ZZ Top - Rhythmeen (RCA) Mention the name ZZ Top and to many it will conjure images of crazy gold-prospector beards, a red hot-rod and guitars spinning like windmills.
The trio's best-known hits Sharp Dressed Man, Legs and Gimme All Your Lovin' may have been well over 10 years ago, but everyone seems to remember them.
But ZZ Top were around long before the album Eliminator and its satirically (we hoped, in the politically correct 1980s) sexist videos. They have been pumping out their Tex-Mex blues since the death throes of the 1960s, and new release Rhythmeen indicates they see no reason to change course now. Billy Gibbons' husky vocals and growling blues licks are still the order of the day.
The Top are good at what they do: though he's no Carlos Santana, Gibbons' smoky guitar playing is at times outstanding (check the solos on What's Up With That ) and drummer Frank Beard (despite the name, famously the only one without facial hair) provides some exotic flourishes. Dusty Hill's bass, as ever, is barely noticeable.
Of the few tracks worth singling out, the best is probably the less formulaic My Mind is Gone, while the provocatively titled Zipper Job could be the first (probably) rock song about sex changes (apparently). Tex-Mex imagery - deserts, cacti et cetera - drift through the mind without invitation while listening to this record.
However, while everyone likes a bit of no-nonsense blues rock, particularly of the tequila-infused variety, Rhythmeen fails to interest for its full 55 minutes. While Captain Beefheart was forging this type of blues into new shapes 30 years ago, ZZ Top are still content to merely use the same mould time and again.
