### ZZ Top: Eliminator

#### 22/09/10 || Habakuk

##### Introduction

Ever wondered where all these rock ‘n roll riffs which Motörhead proficiently and constantly metalize come from? Ever wondered how girls and rock music matched at all? Ever wondered what got K involved with all that facial hair? Look no further. ZZ fucken Top. Everybody knows how these guys look, yet I don’t see many Metalheads go around and speak about their back catalogue, let alone praise parts of it. The only impact they seem to have had on metal dangles from various chins throughout the scene. That’s a damn shame though, because they sure delivered some quality shit throughout their career. They’ve had enough time by now, after all they’ve been in the same lineup for 41 , that’s right, forty-one years. Personally, I’m especially fond of what they did in the mid-80s with “Eliminator” and “Afterburner” (and tried to replicate with “Recycler” in ’90), going for a more stadium-oriented, classic 80s, stomping rock sound while keeping enough of the Hendrix influence. As this is the first album of that series, it makes sense to start off with that one, I thought to myself. And here it goes.

##### Songwriting

8.5 We get 11 songs of a rather radio-friendly length that have a straight flow, pretty linear 4/4 structures and move from a slow, bluesy vibe (“I need you tonight”, “TV dinners”) to fast rockers like “Bad girl” or “I got the six”. Now when I say fast, I don’t mean Yngwie Malmsteen vs. Vader fast, obviously, but discernible variation is present throughout the album. Which can’t be said about all of Malmsteen’s or Vader’s work. Within the thus set fast / slow boundaries there’s a whole bunch of anthemic rock smash hits, including the opening triplet of awesome, “Gimme all you lovin”/ “Got me under pressure” / “Sharp dressed man”. Finally a band whose more well-known songs are actually among the best stuff they put out, not one that produces “radio singles” that sound like they were recorded by a different band. “Eliminator” is an album where the complete package is just right. There’s no showing off, but all members do the right thing in service of the band and make it a consistent, catchy, smooth listen from start to finish. Granted, I mostly skip “I need you tonight”, but that’s just because I listen to this stuff in my car a lot, and blues slows me down on my wreckage trails. So, everyone with a slight interest in “classic” Rock music should either have this already or go out and buy it.

##### Production

7. Pretty quiet, but given this band is a three-piece, at least everything shines through as it should. The drums are relatively punchy and prominent which helps driving the songs, much to my appreciation. Guitar and bass complement each other well, and the odd synth isn’t too high in the mix, so what more can you ask for? This isn’t a typical 80s disco production with lots of drum reverb and massive synthies like the follow-up “Afterburner”, but the sound retains a decidedly rock ‘n rollish vibe. American Scientists have found out that this is a good thing, and who am I to argue?

##### Guitars

10. Oh babey. Billy Gibbons lays it down, president-style Truly a high point of this album. Listen to the main riff in “Sharp dressed man” without nodding your head in approval and wishing you actually were sharp dressed, inviting dem pretty ladies into your Hot Rod instead of hanging out in front of your screen and reading metal webzines. Gibbons is one of these players that don’t need to keep a barrage of notes raining down on the listener to make their playing sound full. He relies on pauses within and between riffs a lot, letting the other instruments and vocals do their thing, which gives a really experienced and laid-back feel to the songs. The riffs themselves breathe classic rock ‘n roll with a twangy southern edge and his solos, too are top notch. While never going over the top, they work with the songs and pour some more quality sauce on top of them – and you know you can’t get enough of that.

##### Vocals

9. Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill take turns on the mic and both of them suit the underlying music fantastically with their southern accents and strained, melodic singing. However, they don’t move all over the place but stay more or less reserved to let the songs develop on their own, merely accentuating the rhythms. And lemme tell ya, that shit works mighty fine. Just listen to the start of “I got the six” where it goes “Living room, passing time, talking trash, sipping wine, I need something more substantial.” – you’ll see what I mean. Awesome.

##### Bass

8. When not getting the front spot like on his slap solos during “Thug”, Hill doesn’t just go with the flow – I’d say he’s a big part of the flow himself, laying down warm, steady grooves throughout the album. Again, this is not an Atheist album, so don’t expect him to frantically work the frets – the magic of this album lies in its minimalistic approach to awesomeness, mirrored perfectly by Mr. Dusty Hill on bass guitar.

##### Drums

8. There’s an obvious joke about Frank Beard (Guess what that is, huh?!) that I won’t get into at this point. That way the paragraph will be more like the dude’s drumming on Eliminator: Without frills. However, it’s apparent that ol’ Frank could do a lot more if he wanted to. Good thing he doesn’t, because the songs actually profit from his steady backbone beats.

##### Lyrics

7. Girls, hooking up with girls, lack of girls, ex-girls, you know, that sorta thing. Can’t really go wrong with that. Pretty memorable stuff, too. “…cause every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man”

##### Cover art

6. The Eliminator – yeah, that car is called The Eliminator, which is a name suitable for both a Hot Rod and an awesome album. It’s a pretty iconic “mascot”, that goes without saying, but the depiction isn’t the greatest, female forms or not. It looks okay on a thumbnail picture like here, but once you hold it in hands, you notice a few shitty bits.

##### Logo

5. Brown and yellow with long stripes for the double Z. This could go onto the side of a car. Oh, wait…

##### Booklet

2. “The Compact Disc Digital Audio System offers the best possible sound reproduction – on a small, convenient disc. Its remarkable performance is the result of a unique combination of digital storage and laser optics…” You know those booklets, and how they seemingly never have the lyrics in them. This one here has SIX pages and still manages not to contain any lyrics, thank yous of anything. At least there’s another black and white picture of the Eliminator inside. It also has this weird “tribal” or something on the back, but that doesn’t make any sense.

##### Overall and ending rant

Except for the booklet maybe, I’m pretty happy about the minimalistic nature of this album. You might have noticed that for each element I pretty much wrote that it took a back seat – and that kind of sums it up: The band just do what’s necessary, and that’s why it’s so great. They might as well do this and that, you know, include a children’s choir and use more cowbell, but they limit themselves to be awesome and play Rock ‘n Roll. Why? Because they can. A virtue more people in metal should adhere to.

- Information
- Released: 1983
- Label: Warner Bros.
- Website: www.zztop.com
- Band
- Billy Gibbons: guitars, vocals
- Dusty Hill: bass, vocals
- Frank Beard: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Gimme all your lovin’
- 02. Got me under pressure
- 03. Sharp dressed man
- 04. I need you tonight
- 05. I got the six
- 06. Legs
- 07. Thug
- 08. TV dinners
- 09. Dirty dog
- 10. If I coulnd only flag her down
- 11. Bad girl