ZZTop Eliminator: How did you feel about it when it first came out?

It was okay, but I like the older ZZ Top stuff much better. Their latest studio album "La Futura" is very good and is more the old school ZZ Top style.

 

I thought it was common knowledge that there are no live drums on these? Would one need any other source than one's ears? The same goes for bass, not much is regular electric bass (except a few slap overdubs that are played by Billy). Dusty sings lead though, on "I Got the Six". Backup vocals on the big hits are by Jimi Jamison of Survivor.

The book Sharp Dressed Men: ZZ Top Behind the Scenes from Blues to Boogie to Beards by David Blayney (ex-roadie) has some stories about the making of Eliminator. I have also read quite a bit on the web coming directly from eningeer Terry Manning, do a search, it's out there in cyberspace, very interesting, it was only him and Billy in the studio.

The bigger question is how much, if any, has Dusty and Frank played on the albums after.

Edit: Sorry, missed the link above, that is what I was referring to... Terry is diplomatic when it comes to the other members involvement, preferring to avoid talking about that, but the book I mentioned spells out that part.