Pretty much everything ZZ Top has done for the last twenty-five years has been a joke. An amiable joke, it’s true, but a joke nonetheless. A man’s gotta eat. Billy Gibbons is an amazing player, though; and like many of his brethren, a true scholar of what he’s doing. This is the rarest of things here: a person that knows what’s what explaining it without pretense or ulterior motive.
Here and there, you hear a real ooh or aah sneak out of the guy while he’s playing what is for him a mundane, workaday thing. He’s remembering the pleasure he got out of discovering it. It’s an old man, fishing through his old toy box, finding his old treasures.
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“It's an old man, fishing through his old toy box, finding his old treasures.”
…or the oohs and aahs are lil’ “thank yous” to the brethren he’s channeling. You know, “thanks for stopping by, fellas.”
One is as good as the other.
"Pretty much everything ZZ Top has done for the last twenty-five years has been a joke."
I can't blame the guy for taking the money, but it's sad that Billy Gibbons' incredible talent ended up as over-produced, mass-market junk.
I realized years ago that listening to anything new from them would be terribly disappointing, so I just replay the old stuff.
Have to give credit for some great moments and at least giving some a glimpse of what is possible.