Degüello

Degüello
Studio album by ZZ Top
Publication (s)	August 27, 1979
Label (s)	Warner bros.
Genre (s)	Blues rock , southern rock
Title (number)	10
running time	34min 03s
occupation	Billy Gibbons : vocals , guitar Dusty Hill : vocals, bass Frank Beard : drums
production	Bill Ham
chronology Tejas 1977 Degüello El Loco 1981
Single releases 1979 I thank you 1979 Cheap sunglasses

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Degüello   AT 19th 07/01/1980 (2 weeks)   US 24 11/24/1979 (43 weeks)

Singles

I thank you   US 34 January 19, 1980 (11 weeks) Cheap sunglasses   US 89 07/12/1980 (2 weeks)

Degüello is the sixth album by the American blues rock band ZZ Top . It was released on Warner Bros. Records in August 1979 . The album reached platinum status in the US in 1984 for 1,000,000 units sold. The album title Degüello describes a military horn signal that was first used by Mexican troops in 1836.

useful information

After the previous album " Tejas " and the separation from their record company London Records , the band had taken a break. Singer and guitarist Billy Gibbons stayed in Great Britain and France for a long time and let the contact with the other band members fall asleep. When the band got back together, neither Gibbons nor bassist Dusty Hill had shaved, since then the two musicians have appeared with the full beards that have become their trademark .

The band was confronted with the burgeoning punk movement and tried to hold onto its blues roots while at the same time diversifying its musical spectrum. Synthesizers were used for the first time in “Cheap Sunglasses” . The song is intended as an homage to the musical role models of the band who wore such "cheap sunglasses". The idea for “I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide” arose after attending a concert by Freddie King , with the song the band tries to describe the “passionate intensity of this experience, this kind of ubiquitous depravity”. There are two cover versions on the album . The first track of the album "I Thank You" was written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter and recorded for the first time in 1968 by Sam & Dave . With "Dust My Broom" the band reinterpreted a blues standard that goes back to a recording by Robert Johnson from 1936 ("I Believe I'll Dust My Broom"). In the credits to the album, however, Elmore James is named as the author , it is still not clear who composed the piece.

The album title Degüello ( Spanish for "carnage") stands for a horn signal of the same name that the Mexican troops used during the 1836 Battle of the Alamo . It expresses that no protection is asked or granted.

For the CD version in the so-called six - pack , the album should actually be reworked in 1985, but due to legal differences over "Dust My Broom" Degüello had to be put on hold and instead fell back on the successor El Loco . Degüello was later released on CD in its original version.

Track list

1. I Thank You ( Isaac Hayes , David Porter) - 3:23
2. She Loves My Automobile (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 2:23
3. I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 4:45
4. A Fool for Your Stockings (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 4:15
5. Manic Mechanic (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 2:36
6. Dust My Broom ( Elmore James ) - 3:06
7. Lowdown in the Street (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 2:49
8. Hi Fi Mama (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 2:22
9. Cheap Sunglasses (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 4:46
10. Esther Be the One (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 3:30

reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic considers the album to be the best since the 1973 album " Tres Hombres ". The sound of ZZ Top has become harder, it is the band's wildest album in terms of lyrics, in contrast to this the production is very streamlined. For Erlewine, "Degüello" is one of ZZ Top's strongest albums. Lester Bangs from the music magazine Rolling Stone calls the album a "skillful kick in the bowels" and sums up that "Punks wear razor blades, but the band play them live". Jaan Uhelszki from super70s.com notes that the band is close to the limit of good taste with songs like the pounding “I Thank You”, the lewd “Hi Fi Mama” and the cocky “I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide” was, but that she didn't care as long as she was entertaining.

Web links

• Degüello at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Sources chart placements: UK / US
2. ↑ Certifications: ZZ Top - Degüello. RIAA, accessed March 18, 2010 . 
3. ↑ Holger Stratmann (Ed.): RockHard Encyclopedia: 700 of the most interesting rock bands from the last 30 years . Rock Hard, 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , pp. 477 .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Steven Rosen: ZZ Top: From A to ZZ. (No longer available online.) Guitar World, October 22, 2009, archived from the original on June 19, 2010 ; accessed on March 21, 2010 (English). 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Jeb Wright: From A to Z: An Interview with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. (No longer available online.) Classic Rock Revisited, archived from the original on December 13, 2010 ; accessed on August 31, 2012 . 
6. ^ Tally Johnson: Ghosts of the South Carolina Midlands . The History Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1-59629-200-0 , pp. 83 .
7. ↑ Cosmic Hearse: Tejas
8. ^ Lester Bangs: ZZ Top: Degüello . In: Rolling Stone . March 6, 1980.
9. ↑ ZZ Top - Deguello ( Memento from November 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive )