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Post by Monsters of Rock on Jun 10, 2021 11:33:17 GMT 10
ZZ Top: Rio Grande Mud
ZZ Top released their second album, Rio Grande Mud, on April 4, 1972. The record is best known as home to the longtime concert favorite "Just Got Paid," which features a particularly thrilling slide guitar showcase by Billy Gibbons.
ZZ Top's First Album hadn't made much of an impression on the charts when it came out the year before. Mud's lead track "Francine," which featured vocals from bassist Dusty Hill, finally made a bit of a dent, becoming their first charting single. (Things wouldn't really break open for the group until 1973's Tres Hombres.)
A vintage advertisement for the second LP declares that the band's reputation "has literally exploded throughout the South and Southwest." A Rolling Stone review written shortly after the album's release seems to agree that the trio was worthy of bigger things, stating that ZZ Top "churn out sizzling electrical blues in a style not far removed from John Mayall's original Bluesbreakers and early Fleetwood Mac." The item also promised that, "with wider airplay and a little promotion, ZZ Top could ... reach the top."
With a title that trumpeted both their Texas pride and love of all things south of the border, Rio Grande Mud finds the band sounding more full-bodied and confident in the studio than on their initial effort. Throughout Mud's 10 songs, Hill and drummer Frank Beard provide a supple, rock solid and blues-heavy foundation for Gibbons' vocals and frequently stunning guitar excursions.
The frontman also proves himself quite a harmonica player, delivering gloriously unhinged work that contrasts perfectly with the rest of the traditional "she done me wrong" lament "Mushmouth Shoutin'." Another highlight: the weeper "Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell," which is absolutely the best song in the world to play over and over again at 3AM after you've gotten your heart dragged through the mud.
For a long time, Rio Grande Mud was difficult to find in its original form. The dawn of the compact-disc era coincided with the smash hit success of the band's synthesizer-heavy Eliminator album, and Mud was remixed to sound more like that album, or we guess "modern," and made available in the format only as part of a Six Pack collection for a long time. Happily, recent re-issues have restored the proper and original mix.
Side one
Francine
Just Got Paid
Mushmouth Shoutin'
Ko Ko Blue
Chevrolet
Side two
Apologies to Pearly (instrumental)
Bar-B-Q
Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell
Whiskey'n Mama
Down Brownie
Ultimate Classic Rock Review website
ZZ Top released their second album, Rio Grande Mud, on April 4, 1972. The record is best known as home to the longtime concert favorite "Just Got Paid," which features a particularly thrilling slide guitar showcase by Billy Gibbons.
ZZ Top's First Album hadn't made much of an impression on the charts when it came out the year before. Mud's lead track "Francine," which featured vocals from bassist Dusty Hill, finally made a bit of a dent, becoming their first charting single. (Things wouldn't really break open for the group until 1973's Tres Hombres.)
A vintage advertisement for the second LP declares that the band's reputation "has literally exploded throughout the South and Southwest." A Rolling Stone review written shortly after the album's release seems to agree that the trio was worthy of bigger things, stating that ZZ Top "churn out sizzling electrical blues in a style not far removed from John Mayall's original Bluesbreakers and early Fleetwood Mac." The item also promised that, "with wider airplay and a little promotion, ZZ Top could ... reach the top."
With a title that trumpeted both their Texas pride and love of all things south of the border, Rio Grande Mud finds the band sounding more full-bodied and confident in the studio than on their initial effort. Throughout Mud's 10 songs, Hill and drummer Frank Beard provide a supple, rock solid and blues-heavy foundation for Gibbons' vocals and frequently stunning guitar excursions.
The frontman also proves himself quite a harmonica player, delivering gloriously unhinged work that contrasts perfectly with the rest of the traditional "she done me wrong" lament "Mushmouth Shoutin'." Another highlight: the weeper "Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell," which is absolutely the best song in the world to play over and over again at 3AM after you've gotten your heart dragged through the mud.
For a long time, Rio Grande Mud was difficult to find in its original form. The dawn of the compact-disc era coincided with the smash hit success of the band's synthesizer-heavy Eliminator album, and Mud was remixed to sound more like that album, or we guess "modern," and made available in the format only as part of a Six Pack collection for a long time. Happily, recent re-issues have restored the proper and original mix.
Side one
Francine
Just Got Paid
Mushmouth Shoutin'
Ko Ko Blue
Chevrolet
Side two
Apologies to Pearly (instrumental)
Bar-B-Q
Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell
Whiskey'n Mama
Down Brownie
Ultimate Classic Rock Review website
