ZZ Top's First Album

ZZ Top's First Album
Studio album by ZZ Top
Publication (s)	16th January 1971
Label (s)	London Records
Genre (s)	Blues rock
Title (number)	10
running time	35:16
occupation	Billy Gibbons : vocals , guitar Dusty Hill : vocals, bass Frank Beard (as "Rube Beard"): drums
production	Bill Ham
Studio (s)	Brian's Recording Studio, Tyler , Texas
chronology - ZZ Top's First Album Rio Grande Mud 1972
Single release January 1971 (Somebody Else Been) Shakin 'Your Tree

ZZ Top's First Album is the debut album by the American blues rock band ZZ Top . It was released on London Records in January 1971, and Warner released the album in North America . Neither the pre-released single "(Somebody Else Been) Shakin 'Your Tree" nor the album itself could place in the charts .

useful information

Billy Gibbons and manager Bill Ham put together the first line-up of ZZ Top in the spring of 1970 by hiring first drummer Frank Beard and then bassist Dusty Hill, both of whom were Gibbons' preferred candidates. The recordings took place at Brian's Recording Studio in Tyler , Texas . The album was manager Bill Ham produced , which is also located on some songs songwriting involved. Billy Gibbons later said that the main reason the album was recorded was because the band had the opportunity to release their album on the same record label that signed the Rolling Stones . In Gibbons' opinion, the band stayed true to their roots and recorded a blues rock album that was influenced by bands such as The Animals , The Beatles , The Kinks or The Who .

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

Track list

1. (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree (Gibbons) - 2:32
2. Brown Sugar (Gibbons) - 5:22
3. Squank (Gibbons, Ham, Hill) - 2:46
4. Goin 'Down to Mexico (Gibbons, Ham, Hill) - 3:26
5. Old Man (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) - 3:23
6. Neighbor, Neighbor (Gibbons) - 2:18
7. Certified Blues (Beard, Gibbons, Ham) - 3:25
8. Bedroom Thang (Gibbons) - 4:37
9. Just Got Back from Baby’s (Gibbons, Ham) - 4:07
10. Backdoor Love Affair (Gibbons, Ham) - 3:20

reception

In a contemporary review in Billboard Magazine , the band is referred to as a "hot rock band with blues bonds," and the single "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree" and the track "Brown Sugar" are a plus for the album and showed Gibbons classic blues singing. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic writes that the album is not perfect, but laid the foundation for the band's sound and attitude, and calls it a "dirty little blues rock album".

Web links

• ZZ Top's First Album on Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gary Hartman: The History of Texas Music . Texas A&M University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-60344-002-8 , pp. 217 .
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). 
3. ↑ Album Reviews: ZZ Top's First Album . In: Billboard Magazine . January 30, 1971, p. 46 .