ZZ Top’s ‘Recycler’ sold well around the globe, and made #6 on the all important Billboard album charts. It would be the trio’s final outing with Warner Bros.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: ZZ Top
ALBUM: Recycler
LABEL: Warner Bros
SERIAL: 7599-26265-2
YEAR: 1990
CD REISSUE: Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Billy Gibbons – vocals, guitar * Dusty Hill – bass, vocals * Frank Beard – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Concrete And Steel * 02 Lovething * 03 Penthouse Eyes * 04 Tell It * 05 My Head’s In Mississippi * 06 Decision Or Collision * 07 Give It Up * 08 2000 Blues * 09 Burger Man * 10 Doubleback
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
We’ll be seeing a few more ZZ Top reviews in the very near future. There’s still a back-load of albums to cover off, and we start this exercise with 1990’s ‘Recycler’. For those that have the followed this Texan trio over time, you may have noticed they have taken extended breaks between albums.
The late 70’s saw a break between their transition between London Records and Warner Bros, surfacing in 1979 with ‘Deguello’. In the 80’s, they took a five year break between 1985’s ‘Afterburner’ and this album. Perhaps they were tired of all the touring and needed the time off to count their millions? If it were me, that’s what I would’ve done. lol.
The Songs
Like any ZZ Top album from the 80’s onward, the trio struck a formula that worked for them. You heard that on the mega-selling ‘Eliminator’, and saw all the videos on MTV too no doubt. However, by 1990 the formula was hard to justify, considering the band’s inactivity and the change in musical climate. Suddenly, synthesized blues was no longer in fashion.
Probably the best known track is parked at the end of the CD. ‘Doubleback’ did feature on the movie ‘Back To The Future Part III’ (the wild west version), plus the video for it included some snippets. ZZ Top created at least three other videos from the CD, including ‘My Head’s In Mississippi’ (which is very cool and slinky tune), ‘Burger Man’ and ‘Give It Up’. All of the songs combine ZZ Top’s Texan blues into a modern style, and though successful, the cracks were starting to show through.
In Summary
ZZ Top’s ‘Recycler’ sold well around the globe, and made #6 on the all important Billboard album charts. It would be the trio’s final outing with Warner Bros, reappearing in 1994 for RCA Records and their ‘Antenna’ album.
Video
Doubleback
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
