Rio Grande Mud

Rio Grande Mud
Studio album by ZZ Top
Publication (s)	April 4th 1972
Label (s)	London Records
Genre (s)	Blues rock
Title (number)	10
running time	40min 51s
occupation	Billy Gibbons : vocals , guitar Dusty Hill : vocals, bass Frank Beard : drums
production	Bill Ham
Studio (s)	Brian's Recording Studio, Tyler , Texas
chronology ZZ Top's First Album 1971 Rio Grande Mud Tres Hombres 1973
Single release 1972 Francine

Rio Grande Mud is the second album by the American blues rock band ZZ Top . It was released on London Records in April 1972, and Warner released the album in North America . It was the band's first album to make it onto the Billboard 200 , where it reached number 104. The single Francine reached number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 .

useful information

The songs were written jointly by the band members, and manager Bill Ham, who also produced the album, worked on one part . The songwriting took place during the tour for the previous album, the management organized tour breaks during which the band could go to the studio. The band wrote the piece Francine together with the songwriter Steve Perron. He was a fan of the Rolling Stones , which is why the song is audibly influenced by the Rolling Stones hit Brown Sugar . Billy Gibbons still used a Fender Stratocaster for the recordings , which he no longer used live from 1973. The songs Chevrolet and Francine sang bassist Dusty Hill . With Apologies to Pearly was the first instrumental on an album of the band.

In 1985 the album was re-edited for the CD version.

Track list

1. Francine (Gibbons, Kenny Cordray, Steve Perron) - 3:33
2. Just Got Paid (Gibbons, Ham) - 4:49
3. Mushmouth Shoutin ' (Gibbons, Ham) - 3:41
4. Ko Ko Blue (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 4:56
5. Chevrolet (Gibbons) - 3:47
6. Apologies to Pearly (Beard, Gibbons, Ham, Hill) - 2:39
7. Bar-BQ (Gibbons, Ham) - 3:34
8. Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell (Gibbons) - 7:39
9. Whiskey'n Mama (Beard, Gibbons, Ham, Hill) - 3:20
10. Down Brownie (Gibbons) - 2:53

reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic notices the harder and more powerful sound of the album compared to the previous album and considers the pieces of Rio Grande Mud to be much better than those of the debut. He also notes that some tracks would sound a little one-dimensional with their distorted blues rock and boogie influences. Jon Koegel from the music magazine Rolling Stone regrets that ZZ Top had only achieved regional success despite two notable albums, and praises the musicians as talented and promising. The band sounds more like English blues than an American band and is comparable to John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and early Fleetwood Mac . With a little promotion and more airplay , the band will make a breakthrough. The online magazine laut.de notes that “the second trick 'Rio Grande Mud' ... couldn't tear anything decisive”. The title of the album Rio Grande Blood by the American industrial metal band Ministry is a parody of "Rio Grande Mud".

literature

• John Koegel: ZZ Top: Rio Grande Mud . In: Rolling Stone . July 20, 1972.

Web links

• Rio Grande Mud at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Billy F. Gibbons, Tom Vickers: Billy F Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead . MBI Publishing Company, 2005, ISBN 978-0-7603-2269-7 , pp. 37 .
2. ↑ Steven Rosen: ZZ Top: From A to ZZ. (No longer available online.) Guitar World, October 22, 2009, archived from the original on January 9, 2010 ; accessed on February 8, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ZZ Top Biography. laut.de , accessed on March 15, 2010 .