na: prince (…and zz top)
Finally.
So I’m just gonna say this outright: on the short list of innovative, forward-thinking, vibrant and imaginative artists operating in the 1980s, Prince is somewhere near the top. The run of records he made during the early part of the decade — cresting with the spectacular Sign O’ the Times — was astonishing, as exuberant and sexy as they were provocative. Prince is not only a master pop craftsman, but a brash guitarist, proof that underplaying is always the best option.
Sign is a dizzying, expansive, hook-laden view of the late ’80s, capable of deep shadow (the haunting title track) and day-glo brights (the thrilling “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” and “Starfish and Coffee,” which practically invented recent-vintage Of Montreal).
To support an artist of this caliber, we’ve got some serious estimable editorial. First Michaelangelo Matos, who authored the excellent 33 1/3 book on Sign O’ the Times contributes this exhaustive Prince: Icon hub. Matos has been writing for us for a while now, but he has outdone himself on this piece. Outstanding.
As if that’s not enough, pop critic Maura Johnston (of Idolator 1.0 fame, among other things) contributes this Six Degrees of Sign O’ The Times, connecting it to albums including Faith No More’s Angel Dust and the Afghan Whigs’ Congregation.
If that’s not working for you, we’ve also got back titles from Southern rockers ZZ Top, about whom I know very little. Anyone want to make a case?
God bless Rhino. Rhino Records used to be my favorite LA record store in the 70s, and remains an ace label. But as sometimes happens, they didn’t bring the good stuff this time. Other than an obvious handful of tracks on Rancho Texicano, there’s nothing here that I’d want to base my case on. That said, RT is a brain-dead buy for even the casually curious.
So here’s the deal. I’m not FROM Texas, but I lived there in part of the 70s. I got out as hard and fast as I could, but I was there long enough to tell you that “The Little Ol’ Band from Texas” thing isn’t just a sly joke. By the time they released their first greatest hits album in 1977 — subtitled Ten Legendary Texas Tales! — they were still largely a regional band. Some of those songs are now iconic of course, but I can virtually guarantee that you didn’t hear La Grange in 1973.
And you caught that, right? First greatest hits album in 1977? These guys have been getting it done for FORTY YEARS. Forty years!
Here’s the other deal. I didn’t LOVE them at the time. But I respected the heck out of them, and admired their ability to rise above mid-70s cynicism about the business, the audience or anything else. They did with they did with joy.
Which allows me to remind the class that ZZ Top made their bones as an indie band, recording in Tyler, TX (close enough to the swamp that 70s TV came from Bossier City, Louisiana, not Dallas), and touring like demons. Yeah, London was only semi-independent at best, but ZZ Top was pretty much the only rock band on a mostly classical label, and were mostly left alone to do what they wanted.
The three things you’ll hear on the early records we don’t have here:
1) Even on the records with killer singles, they weren’t a singles band.
2) The sly joke thing wasn’t a sly joke either. There may never have been a group that was both this playful and this serious about their work.
3) Fandango sticks the landing on the complete picture of who at band was, at that time – a crazy hit single (Tush – you definitely heard this one in 1975), and live full-tilt boogie.
For the record, here’s what Billy G. looked like then: http://www.stevecarawayimages.com/albums/pickers/Billy_Gibbons.jpg
They were understandably burned out by 1977, so they went on hiatus. The local papers all FLIPPED OUT when they came back in 1979 looking like gnomes. They didn’t plan it, but it was so funny to them that they kept ‘em. But I remember burning up the phone lines with friends – “Is it really them?” “Are those beards fake?” “Are they going to KEEP THEM?” “No, wait – you’re SURE it’s them?”
A couple of regional anecdotes. While you weren’t looking, and while Willie’s picnic was getting justifiably famous, ZZ Top hosted the Texas-Size Rompin’ Stompin’ Barndance and Bar-B-Q with Bad Company, Santana and Joe Cocker in 1974. Check this poster: http://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg.php?variable=TPA_0222
One of my last days in town was my high school prom. This was in a very, very conservative bedroom community in suburban Dallas. Classic white flight b.s., alllll about “good schools” (ie, no busing, and presumably no drugs, because there’s only white kids).
Yet the teachers and ministers chaperoning the enterprise didn’t blink at the generic live band playing La Grange (whorehouse – “they got a lot of nice women there”), Balinese (whorehouse – “It didn’t take too much money, man, but it sure was nice”), and Tush (‘nuf said). What ELSE were they gonna play, right? Slow dancing to Balinese, bro. Good times.
You can kind of get the idea if you listen to the first 12 or 15 tracks of Rancho Texicano and imagine that the band stopped there. Because for people my age, they kinda did. I love me some Cheap Sunglasses, Sharp Dressed Man, et al., but it’s the ZZ Top of those first 4 records that I like *best.*
I still admire those guys. Even in the 80s, they did it exactly their way, because it amused them, and they found a way to make it true to themselves.
The good news is that Rhino didn’t dump the original digital mixes of those first 3 records here. You’ve read elsewhere that they were tarted up 80s style, and it was BAD. I’m not talking about torching the canon – at their best, these guys are holy, but NEVER sacred. I’m just talking about making some really good records sound really cheesy. Just comparing samples from Rancho Texicano to the first-gen digital mixes you’ll find around, and you can hear what I mean. This may be the one time I ever recommend a best of….and until the others are here…or if you’re looking for the best possible skimming of the surface, well, I do.
So you may not like ‘em. That’s okay. Listen for the joy in what they do, and I think you’ll find some for yourself.
Thanks Tim – this is awesome, and *exactly* what I was hoping someone would do. I’ll be checking them out today.
Quite the Southern rock summer we’ve got. First the Doobie Bros, now ZZ Top. But then there’s Prince. I’ve been waiting ever so patiently for this drop.
Hey Joe, stop me if you’ve heard this one before…
Dad, walking past room: So, what’s that you’re listening to?
You: ZZ Top.
Dad, hearing them sing them sing, “Jesus just left Chicago, and he’s bound for New Orleans” : ZZ Top a CHRISTIAN band?
You: Yessir. That’s right.
Dad, smiling, shaking head: Well, you kids and your rock and roll. As long as it’s Christian music!
You, in handbasket, on way to hell, hustling him out the door, knowing that THE VERY NEXT SONG on the album is called “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” : Love you, Dad! Call me when supper’s ready!
Hahah – thats awesome!
Hi there!
My band just made our first full song!!!
Check it out, we’ve learnt a lot from your blog!
xxx