ZZ Top - Eliminator

One of the first songs I learned on guitar was "Tush" and to this day it's one of my favourite songs to play. I still remember the first time I heard "Tube Snake Boogie" at a youth group dance ... the irony isn't lost on me, and it was so good. We yelled for it to be played again so we could sing along with the part where he's singing about the sister. Good times.

When '83 rolled around, videos were suddenly a thing, and boy howdy ZZ Top managed to marry cool with the blues, big beards, cool cars and chicks. Boom. Suddenly the band was more than that little ol' band from Texas. With Eliminator, ZZ Top's eighth album, the band was propelled into the heart of the mainstream. They may have had several gold and a platinum album under their collective belts, but as with all things, there are levels, and holy moly Eliminator was a whole 'nother level for the band.

The album had legs (how could I not?) and for a couple of years the band was riding high. The videos were great, and the songs were too. Except for "TV Dinners," a song where the video was better than the song. Oddly I'd sort of blotted the song from my memory and when I heard it again for the first time in decades I was like, "What the truck is that?" While it wasn't an actual hit, the local rock station here played "Got Me Under Pressure" so often I thought it was.

It's not all biscuits and gravy, but when it was good, it was so good. The big songs here more than make up for some of the less inspired boogie woogie songs. Which sort of sounds like a shot, but honestly it's not. It's just that there are some truly jaw-dropping songs here, and when the band delivers a merely good song it feels like a letdown. After all, they can't all be winners, but it doesn't mean there are any losers here either. Dang, even "TV Dinners" has some redeeming moments. Billy Gibbons' may not venture too far out of his comfort zone as a player and frankly he doesn't need to. The guy is an absolutely killer player and while it may seem like he's just playing the same solo on ten tracks, he's got an impressive array of riffs and pinch harmonics and when necessary can unleash a blistering salvo. Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, the other two legs on the milking stool, more than keep things on an even keel.

Eliminator was a wonderful anomaly in '83 and proved that good old-fashioned rock and roll was alive and well. It sounds as good today as it did all those years ago.

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