ZZ Top - Live Rockpalast 04-20-80

Label: Bootleg

Year: 1980

I am aware that this record may not be your normal fare hear at Shiny Grey Monotone, but rest assured; a) it fucking smokes, b) 9/10ths of the bands we regularly post owe a debt of service to "that little ol' band from Texas". I mean this without one hint of irony, ZZ Top rules. Flat out. They destroy. And round about 1980 when this concert was recorded, they were at the top of their game. They'd just released Deguello, and hadn't fallen prey yet to the 1980's hit machine that would water down their corrosive blues with corny synths and slick production. This set is a full on blues assault captured in pristine sound by the cameras and engineers of Germany's Rockpalast, so you get the goods, and you get them as good as can be. I think some of these versions are better than the album cuts, they are a little faster, a little meaner, and little more off the cuff.

And did I mention that Billy Gibbons fucking rips? I might have forgotten to mention that, so let me reiterate...Billy Gibbons fucking rips. I once heard that he was Jimi Hendrix's favorite guitar player. Maybe that's true, maybe not...but you understand the ramifications of that statement right?

So the impetus of me posting this was staying up the other night and watching a newer ZZ Top concert on VH1 Classic (hey, it's the VH1 that speaks to me), and thinking that in the pantheon of rock and roll, there are only a handful of bands that can even hold ZZ Top's jockstraps. Seriously. Try and name more than 10. I'll be here. Listen to this live version of "Just Got Paid" and let me know how many other bands can even relate to that shit.

DL - part 1

DL - part 2