I have heard the CD today... some good songs, but the most are boring! Not my thing... And the BMG pressing isn't playable on a Mac...
Claus, I am hopeful that the US pressing does not employ copy protection. That, of course, has no influence on the quality of the work. Boring, huh?
Rhythmeen was the last one I got from them, and I liked it. It was very "dirty"...nice tuned down low guitar sound....Is this one anything like it?
I'm expecting more boring music; but great cover art! I haven't liked a song of theirs since, "My Head's in Mississippi."
I read somewhere that RCA didn't want this released. Clive Davis wants them to do an all-star thing a la Carlos Santana. Didn't they sell out enough in the 80's? As far as the quality goes I've heard it once an it doesn't really jump out at me. There are some unusual touches, such as a bit of Cajun squeezebox on one track, but it's not measurably different than the last couple. Maybe it'll grow on me, but I would say save your $$$ for something else. Rhythmeen is a better buy if you don't own it already.
I heard a new song from it on the Classic Rock station (shocker!) and it sounded awful. Just more of that god-awful compressed muddy goop- like Nickelback or somebody. I LOVED "Eliminator" (still do), and I love the sound of it. Why is it that a 20-year old CD sounds more state-of-the-art and modern (whatever that is now) than their brand new song? This is progress?? Will (new) music ever sound good again???? James
I agree totally ! "Eliminator" is one of the better sounding ZZ Top disks as it seems to be untampered with to a certain extent anyway. I love the guitar intro on "Need You Tonight" then the bass kicks in full throttle. That's a great tune to turn it up loud and let it really shake the house.
Some good songs indeed, but most of them sounds like filler for me. Eliminator was the last good record (IMO) and I'm looking forward to hear the upcoming box set... I also hope for better sound!
'Mescalero' really is a horrible album, unfortunately. The performances are dull and uninspired and the songs are very weak. 'Buck Nekkid' is particularly lame. I've tried listening to it several times but have only been able to get through a few songs at a time. I hate to say it, but they'd be better off if they stopped releasing new material and just toured. None of their albums have been better than mediocre in many years, and this one is the worst yet.
Just spent a weekend with the wife for our 11th anniversary. I was driving around in some beautiful country down in Virginia and slid this one in the car cd player. I was driving her 2003 VW Passat which has a decent sound system in it and some of the songs on the cd really rocked. Now I had listened to the cd a couple of times in my car ('95 VW Jetta) which doesn't have the bass response of the new Passat and wasn't particularly impressed. But I gave it a couple more tries and found it growing on me. Maybe it was the beautiful weather or drive in the country but I found myself tapping away on a number of songs on the cd. Overall it can to me that the world is a better place with a cd with only a handful of good new ZZ Top tunes than one without. It certainly isn't as good as there earlier stuff although I have enjoyed there recent releases as well. And like many of you, I had some big expectations for the new album which weren't fully met, but again some of that fuzz box ZZ Top boogie is hard to beat.
Yes! I'd say it has that same "dirty" feel to it. The Buck Nekkid song is not good at all, the at least the first 1/2 of the album has some good feel to it. I've only listened to it in the truck, so I can't comment on the "real" sound of it, but it wasn't totally compressed to hell, FWIW.
Eliminator with a good subwoofer that extends to 30Hz or lower will REALLY kick up some dust! I used to blast this one in the car--has real bass that you could feel deep in your gut. It was also good for rattling windows at home too. Seems like an album they had a lot of fun making. Wish I could say any of the later albums were as good, but I always keep going back to this one.
I liked the grit of this release. It gave me the feeling of being back to their early days, a long distance from their at attempts at pop.
