Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: ZZ Top
Label: Universal Music Group
Release: 2012
Length: 39:28
Rating: 3.5/5
The hardy Texan trio ZZ Top are back with new music after nine years. Their vision of rock culture lives in the basic lineup: a hard-hitting rhythm section and an eternal tribute to the guitar as the universal rock instrument. Sonically, La Futura keeps pace with the times. This time around, unlike in their golden era in the mid-eighties, the guys in ZZ Top breathed soul into the music with classic instruments and used electronics only as seasoning. La Futura brings a little under forty minutes of greasy sound. ZZ Top never made overlong albums; they always made sure there was just enough music. From 1970 the trio had a slow climb, then commercially successful albums in the mid-eighties and something close to languishing in the nineties, inspiration-wise, of course. Their bank accounts were inversely proportional. I Gotsta Get Paid uses a slang verb and is a reworking of 25 Lighters by their fellow Houstonians DJ DMD and his buddies Lil’ Keke and Fat Pat. With that, ZZ Top showed they appreciate good music, no matter the style. Chartreuse and Consumption are rhythmically extremely similar, and it’s a shame they were put on the record back to back, since they sound like two halves of one rock suite.
Guitarist Billy Gibbons has always stressed that his roots are in the blues and that he respects the old masters of the genre above all others. That’s why in ZZ Top he always started from the core essence of the style and wove mighty rock riffs into it with inventive, deeply felt guitar playing. A form tougher than a bear steak is the perfect fit for Gibbons’ voice. We know he was never a singer who won you over with incredible chops, but with him, what counts is honesty and how fully he lives inside the music. Despite being past sixty, he seems to get more reliable all the time, believing even harder in whatever he sings. Producer Rick Rubin has revitalized plenty of careers over the past fifteen years, from Johnny Cash to Neil Diamond. With his help, ZZ Top made an album that ranks among the better ones in their vast catalog. Over the years we’ve read plenty of stories about how Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and bassist Dusty Hill are at each other’s throats, how they each travel on their own bus, and how they only lay eyes on each other a few seconds before walking on stage. Their 2009 Ljubljana show was very solid, and you can believe those stories or not. True fans don’t care much either way. What matters is that the ZZ Top guys managed to put together a very decent record that is first and foremost a tribute to the blues. These very mature gentlemen also sing about love, or rather the pain that so often comes with it. The old dogs fit quite a range of moods onto La Futura: Over You is a typical ZZ Top ballad, Heartache in Blue a near-funky romp. Flyin’ High could just as well be an Ac/Dc song, while It’s Too Easy Manana is rolling-along sleepy.
Computer and synthesizer effects are of course still around in the new millennium on La Futura, but they show up more or less in the spirit of today’s recession. As they say, less is more, all for the good cause of enriching the record, or rather the musical ideas. ZZ Top haven’t fallen into the self-repetition trap like so many others. They’ve also held the same lineup together for almost forty-five years, which is certainly no small feat. Even if money is what keeps them together, the new album is extremely welcome and very solid. Blues, boogie and southern rock are a constant on their records, but this time it’s certain they’ve made an album that will do for maybe the next nine years. Even if it happens to be their last….
Lineup
Billy Gibbons – vocals, guitar
Dusty Hill – bass
Frank Beard – drums
Production
Rick Rubin, Billy Gibbons
Track list
1 I Gotsta Get Paid
2 Chartreuse
3 Consumption
4 Over You
5 Heartache In Blue
6 I Don’t Wanna Lose, Lose, You
7 Flyin’ High
8 It’s Too Easy Mañana
9 Big Shiny Nine
10 Have A Little Mercy
