Album: Tres Hombres
Artist: ZZ Top
Release Date: July 26, 1973
Genre: Blues Rock
Length: 0:33:32
Label: London Records
Producer: Bill Ham
Rolling Stone Top 500 (2012): #490
Rolling Stone Top 500 (2020): N/A
1,001 Album Book: Yes
The most iconic facial hair in all of music...
ZZ Top consists of members Billy Gibbons (lead vocals/guitar), Dusty Hill (backing vocals/bass guitar), and Frank Beard (drums), which is exactly what the title of the album describes, Tres Hombres. The album didn't receive acclaim as soon as it was released but eventually would deserve the praise when it went on to peak on the 1974 Billboard Pop Albums at #8 and go on to receive gold certification in the US.
Crunchy guitar riffs, eruption-inducing drum fills, a lively bass along with a voice that has equal parts country as it does rock combine together make this album distinctly ZZ Top. The opening riff in the first song, "Waitin' for the Bus" gives the listener a perfect introduction to ZZ Top if they have never heard any of their music before, as many people only recognize their beards and not the songs. The song is a perfect depiction of their style and it's interesting you can tell the faces Gibbons would make while performing this song, as it almost breathes off the face-scrunching type of feel a lot of blues rock artists make. The following song "Jesus Just Left Chicago" is brought in without any notice as the transition between the last song and track two is seamless which is very hard to do from a production standpoint, especially when the two songs are vastly different tempos and feels. The drum part in the beginning of "Master of Sparks" brings in an awesome intensity that is quickly contrasted with the syncopated cymbal part and is a cool break from the heavy guitar sound of the first three tracks on the album. ZZ Top then shows off their more mellow side with a ballad in "Hot, Blue and Righteous" which is the direct opposite of the previous bunch, without ever leaving the patented ZZ Top feel.
The entire album is almost a build up to the ZZ Top smash hit "La Grange", an epic blues rock jam. The song starts off with a very iconic clean guitar riff accompanied with Frank Beard playing on the rims of his drum set. When Gibbons comes in with his mumbly voice, it continues to build up until a sweet release with an epic drum fill and added distortion on the otherwise familiar guitar riff.
Along with "La Grange", most songs on the album feature a vocal part from Gibbons that isn't robust. Most songs have more of a "singing" part due to the instruments instead of the usual singing of the voice. Gibbons is also not the best singer as a majority of the time it sounds like he's mumbling, but one could argue that it fits in with the style that ZZ Top has perfected and adds a mysterious quality around the entire group. But that might just be because we don't know what they look like behind all that beard hair!
Tres Hombres has a perfect mix of good and bad. The songs are all distinctly ZZ Top which is great, but also where it has some issues. The mastery in which each member of the group plays their respective instruments is ear candy. Each individual note, chord, riff, fill, cymbal crash, and solo fit together and fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle that is Tres Hombres. This puzzle however would just be missing a few edge pieces due to the way Gibbons sounds and due to how repetitive some songs are. While they aren't bad, some of the songs start to fall into a trap of sounding very similar to one another and the only songs that stand out are the ones with distinctive qualities. Gibbons' voice is great for the style of music, but it's hard to completely enjoy his reserved, gritty style of singing when you almost can't understand him. I recommend listening to my list of favorite songs on this album as the others are more or less the same as the others. If you want to listen to all of the songs though, you'll eventually be blessed with ZZ Top's facial hair growing genes...
Favorite Songs: "La Grange", "Sheik", "Master of Sparks"
Least Favorite Song: "Precious and Grace"
Production Quality:
Mix = 8/10
Innovation = 7/10
Songwriting Quality:
Arrangement = 8/10 (songs flow very well together but are repetitive at times)
Lyricism = 5/10 (not deep or robust)
Instrumentation Quality:
Vocal Timbre = 6/10
Instrumental Timbre = 9/10
Group Chemistry = 10/10
Overall Likability:
My Personal Rating = 7/10
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Any confusion on how the rating is weighted/calculated, please look at my "About" page.
Remember this is all my opinion! Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any comments!
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