Convince me not to shell out $70 for the ZZ Top box set

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...cuz after Xmas, that's the plan. Lady and I promised that after teh hell-idays, we'd each treat ourselves to one thing - she's buying Playstation 2. Should I get this? (if it helps, i'll most likely be getting a gift certificate to Best Buy, Circuit City, or some mall music store from a relative for xmas)

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 18 December 2003 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

You need to save that dough for the Cure box set!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 18 December 2003 02:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahahahaa. Next!

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 18 December 2003 02:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Just shell out $20 on used copies of the ZZ Top records and spend the other $50 on some pot.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 18 December 2003 02:17 (twenty-one years ago)

make the 'pot' Coors Light and Jim Beam and that's the first really good argumnet I've heard. BUT...the booklet looks magnificent! And there's a Moving Sidewalks track! and I'm a sucker for bloated box sets!

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 18 December 2003 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Johnny is totally otm. ZZ Top has some worthy stuff, but it's all in the used bin, and cheaper still on LP.

― Sean (Sean), Thursday, 18 December 2003 02:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that I don't encourage the use of illegal drugs, nor do I use them myself. But telling someone to buy pot is funny.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 18 December 2003 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

the point around which this will all hinge is whether or not the drum tracks on here are from the original sessions that comprised the vinyl or if they are from the 'updated' drum sounds that plague the cd reissues of all their albs.

― Beta (abeta), Thursday, 18 December 2003 03:11 (twenty-one years ago)

No, they're the origianl tracks, not like that awful "best of" from the late seventies...

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 18 December 2003 03:21 (twenty-one years ago)

eh, if it's the original sound, then maybe it's worth shelling out for it. me, i'm spoiled enough to just pick them up in Tejas for a dollar a pop on wax at my leisure.

― Beta (abeta), Thursday, 18 December 2003 03:37 (twenty-one years ago)

is whether or not the drum tracks on here are from the original sessions

Tejas in the digital age suffered quite a bit because of this. However, the original vintage drum sound is restored on the cuts chosen from it for the box set. It is one of the killing
discs from the set.

However, whether you want it or not depends on how much various
eras of ZZ Top meant or mean to you. I detest the computerized
dance edition of ZZ Top; not only did a good rhythm section
suffer for the sake of pop but the relentless synthetic hi-hat
synced to a dance beat always sounded way too plastic. Obviously, worked in the marketplace.

ZZ Top's guitar sound went by the wayside for a long while, too.
Gibbons became infatuated with variations on the boxy heavily
compressed Scholz Rockman tone around "Afterburner" and while good for some things, it really narrowed the band's sonic rep.

None of that stopped me from enjoying a great deal of the box, none
of the wretched Moving Sidewalks cuts, none of the terrible dance
mixes, not the pathetic Roky Erickson cover, not the stupid
Spanish version of "Francene" and -- even -- not the foul rhythm
machine version of "Viva Las Vegas" and movie soundtrack contributions.

Also came with a flipbook that's fun for a couple minutes and
Billy G. trying to be P.C. in explaining that "Arrested For Driving While Blind" was really a song recommending temperance while Frank
and Dusty say just the opposite.

― George Smith, Thursday, 18 December 2003 05:11 (twenty-one years ago)

thanks, George. i'm pretty much a fan of everything up to (and including half of) Recycler, so I think I'll buy it and just ignore the fourth disc. How's the booklet? Oh, and the Moving Sidewalks track is lame??!? Man, I've been wanting to hear it for awhile...

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 18 December 2003 05:27 (twenty-one years ago)

buy the thing roger,
turn it up and RULE THE WORLD
LIKE A FUCKING GOD

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Thursday, 18 December 2003 05:40 (twenty-one years ago)

That's the plan dude!

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 18 December 2003 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Got mine yesterday. It fucking rules, and now that I have it I can't imagine life without it. The Moving Sidewalks tracks do not suck; they're great. The stuff on Disc Four mostly does suck, except for a pretty ass-kicking live version of "Cheap Sunglasses." But the whole goddamn thing is worth it just to hear "Just Got Paid" re-mastered, loud as fuck, and with the original drum tracks.

Also, $70? Amazon.com has it for $54 (that's if you don't buy the fancy fold-out cardboard one that turns into a model of a BBQ shack or whatever).

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Thursday, 18 December 2003 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

FWIW, Best Buy has the less expensive version of the boxed set for a mere $37.99. I think that's a pretty good argument not to shell out $70. (I'm trying to decide between that one and the Talking Heads box, which is also on sale for $37.99.)

― John Fredland (jfredland), Thursday, 18 December 2003 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Shit, really??!? There's a Best Buy down the block. I think that clinches it. Thanks everybody.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 18 December 2003 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

The Moving Sidewalks cuts aren't much to get excited about. I would have put them on the end rather than have them slow down the entry into the early "brown" ZZ Top material like they do. But it's easy to skip them.

Two sound like a very poor man's Bloodrock and a third is a muffled, slow, overlong Hendrix cop.I believe they're more accurate of who the bandmembers were chasing -- Bloodrock were bigger deals in Texas at the time, mostly because they were earlier out of the gate into the
national circuit.

And the Hendrix thing was a Billy G. as fan thing.

A fourth song, "Salt Lick," is halfway between the Sidewalks and
and first album ZZ Top. You can hear the 60's crap getting shed
in favor of the thumping blooz boogie dirty song. It's still not
lashed together very well, just like the Moving Sidewalks, but
it's getting there.

The booklet is an entertaining read. The history is fair and
some of the boys actually answer questions with some candor.
You come away with the idea that Frank Beard contributed
some very good things to ZZ Top in terms of lyrics and
song ideas, for instance, "Blue Jean Blues" -- a former
girlfriend wears his bluejeans and he recognizes them in public
because of the oil and gas stains. And "Arrested for Driving
While Blind."

Dusty Hill has some funny quotes about his first song being
called "A Made Her Ball in Study Hall."

Plus, the box shows how Hill doesn't sing as much as he used to.
My favorite songs were often the ones he delivered and they
were the most successful many times until the change in sound
on "Recycler." Dusty and Billy would even trade-off vocals
on a couple songs. That doesn't happen anymore in their writing.
But with "Chrome Smoke," it's all there for you.

― George Smith, Thursday, 18 December 2003 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, forget the booklet. The vinyl of Tres Hombres has this awesome gatefold with a positively lurid spread of mexican food -- sour cream and guacamole dripping all over the place, salsa and tortilla and beans and beef en flagrante. And I kinda like the old ZZ better when it's not remastered. Dirty... that's the point.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 18 December 2003 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a Moving Sidewalks off one of those "Pebbles" comps, and I remember it being pretty good. I looked at that boxed set, but I generally find that after I cough up the bread for one of those things, I end up listening to the original lps anyway.

― dylan (dylan), Thursday, 18 December 2003 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Moving Sidewalks off one of those "Pebbles" comps, and I remember it being pretty good.

99th Floor. It's not in the box and wasn't semi-infamous
until the second Pebbles. So we're pretty
far down into Farfisa-organ barrel-scraping 60's garage bands. Lots of embarassingly rotten and/or almost half-decent material on it -- the Green Fuz, Zakary Thaks, another Texas band left behind in the late-60's by the minor success of Bloodrock.

Anyone for the Josefus Dead Man box?

― George Smith, Thursday, 18 December 2003 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, "99th Floor," that's it. Thanks.

― dylan (dylan), Thursday, 18 December 2003 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a Moving Sidewalks cover of 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' on one of the Texas Flashback comps that's fuckin' great.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Thursday, 18 December 2003 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

BestBuy might also have an old AM radio in the back they could let you have for $7,99. Add a couple bones for batteries and tax, and you're in ZZ Top / Bob Seger heaven.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Thursday, 18 December 2003 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

As good as some of these enthusiasms make it sound, I still can't imagine picking this one up ... and I love box sets! I mean, I've got the original lps and they sound great, so I dunno. George does make it sound like a lot of fun and I'd like to read that booklet, but it seems like the only desirable extra material is that early "Miller's Blues" / "Salt Lick" pre-first-album single (all those Moving Sidewalks tracks are also available on the CD reissue of their album Flash)(which is totally great). And I would certainly like to hear those tracks as a 60s/70s psych rock fiend. Heck, I once contemplated buying the Ted Nugent box set just to acquire that unreleased cover of "Gloria" by the Amboy Dukes on there! But now with the modern miracle of downloading, I don't have to shell out any cash to hear to one or two exclusive songs. Maybe if they would have included more 70s studio outtakes or live stuff, I'd bite.

George, I hope you were not kidding about that Josephus box!

― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 18 December 2003 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I was surprised to find Dead Man had been repackaged as a box. I thought everything Josefus recorded fit on one CD and that
Sundazed had published everything needed for anyone's Josefus fix a couple years ago.

― George Smith, Friday, 19 December 2003 02:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha! So there is a box, eh? Yeah, the whole Josefus thing is tough to figure out. I thought the whole deal was that they recorded the album once, and then for some reason they rerecorded it? Maybe the two versions of the albums fit on one cd. But then wasn't there yet any another set of versions of the songs - demos - which saw the light in the 90s? I only have an old 10 track CD boot on the TRC label which is untitled (and has a different cover to the one for Dead Man). Anyway, they totally rip.

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 19 December 2003 02:52 (twenty-one years ago)

It's on Akarma. Hard to grok how it would be anything over
Dead Man/Get Off My Case, "Get Off My Case" being
pretty similar to DM. Dead Man recorded live? Even
if it was, the "studio" recordings were about as live as could be
already.

All this talk of Josefus has me pulling out Stackwaddy, Brits
who were about the same. Josefus could have definitely used
a John Peel.

― George Smith, Friday, 19 December 2003 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

John - I went to Best Buy today and it didn't have a price tag, but remembering what you said, I brought it up to the counter - $57.99! Ha ha ha, had to put $12 on my debit card. Wot a loser I am...

but in the immortal words of 2Pac (or was it Scarface?), I ain't mad atcha John, in fact, I'm only halfway thru disc one and am already really glad I bought it. And 57.99 is still the cheapest i've seen it...

Alright, people, now...convince me not to buy the GUIDED BY VOICES box (the new one, Hardcore UFOs, not Suitcase)!! My stats on this one: Like most sensible people, I'm a huge fan of Alien Lanes and Bee THousand and can definitely make time for the two that preceeded those and the two that came after. An occasional EP (like Sunfish Holy Breakfast or Fast Japanese Spin Cycle) occasionally work their way onto my turntable, but I'd hardly call myself a rabid fan. I have no use for the first disc of 'hits' but I'd love to hear the B sides (if they're good) and I actually do like Watch Me Jumpstart (the DVD) and would be interested in chcecking out the extra footage. Buy or pass?

― roger a, Saturday, 20 December 2003 01:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Roger -- sorry about that. That $37.99 price that I quoted is from the Bestbuy.com website. I am currently stationed in Japan, so it's difficult to fact-check those prices against what the "bricks and mortar" Best Buy stores are charging. I'm glad that you're enjoying it, regardless.

(FWIW, I saw the set for $42.95 at the Base Exchange at Yokota Air Base. I also noticed a sign that indicated that anyone who showed up at the BX to shop in their pyjamas this morning would receive a coupon good for 20 percent off of any item in the store. So, I put on a reasonable approximation of my nighttime wear, walked over to the BX, and left the proud owner of a copy of "Chrome, Smoke & BBQ" for a mere $34.36. I'm jamming to "Mexican Blackbird" as I type.)

― John Fredland (jfredland), Saturday, 20 December 2003 01:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Hell yeah, man, Disc Two OWNZ. I LOVE the liner notes too -

"Seems like all our songs are about dicks and pussies" - Frank Beard

So very happy about this Xmas present I bought myself. Sounds fuckin' great (especially compared to Six Pack...). Man I love this band so much

― roger, Saturday, 20 December 2003 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

ztrangze tidingz. zpezially re ze pajamaz.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Saturday, 20 December 2003 03:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Listening to the box set ("Ko Ko Blue" is playing right now) conjures memories of driving I-10 between San Antonio and Houston when I was stationed in the Alamo City. La Grange, TX is one of the exits on that stretch of I-10.

Have any of you listened to the new album, "Mescalero"? If so, what's your take? I've heard some good things about it.

I suspect that the members of ZZ Top would be amused by the notion of pyjama-clad fans going out to buy their recordings.

― John Fredland (jfredland), Saturday, 20 December 2003 06:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha! John, you're in luck; two of ILM's very own best scribbling denizens (dave q and George Smith) recently wrote very nice complimentary reviews of Mescalero for the Voice. You're in for a treat:

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0344/smith.php
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0344/queen.php

― Broheems (diamond), Saturday, 20 December 2003 06:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Because they are rednecks from Texas, a state that has the death penalty, and they USE it!!!

Actually, that may not detract from the fact that at least one or two Bandido bikers may admire the Gibbons boys.

So, I cease to convince you not to buy. You should buy it.

― GOAT Bladerunner, Saturday, 20 December 2003 06:51 (twenty-one years ago)

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