Rhino just pulled out all the stops with a surprise new release: the Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series inaugural box set, ZZ Top's From The Top: 1971-1976, which shines a light on the raucous boogie ‘n blues rockers first five albums. No advance press release was issued, there were no product shots, and zero information was made available online; I simply got an email a week ago asking if I was interested in covering the set. It arrived in a custom-made, ZZ Top-branded shipping box; imagine my surprise to open it and see the impressive, gold-foil stamped, faux leather hardshell slipcase that contained the five albums. Including the band's 1971 debut, ZZ Top's First Album, 1972's Rio Grande Mud, 1973's Tres Hombres, 1975's Fandango!, and 1976's Tejas. As with all of the Rhino High Fidelity releases thus far, the quality level of this latest batch of LP reissues is light years beyond any originals I had in my collection. All LPs and their packaging are manufactured in Germany, and each individual album arrived encased in a heavy, tip-on, Stoughton-style jacket that's very faithful to the originals—and significantly more beautiful than any I had on hand for comparison. The album jackets are finished with high gloss coatings that highlight the crisp album artwork, and each sports a stylized OBI strip, which enhances their appearance as well as their collectibility. The Rhino High Fidelity LPs are undeniably among the finest high-end reissues currently available, and this ultra-cool box set is strictly limited to 2000 individually numbered copies. ZZ Top's From The Top: 1971-1976 is exclusively available from rhino.com, and can be ordered HERE.
Lacquers for the five LPs were cut from the original analog stereo master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio using an all-analog, AAA mastering process. The 180 gram LPs were pressed at Optimal in Germany, and each LP label is emblazoned with the distinctive Rhino High Fidelity logo. The LPs arrived inserted in black paper inner sleeves that are lined with rice paper, which not only protects the LPs from scratching, but also prevents accumulation of paper dust and static build-up. It's a nice touch that audiophiles will appreciate, and is de rigueur for a perfectionist set such as this. Each album includes a stylish fold-out insert with expanded liner notes and informative essays from artists and original session personnel; for this set, record producer and industry A&R man James Austin provides the excellent new liner notes in conversation with ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons. And the box set also includes a heavy felt, custom-printed ZZ Top logo turntable slipmat! The Rhino High Fidelity LPs are exciting on every possible level in terms of production, packaging, and the very high quality of the transfers, and this first box set in the series doesn't disappoint!
ZZ Top, From The Top: 1971-1976. (5) 180 Gram Warner LPs, $199.98 MSRP
ZZ Top was formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas; their lineup ultimately coalesced around guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons, bassist, keyboardist, and vocalist Dusty Hill, and drummer and percussionist Frank Beard. Gibbons and Hill were the principal songwriters for the band, and over the course of the five albums represented in this set, they wrote or co-wrote every song on every album, with the exception of the handful of cover tunes that appeared on the live half of 1975's Fandango!. The band's lineup remained consistent for 50-plus years until Dusty Hill's untimely death in 2021; despite the loss, the band has soldiered on and are currently touring with Elwood Francis on bass—Dusty Hill hand-picked him to be his replacement.
To ZZ Top fans, the first five albums were the schoolbooks that taught them Texas blues-based boogie. I actually had no knowledge of the band until a friend showed up at school singing "Just Got Paid," and not long after that, "Waitin' For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago" was suddenly all over the airwaves. I quickly spent every dime I had grabbing copies of ZZ Top's First Album, Rio Grande Mud, and Tres Hombres. Those albums overflowed with Texas boogie and authentic blues played in ZZ Top's inimitable style—these guys were the real thing, and it astonished me as a teen that a trio of bass, drums, and guitar could create the big sounds I heard on those first three albums. With classic, classic tunes from their debut record like "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree," "Brown Sugar," "Certified Blues," and "Back Door Love Affair." Rio Grande Mud gave us even more to love, with stone grooves like "Francine," the aforementioned "Just Got Paid," "Ko Ko Blue," and "Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell." And 1973's Tres Hombres—wow! The first time I ever heard "Waitin' On the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago," it instigated a paradigm shift in my appreciation for the band, and tunes like "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers," (I'd never drunk a beer in my life at that point!), "Move Me On Down the Line," and "LaGrange" totally rocked my world!
The two-year wait for Fandango! seemed interminable, but upon its release, my friends and I reveled in side one's raucous and rapid-fire live tracks, especially "Jailhouse Rock" and the "Backdoor Medley," but the band really blew me away with side two classics like "Blue Jean Blues," " Balinese,' and "Heard It on the X." And of course, "Tush" was all over the airwaves, literally on every radio, everywhere. Tejas was the last of the original London label albums, and the last time the band hewed a sound that was still very close to the boogie ‘n blues they built their legacy on. The first couple of tracks, "It's Only Love" and "Arrested for Driving While Blind" were often played back-to-back on local Atlanta AOR radio, and "Enjoy and Get It On," "Pan Am Highway Blues," and the instrumental "Asleep in the Desert" filled the airwaves of my room and in my car for months following its release. Recently hearing this album's first tracks really took me back to a different place and time, one where I especially believed that "Arrested for Driving While Blind" was an anthem for a generation.
Whenever I've pondered on ZZ Top's legacy over the last couple of decades, it's not that of the classic, hard-rock boogie, authentic Texas blues version of the band I grew up with, but typically more of the bearded and sunglassed, stylized, "Sharp Dressed Man" incarnation of the band. They were then MTV darlings, and saturated the airwaves and video screens, casting only the barest shadow of their previous selves—at least in my opinion. ZZ Top's From The Top: 1971-1976 reintroduced me to That Little Ol' Band from Texas I knew and loved throughout my formative years.
Hearing ZZ Top's From The Top: 1971-1976 was a Blast from the Past!
Clicking my name in the header allows you to see the full complement of components in my dual audio systems. I used my all-analog setup to evaluate the Rhino High Fidelity 180 gram LPs from ZZ Top's From The Top: 1971-1976. The analog system features a pair of Vanguard Scout standmount compact monitor loudspeakers; they're in the same vein as classic British monitor designs like the LS3/5A's, and run in tandem with a Caldera 10 subwoofer. That setup also incorporates the excellent PS Audio Stellar phono preamp, and everything is powered by my recently upgraded PrimaLuna EVO 300 tube integrated amplifier, which now features a matched quad of premium Sovtek 6550 power tubes and a matched pair of vintage NOS Brimar 12AU7 input tubes. LP playback was handled by my ProJect Classic EVO turntable that's mounted with an Ortofon Quintet Bronze MC cartridge. It's a vintage-styled, all-analog system that hearkens to the analog glory days of yore, but provides a sound that's modern and powerful with unrestrained dynamics.
Optimal's LP surfaces are normally close to perfection, but perhaps with the haste to rush this set to market, a few of the LPs in my review box weren't quite as glossy as I've come to expect from this series. I encountered several disc surfaces that were surprisingly scuffed here and there—Tres Hombres was the worst offender. That said, the Rhino High Fidelity LPs are among the quietest reissues I generally encounter, with deathly black backgrounds and an exceptionally low level of any kind of groove noise. My recently upgraded analog system presented all five albums with startling realism in my listening room, and ZZ Top's music demanded that I seriously crank the volume levels during my evaluations! I have original London label LPs for each of these albums in my collection, but Kevin Gray's new remasters are undoubtedly the finest version of any of these albums I've ever heard. ZZ Top's From The Top: 1971-1976 presents this raw and dynamically powerful music like you've never heard it before. I have to admit, while I have selections from various ZZ Top albums loaded to my car's music server for casual listening, I hadn't really heard the full albums in a couple of decades. Hearing them now—in their ultimate incarnation—was like hearing them for the very first time, and they'll be in regular rotation for a very long while!
Rhino gets a solid A for ZZ Top's From The Top: 1971-1976; the leatherette slipcase and individual album jackets are superb, and visually far exceed the appearance of my original LPs. The only reason I'm dinking the grade from an A+ is because of the handful of less than perfect pressings from Optimal, which was a first in my experience with Rhino High Fidelity LPs. I can't imagine any of these albums sounding any better than they do here, and I was actually surprised at how enjoyable and essential I found ZZ Top's First Album and Rio Grande Mud to be—they were filled with a stronger mix of boogie and straight-ahead blues than I remembered. Don't wait too long to grab one of these sets, they'll sell out quickly. Thanks to Grace Fleisher at Shore Fire Media and everyone at Rhino for the opportunity; ZZ Top's From The Top: 1971-1976 box set comes very highly recommended!
Rhino Entertainment
All images courtesy of Rhino Entertainment.
