Sharp Dressed Men: Tribute to ZZ Top

Amazon.com
ZZ Top's twangy, hyper-charged Texas-style blues-rock has always been superficially irresistible. The blazing guitar riffs and driving rhythms of hits like "Legs" and "Tush" have made them anthems in topless bars the world over. Yet on this 15-cut tribute, country artists like Lonestar, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., and his son, Hank III, not only manage to match the blistering, guitar-driven abandon of ZZ's original hit versions, but also imbue them with a measure of bluesy soulfulness. Some listeners will probably be surprised to discover that these familiar songs do actually have lyrics, since the ZZ boys tend to bury them under a ton of metal. While some of these covers are less than memorable, quite a few are outstanding. Along with the aforementioned artists, Brooks & Dunn (on "Rough Boy"), Alan Jackson ("Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell"), and Andy Griggs ("I Need You Tonight") also evoke a tough tenderness that's often obscured when the Topsters slip their sleek hit-making formula into hard-rockin' overdrive. --Bob Allen

Tracks:

Gimme All Your Lovin' - Lonestar
Sharp Dressed Man - Brad Paisley
Jesus Just Left Chicago/Waitin' For The Bus - Hank Williams Jr.
La Grange - Tracy Byrd
Rough Boy - Brooks & Dunn
I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide - Dwight Yoakam
She Loves My Automobile - Willie Nelson
I Need You Tonight - Andy Griggs
Cheap Sunglasses - The Warren Brothers
Legs - Trace Adkins
Tush - Kenny Chesney
Just Got Paid - Montgomery Gentry
I Thank You - Phil Vassar
Fearless Boogie - Hank Williams III
Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell - Alan Jackson

Amazon.com

ZZ Top's twangy, hyper-charged Texas-style blues-rock has always been superficially irresistible. The blazing guitar riffs and driving rhythms of hits like "Legs" and "Tush" have made them anthems in topless bars the world over. Yet on this 15-cut tribute, country artists like Lonestar, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., and his son, Hank III, not only manage to match the blistering, guitar-driven abandon of ZZ's original hit versions, but also imbue them with a measure of bluesy soulfulness. Some listeners will probably be surprised to discover that these familiar songs do actually have lyrics, since the ZZ boys tend to bury them under a ton of metal. While some of these covers are less than memorable, quite a few are outstanding. Along with the aforementioned artists, Brooks & Dunn (on "Rough Boy"), Alan Jackson ("Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell"), and Andy Griggs ("I Need You Tonight") also evoke a tough tenderness that's often obscured when the Topsters slip their sleek hit-making formula into hard-rockin' overdrive. --Bob Allen

Customer Reviews:

A stunning combo of country acts doing zztop.......2005-05-01

Anybody dissing this record just don't get it. I have downloaded and bought a lot music over the years and this is one of the most entertaining listens i can remember in a long time. All the songs are well done and sound super. There is nothing weird on here just great covers of zz top originals. This record kicks off with a bang and just never stops, soulful blues and smoking rock with a little country twang thrown in on occassion. Not one bad song on this disc, how many of your others discs can you say that about!

Pretty cool!.......2003-11-21

I was amazed to find this in an outer Sydney 2nd hand record store! flabbergasted. I couldn't wait to hear it. It's a great fusion of blues and country. If you're a ZZ TOP fan waiting for another release like some of their earlier stuff, this is good, the version of Sharp-dressed man is very true to their roots acutally, and it's sort of though songs like Legs and Rough Boy have been made to sound more like their roots. Good stuff, wish I lived in Texas. Pity no one did Leila, a great country love song.

I wonder if any of these artists were really fans?.......2003-03-22

Well, after listening to this tribute cd my opinion is: stick to the original. Several of the covers are OK, and I have to agree that the only person that "got it" was Willie Nelson. This is coming from someone that is NOT a Willie Nelson fan, but he actually did what the album is about: Making a country version of a rock song, and making it hold up as a country song. Kinda like Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" (a Nine Inch Nails song). Those two versions will never be confused, but they both stand up in their respective categories.
My biggest problem with this cd is that hardly any of the songs have soul. It sounds generic. I think the main problem is that most country singers today use studio musicians, and they play what they are told. So if you tell them to play a country version of a rock song, that's what they do. But they don't make it personal, and that is what is missing.
What are some of the pluses on the album? Well, I have to say that the Warren Brothers did a good job on "Cheap Sunglasses", and I really enjoyed Hank III's version of "Fearless Boogie". "Just Got Paid" by Montgomery Gentry just ROCKS. I was glad of that, because "Just Got Paid" has one of the best guitar riffs ever. Period.
For the most part, this tribute album lacks soul, and in spots the singing is laughable. If you're looking for an album like the Eagles' tribute "Common Thread", you're not gonna find it here. Too bad Travis Tritt coundn't have added a song to this album.

Ignore All The Other Reviews.......2002-06-23

If you are a ZZ-TOP fan SECOND and a country fan FIRST, this is one of the greatest albums ever. If you are not a country fan, you likely won't enjoy this album, as many other reviewers can attest. The problem is you get ZZ-TOP fans who are expecting some sort of a Rythmeen concoction (Which happens to be my favorite ZZ-TOP album). It's nothing of the sort. It's pure country. Lonestar SOUNDS like Lonestar. Brad Paisley is 100% Paisley. As are Willie, Kenny Chesney, Tracy Bird et al. They ALL sound great on this album, and all manage to make the songs their own.
Buy it because you like Dwight Yoakam, Phil Vassar, Bocephus, but not because you want to hear ZZ-TOP. ZZ-TOP already has their OWN albums out. ;) Leave bluesy, humbucking, grungy goodness to the TOPs. That's what they do best. Country needs to be played by Country.
Y'all take care, now,

WYK
Austin, TX

"Hank Sr, Patsy Cline,Conway Twitty...It Aint".......2002-06-23

If you like most of what Nashville has been putting out over the last decade or two and grew-up on country and rock, this will be a nice addition to your collection. If you like traditional country and only traditional classic country and are somewhat close-minded about various musical genres and believe that covers of other peoples music is supposed to sound exactly like the famous or popular version, this would be a waste of your money. I am 42 and have been into the "modern" era of country since about 1978. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the classic country of days gone by , and truely like a lot of the "old stuff" from the 50s and 60s. While I like nice soulful ballads, I really prefer the harder-edged stuff, the Johnny Cash, Hank Jr, Waylon, Willie, the Derailers, Swingin' Steaks, the "Outlaw" thing, Rock-a-billy, as well as most of the "modern pop" brand of country. I was raised on rock, top-40 AM radio, some hard some pop, I even tapped my foot and would have liked to dance in the (thank God) short-lived Disco era, but give my ears some hard fiddle playin' and some serious guitar work, and I can hear things in my neck and back go crack. Each of the artists on this CD were obviously ZZ fans back in the day. I own most of what ZZ ever did. I own at least one CD from every artist on this tribute CD. These country sangers did ZZ justice. Boo hoo...don't buy this because it doesn't sound like the original? Bee Ess to that! Even a Hank Sr (may God bless him) concert or a Hank Jr concert didn't sound like a Hank Sr record or a Hank Jr record. "Country" people will like it. "Rock"ers will like it. Even toothless old Grandma in her porch chair would turn off her Conway and say "Crank them ZZ wannbes, boy!" Buy it. Turn it up. You will move...and if old enough, might even hear things go crack in your spine and back.

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