 Gibbons said the new album blends a lot of the old with the new. "The album has some of that old ZZ sound," he said. "It's the same three guys playing the same three chords, but we've gone in some new directions with them."
One track, "Que Lastima," could be described as "techno-mariachi". It is sung entirely in Spanish. The title track is a bilingual aria.
ZZ Top has succeeded in changing with the times over its 40-year history. Drummer Frank Beard, who coincidentally, is the only member of the trio without the trademark beard, attributes the group's longevity to "the three t's", tone, taste and tenacity.
Formed in 1969 in Houston, the self-described "Little Ol' Band from Texas" tenaciously roared on to the scene, driven by Gibbons' blues-based guitar, Hill's driving bass and Beard's barbarous drumming.
"Back Door Love Affair," from ZZ's first album and "Francine" and "Just Got Paid," from 1972's Rio Grande Mud, drew attention to the Texas trio. But Tres Hombres was what established ZZ Top. Rolling Stone described it as the band's centerpiece — "hot, blue and righteous."
"All the previous cuts led to this, and this led to everything else," the magazine said.
In 1979, the band continued the deluge with Duguello, which featured "Cheap Sunglasses" and "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide."
By then, they were nationwide, all right. But ZZ Top didn't hit its peak until the 1980s. Its slickly polished music videos featuring slickly polished cars and slickly polished women made ZZ the darlings of MTV. Eliminator went multi-platinum in 1983, driven by the sights and sounds of "Legs," "Give Me All Your Lovin'," and "Sharp Dressed Man."
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