The beginning of the end of ZZ Top...

Review Score: (2/10)
I got into ZZ Top back in '86, when I was entranced by the incredible rock/dance tracks on Afterburner. Even the more rock-oriented Eliminator had drawn me in with its incredible music videos. Needless to say, it was a long 4 years for me to wait for ZZ Top's follow-up release. It first came with the teaser single - "Doubleback" - from the movie Back to the Future III. I bought the cassette single, not hearing the song anywhere, popped it into my cassette deck, and quite frankly, didn't know what to think. It was a fairly weak-sounding song that wasn't very catchy (which is probably why my local radio stations never played it). Anyways, I brushed it off as a fluke and looked forward to the full album release. It finally came out in the fall, and boy, what a letdown it was. The band had essentially gone back to their blues roots that I'd heard bits and pieces of from my cousin's older ZZ Top albums. Songs like "Tell It" and "Penthouse Eyes" sounded so lame I thought this band had forgotten how to write songs. What was worse was that in interviews, they were practically putting down Afterburner as being just a 'weird phase'! That totally alienated me. I got into this band because of the sound of Afterburner, and now they act like it never should have been made. About the only song that does the album justice to Afterburner is "Decision or Collision", which should've been one of their singles. Also, where were the cool videos? With exception to "Burger Man" (which I never saw on MuchMusic) the band seemed like they wanted to hide from the camera and feature other actors instead. ("My Head's in Mississippi" makes no sense and ticks me off because I want to watch the BAND, not actors carrying out a hard to follow story).

Since then, ZZ Top has continued on its weird blues saga, selling fewer and fewer albums with each release (RCA must be kicking themselves for paying the band so much to be on their label). This band should "Bang Bang Shang-a-lang" their way into retirement.

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• ZZ's "Blue Period"?
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