The Tres Hombres Poll: Which one is the Top?

I went for "La Grange", because when the drums come in, even playing at maximum volume isn't loud enough...but what a record..."Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" ought to be the national anthem (of ILM at least); "Precious and Grace", "Shiek"...even that picture of the Mexican food deserves some votes; I'd have linked to a pic but it's not freely available online from my quick GIS.

Cuz you can't vote for Bus and Chicago together (I think of them as one song, even though their essentially unrelated) I'll go with Precious and Grace. Archetypal Gibbons guitar solo. In actuality though, this album kicks ass front to back.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/164/392163124_3f900fc921.jpg?v=0

fantastic! thanks for the pic

Unfair to include lovely grease food in poll.

How is it that the world's most repulsive-looking food is also the most delicious?

"Waiting For The Bus", btw.

fantastic album this is tough - I went through a big ZZ Top thing last year

Tejas is better no?

I think I do like Tejas more... its kinda a tie between this, Tejas, and Deguello

What a great record, even the non-radio tunes like Master of Sparks, Precious and Grace and Hot, Blue and Righteous are fantastic.

An older guy who lived next door to me about ten years ago told me about driving with friends out to a joint in Arlington Heights to see Fleetwood Mac. It was 1971 or so, and they got there early enough to see the opening act, whom they'd never heard of and which was ZZ Top. Blown away, of course, but can you imagine?

Off the top of my head, "Move Me On Down the Line", but I'll listen to the whole record tomorrow and vote after.

Yeah, "Move Me On Down The Line" is probably my second choice on this record. But it doesn't have a bad song, I think. Note: the CD remaster from a year or so ago is really fantastic, in terms of sound; very punchy. I read that earlier CD versions were bad, I guess from using a different mix.

I think this is better than Tejas, my second favorite is Rio Grande Mud, which needs the remastering Euler is talking about.

Mine may be the only vote for "Master of Sparks," which is awesome in its near proto metal-ness, so that's how I'm voting, dogs.

That earlier CD version (which I heard but never owned) was a fuckin' DISGRACE: Drum tracks remixed/remastered (re-recorded?) to make 'em sound "modern". If they wanna release an album of ZZ Top remixes, fine. But don't fuck with the originals.

xxpost

Yeah, that's pretty common knowledge - everything on the Six Pack was crap for that very reason. I think the new reissues restore the original drums (does the box set?).

Did they only do this so the sound of real rock and roll wouldn't be jarring to the fans who only knew them for Eliminator and Afterburner? Has anyone ever owned up to this?

Box set has the original (ie good) drums.

everything on the Six Pack was crap for that very reason.

goddamn is it ever. I picked it up second-hand years ago while working at a cd store, not realizing it had been subjected to this treatment. I still have it somewhere, but have slowly replaced all the lp's up through Afterburner on vinyl.

Afterburner Eliminator

and yeah, Deguello is totally pimp.

Rio Grande Mud is the only one I have yet to get my grubby paws on on vinyl - thx for reminding me!

The winner is that gatefold.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I'm pumped that the Mexican food did so well.

bummed I missed this, even if I would have been another one torn on how to vote for Waiting For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago and would have ended up casting my vote for the Messican.

I missed this, too. I actually think "La Grange" isn't even close to the album's best song. Early ZZ Top's ballads are severely underrated. I would've picked "Hot, Blue and Righteous."

My precious and grace vote was not counted.

move me on down the line is the correct answer

Good grief the drum sound is excellent on this album. I've been listening to an album by Terry Manning called Home Sweet Home, and after getting curious about what else he'd done, I read that he'd mixed Tres Hombres. Now I get why I'm digging the Manning album so much: it's that drum sound! I'm still looking for the words to articulate what's so good about it. For now I can say that it's pronounced well, so that you can hear the kick drum separately from the toms, for instance. According to Manning's webpage, he also mastered Zeppelin III, which I've never thought of as a remarkably good sounding album, but all I have is the initial cd release, so probably it's better on vinyl or remastered cd (Zep I certainly sounds better on the remastered cd).

Now, would that be the REAL drum sound you're referring to, or that horrendous re-recorded abomination?

The real drum sound. I've never heard the rerecorded ones. Although Manning's webpage says that he was still engineering the band for Eliminator, and that in fact it was his idea to go with the drum sound they achieved on that album. So who knows, maybe he was responsible for the Six Pack remixes. In any case, the vinyl or newest remaster of Tres Hombres is a really hot-sounding record.

Man, the deep cuts on here are as good as the hits. "Shiek" was robbed upthread. That solo!

Also, the slide guitar in the left channel in "Master Of Sparks" is a serious 'enhancement smoker' eargasm

at least in my (recent) experience

otm

I've not yet heard the most recent remasters but the 2006 cd remaster smokes, better than the remasters on the BBQ box set (which aren't the 80s mixes, but just don't explode the way the songs do on the 2006 version).