As the track's about to conclude the band switch gears into an exceptionally funky riff that promises a musical journey to surprise and delight. Then after 20 seconds it just fades out. End of song. When it could have developed into something extraordinary. Finally, 'Flying High' is an uptempo AC/DC blues-rock-with-a-flash-of-pop number, let down by a threadbare chorus when it needs fat multi-layered harmonies in the vein of 'Eliminator'. The stripped back blueprint has made them shy away from that style, to this song's detriment.
The album's sound is also contentious and the culprit is Rick Rubin, a serial offender in the loudness wars. Like his work on Metallica's Death Magnetic, 'La Futura' is very compressed and mastered extremely high. At first it sounds impressive and ballsy, but when turned up gets quite uncomfortable to the ears with the treble range painfully sharp and the whole thing distorting. When an album sounds worse at a high volume you know something is wrong.
In spite of the flaws 'La Futura' is still the best record ZZ Top have made in decades. Whilst not a complete return to the seventies sparseness it actually feels like a ZZ Top Greatest Hits album, comprised of new tunes that contain the finest elements of their past recordings. The guys play with a wonderful energy and spirit too, clearly enjoying doing what they love without trying to be something they're not. Fans of their 70's and 80's output will find much to like on this record - just don't turn it up too loud.
'La Futura' is out now via American Recordings/Mercury Records.
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