Customer Reviews

Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top (2CD)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a ZZ Top fan since high school over 25 years ago, so it's very hard to give this set only three stars. It must be done however, because there is absolutely nothing new on this CD. Now I'm all for "Best Of" works, but ZZ Top has produced too many (5 is my count), and I am against continually repackaging the same old fare in order to generate sales.

After 35 years as a band, ZZ Top has one hot catalog of tasty tunes. They should take advantage of this by doing CDs featuring remixes, new recordings of the classics, and live versions, along with hot covers and new works.

Hopefully something will happen to light a fire under the little ole band from Texas. I wonder if Rick Rubens would like a new project...

I first took notice of ZZ Top just a couple years ago. A country music fan for sixteen years (all my life, up to that point), I jumped at a new album that came out: SHARP DRESSED MEN, a tribute to a band called ZZ Top. I bought the album, enjoyed the songs...bought ZZ Top's GREATEST HITS...and became a fan.

I'm from Central Illinois. Every now and then, I get a little notice of the music that goes on in Texas. Now, I can't begin to touch the entire iceberg (let's face it, I'm from a rural farming county), or even get ahold of it's tip. I know I'm not a thirty-five year ZZ Top fan. But that doesn't mean I don't like these guys, or respect the awesome talent they have.

RANCHO TEXICANO collects some incredible tunes (what I'm guessing is ZZ Top's best). From the haunting blues (evident throughout the album, really) of "Brown Sugar" and "Just Got Paid" and "Blue Jean Blues," to the sexually charged "La Grange," "I Thank You," "Tush," "Legs" (oh, what a classic that one is!), and "Tube Snake Boogie," these songs are classic rock n rollers with a mix of everything else. You want trend-setting rockers? How about "Francene," "Heard It on the X," "Cheap Sunglasses," "Gimme All Your Lovin," and "Velcro Fly" (this last one got immortalized in Stephen King's epic novel, "The Wastelands").

Well, let's face it: you know who ZZ Top is. Maybe you aren't as familiar with their music as you want to be (or should be), but you know the name and you know the look. They're icons--and that's a lot to be said for three guys who just play their simple rock/blues songs. Whether you like rock, punk, pop, country, or blues, ZZ Top has something for you--probably because they started the damned thing! Buy RANCHO TEXICANO, give it a listen, and then look me in the eye and say that ZZ Top isn't one of the best bands out there. If you can do it, I'll personally refund your expenses.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am just a simple rancher from South Texas,who was raised
on Padre Island...Bob Hall Pier and Mustang Island, down
around Corpus Christi,Texas.I was a high school student at
Mary Carroll High School during the late 1970's...1978 was
my graduating year.Music was so different back then,what War,Heart,Led Zeppelin,Lynard Skynard,Eric Clapton,George Harr-
ison,Little Feat,Santana,The Allman Brothers,The Doobie Brothers
,Pink Floyd,The Eagles,and besides ZZ Top,my other favorite
Band...Steely Dan.....we certainly had no shortage of great
talent....and there were many,many more great acts touring back
then.
Now,the meat and potatoes of my short essay on The ZZ Top...
It's very simple folks....in 1969,3 young Texas guys met in a
small studio,and all of our lives were changed forever.Thirty
Five years of recording and performing,and nary a complaint
from this Texas Trio.Billy Gibbons on Guitar,Dusty Hill on Bass
,and Drummer Frank Beard have just finished 35 years on the
road baby.Not until there 2003 tour,did they not have the same
three guys...Frank had surgery,and missed 2 weeks;however,his
drum technician was waiting in the wings,and they never missed
a beat.My title reference refers to a question concerning the
tone that ZZ Top was going for during the Tejas and Deguello
sessions..."4 flat tires on a muddy road " was the answer Billy
Gibbons gave.I recommend that you buy Rancho Texicano this
morning,and if you're smart,you'll buy a backup package...the
same way you buy insurance...Do you want to Blow your Top?

unless rhino is going to put out the zz top catalog in the near future remastered with original mixes unlike the six pack collection, this set was a waste of time. everything that's on here is on the box set. most die hard fans have already bought the box set and it's four disc so more for your money. i guess if you didn't buy the box set yet this would be the way to go but, most people do have it.

This is the best Greatest Hits Collection put together for ZZ Top. Their first GH album fell short because it didn't include Velcro Fly & Stages, those tracks are here along with remixes and all the hits the band is known for. Casual fans looking to get a taste of ZZ Top will be treated to a feast with this killer collection!
This is one of my favorite CDs out right now along with Mr.Deviant's "Techno Obsession" which is a mix of power rock and hard dance instrumental music.

Disc ONE of Rancho Texicano is the ZZ Top collection I have been waiting to materialize for years. FINALY, a truly definitive gathering of the essential ZZ Top from the Warner Brothers years when Billy Gibbons played good raunchy blues guitar straight up - no synths, no drum machines, no distortion pedals. And while there remain arguments over content ['Manic Mechanic' over 'Thunderbird' for one], it touches on ZZ Top as they were: a dirty, gritty blues band with a great sense of humor, long before they became cartoon characters with long beards passing out the keys that magically turned boys into chick magnets. From the chug of 'Brown Sugar' [not in any way, shape or form the Stones song], to the stinging blues of 'Just Got Back from Baby's', [blues guitar extraordinare that one Eric Clapton could only dream of these days] to the great riffing on 'Just Got Paid', with it's Johhny Winter inspired slide work [and its sped up cousin 'Heard It on the X'] to the Stones meets Johhny Winter of 'Francene' to the twin kill of 'Waitin' for the Bus/ Jesus Just Left Chicago' to the slow Peter Green/ Fleetwood Mac inspired minor key blues [think 'Love That Burns' and 'Looking for Somebody'] 'Blue Jean Blues' to the back beat driven, tongue in cheek of 'I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide' and 'A Fool for Your Stockings' and the funky cool of Isaac Hayes and David Porter's 'I Thank You' to the crowning song of the great Deguello, 'Cheap Sunglasses', it's 75 minutes of almost totally essential ZZ Top.

Disc two however is a collection of 'after the fall' ZZ Top. The over the Top innuendo of 'Tube Snake Boogie' and 'Pearl Necklace' leading into the mega-platinum MTV success years of Eliminator and Afterburner. Taken on its own, Eliminator remains an album of great songs, though every song here [and from Afterburner, except the ballad 'Rough Boy'] is driven by a four-on-the-floor dance beat: thump-thump-thump-thump and guitars with enough distortion to make one think he is listening to a Ratt record. Not the natural distortion of a guitar and a Marshall stack turned up to ten, but the unnatural big fuzz of 80s hair bands... which in effect ZZ Top was except their hair was hanging down from their chins. The two tracks from Recycler, 'Double Back' [which did "double" duty in one of the "Back" to the Future films too, I think] and 'My Heads in Mississippi' are better, leaning back but not returning to their roots, but the inclusion of the terrible 'Viva Las Vegas' and a 12" mix of 'Velcro Fly' leave me scratching my head. NOTHING else deserved to be on this collection, like 'Dirty Dog', 'TV Dinners' or 'Bad Girl' from Eliminator? We're not talking about a criminal offense here for NOT including these; not like X leaving the 12" mix of 'Wild Thing' off their Beyond and Back collection. The inclusion of the promo only live take of 'Cheap Sunglasses' takes me further back to the days of real radio, Q102 in Dallas played it a lot, back when there was real Album Oriented Radio [AOR]. [Ask your parents if you don't remember.]

Overall? Four and a half for Disc One, a GENEROUS Three and a Half for Disc Two, FOUR Les Pauls!

Or maybe the place to end up for casual fans who just want one ZZ Top album in their collection.

"Rancho Texicano" gathers (most of) the best of ZZ Top's 70s albums on disc one, and the 80s MTV hits on disc two, and while they shouldn't have ended the set with 12" remixes of "Legs" and "Velcro Fly" (which are here in their original versions as well), the tracks selection is generally good, even if it largely ignores the band's 90's efforts.

Disc one presents the tough, bluesy grooves of "La Grange", "Just Got Back From Baby's", and "Cheap Sunglasses", while classics like "Tube Snake Boogie", "Pearl Necklace", and the radio hit "Sharp Dressed Man" are on disc two. This is not everything you could ever want from ZZ Top, and certain selections are debatable, but unless you want to pick up the 4-disc "Smoke, Chrome & BBQ" box set right away, "Rancho Texicano" provides the best available introduction to the little ol' band from Texas.

I am not a hardcore fan of ZZ Top, but there are more than a few songs that made this a must buy purchase for me. Although I was familiar with and like some their early hits like "La Grange," "Tush," and "Cheap Sunglasses," it was not until buying their multimillion selling "Eliminator" in 1993 that I started to get into them. I know that some longtime fans disliked it when ZZ Top glossed up their sound with synthesizers, but to me that's exactly when they found their niche. Although I'll get shot by some for writing this, when I am in the mood for something more traditionally bluesy, my first instinct is to go to Stevie Ray Vaughn and not early ZZ Top. They followed "Eliminator" in 1985 with the release of the equally addictive "Afterburner," which includes the massive hit "Roughboy," which may not be the greatest ZZ Top song in the mind of purists, but I could listen to it forever. The same goes for "Stages," "Pearl Necklace," "Sleeping Bag,' just to name a few.

This 2 Disc compilation is sequenced chronologically and breaks down the group's hits into their pre-synth and post-synth periods and it seems to hit all the right notes. Some have correctly mentioned that the last 3 selections on Disc 2 are absolutely unnecessary (these include a second version of "Cheap Sunglasses" (Live), and remixed/dance versions "Legs" and "Velcro Fly," which are already in the collection in their much better original versions) and that by not having them, it could have left room for other songs that may be missing.

If you only like the pre or post synth ZZ Top, you may find yourself disappointed by this selection, but in all fairness it represents their very best and both periods produced worthwhile material. (...) I wound up making a 1 Disc personal version that took what I thought was the very best for me. Almost of the hits are here and if that is what you are looking for, you could do a lot worse. Also, this collection has good inserts that give new fans and may remind some older fans of how these guys got to where they are. I do wish that they would have gotten into some of the behind the song stuff, but it's not a must for any collection. I give this collection a solid 4 stars for its thoroughness, great remastering, and just because I finally have some of my favorites in one place. The 1 point penalty is for the shoddy 3 song choices on Disc 2, but I can live with it now that I have made my own version as I never want to hear these remixes again.

Well if the "Best Of" and "Greatest Hits" weren't enough for you, here's the 2-disc "Very Best Of". 38 tracks including most everything you could want from these three Texans. Sure there's a few missing still, but this does include "La Grange", "Tush", "Gimme All Your Lovin'", and "Legs". As far as I can tell, all the big hits are present, making the casual fan happy, if not the fanatic. Actually I think this is a bit much for alot of people, and some others probably have most of this anyway. So, I guess you just have to decide what you want, the hits, or the best? Of course I'd take either one over a "Pearl Necklace".

This latest 2-cd collection called "Rancho Texicano: The Very Best Of ZZ Top" doesn't quite live up to it's name! Mostly due to the fact there are some serious deletions that could have easily made this the ultimate ZZ Top collection on two discs. The first disc contains songs from the following ZZ Top albums, "First Album", "Rio Grande Mud", "Tres Hombres", "Fandango", "Tejas" and "Deguello". Now on to the songs that should have been on the first disc, where is "Balinese" and "Nasty Dogs & Funky Kings" from ZZ Top's "Fandango" album? Both these songs were great! Instead you get the mediocre "Mexican Blackbird" and "Thunderbird". Also, where is "She Loves My Automobile" from the "Deguello" album? Instead you get "A Fool For Your Stockings"! Also missing is "Lowdown In The Street" from the "Deguello" album. Some of the songs on disc one include "Brown Sugar", "Just Got paid", "La Grange", "Waitin' For The Bus", "Jesus Just Left Chicago", "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers", "Tush", "Heard It On The X", "It's Only Love",and "Cheap Sunglasses" to name a few. Disc two contains songs from the following ZZ Top albums, "El Loco", "Eliminator", "Afterburner", "Recycler" and one song from 1992's remastered "Greatest Hits". The second disc fares somewhat better but does have a number of deletions that should have been included such as "Give It Up" and "Concrete And Steel" from 1990's "Recycler" album. Some songs included on the second disc are "Tube Snake Boogie", "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man", "Legs", "Got Me Under Pressure", "Stages", "Sleeping Bag" and "Doubleback" to name a few. Also included is a "live" version of "Cheap Sunglasses" and the 12" remixes of "Legs" and "Velcro Fly" all of which could have been eliminated and replaced by the above mentioned deletions. The bottom line, this collection (other than the much more expensive box set) is far superior to any of the past ZZ Top hits collections. It's not a perfect, but darn close. The remastering is excellent and there's a ten page booklet which includes interesting information about the band. Recommended!