R.I.P. Dusty Hill

[dropforge]

[GuitarGeek]

Yeah, if you only go by the title and ignore the words, "I Got The Six" could be thought to be a reference to the phrase in military jargon where one guy is keeping an eye on what's going on behind them so the others can focus on the front.

See, I hadn't even thought about that, but that does make sense, if you weren't reading the lyric sheet. Makes me think of how people don't understand what Pretty In Pink or I Don't Like Mondays are about. John Hughes even made a movie theoretically inspired by Pretty In Pink, though it's obvious he never read the lyric sheet.

Now tell us about your take on the song where Gibbons is singing about getting his gal a piece of jewelry.

I forget how I found out what Pearl Necklace was about, though I seem to recall it involved looking the title up on Urban Dictionary.

[3LockBox]

I always thought Tush was about "you know what" but they explained once that it was slang for 'luxury'... if they were being serious.

And yeah, I heard that the song LaGrange and The Best Little Whorehouse in TX were about the same place, before there was ever a movie. It was a Broadway production years before and I saw Lucy Arnaz talking about it on one of those morning news shows and she mentioned that ZZ had made a song about it

[hFx]

ZZ Top as not very sharp dressed men - trucker caps and no cheap sunglasses - on Swedish Television 1983. They did a great job trying to win over the mostly 80's synth oriented audience in the room, cheered by us (I was a stageman at some of those shows, including this one). Dusty on vocals on two of the three songs!

[Trane]

mmmhhh!!!... Couldn't find the other recent ZZT thread, where we were assessing their discography.
If anyone finds it, I'd recopy this over there as to not overshadow the RIP

Dusty's recent death me realize that I didn't own any ZZ Top albums since I got back to Europe some 30 years ago.

I was going/looking for Tejas, Deguello and Très Hombres, but I fell onto a boxset containing their first 10 albums (70-90) for some 32 bucks. They're presented in cheap mini-Lp cardboard sleeves, but the complete artworks (gatefolds, whenever existing) are there, with one exception: the inner sleeve of Deguello (and Loco as well, but won't care much).

Probably, I won't get much mileage out of Loco and the three 80's albums (I'll make a point of at least one spin), but it's allowed me to relisten to their first two for the first time in decades. Not really impressed by the debut, but RG Mud is quite an improvement.

anyways, a good cheap find

[Mascodagama]

I only just caught this news



Sleep peacefully Dusty.

[Trane]

^^^^

Their best album (IMHO) with a great triple gatefold sleeve too. In some ways, maybe not the most typically ZZ-esque, but plenty of good semi-surprises.

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TBH, I was a bit surprised to read/hear/see Dusty Hill sing and write much more tracks than I gave him credit for.
For some reasons, I had pictured ZZ as just aa almost-private vehicle for Gibbons.
All the more power to Dusty.


===================

OK, I spinned every album of that boxset at least a couple of time, except for that awful Afterburner >> coudn't myself thru that torture a second time.

gaining in my esteem are Rio Grande Mud (not really a surprise), El Loco (a rather big surprise) and Recycler.

If I had to rank them nowadays now that it's still fresh:

I'd say

Hombres-Tejas-Deguello
space
Rio Grande- Loco
space
Recycler-Fandango-First
space
Eliminator (heard it unwillingly too much)

BIIIIIG space

Afterburner