ZZ Top
XXX

review = C+

ZZ Top has never taken themselves too seriously. Their calling card has always been the life-in-the-fast-lane fun factor. Fancy cars, bodacious chicks, fuzzy guitars, dark shades and funny beards - the ‘tres hombres’ have been partying like rock stars for a long time. That that hasn’t changed. And guess what - Billy Gibbons on guitar, Frank Beard on drums and bassist Dusty Hill sound as good as ever.

Unfortunately we’ve heard most of ZZ’s top jams before. After all, XXX, a Latin numeral nod to the band’s 30 years together, is the 15th album these guys have churned out, so the fact that there’s some familiar territory on XXX comes as no surprise. Especially since they’ve been doing it all these years with only three chords. As always, there’s plenty of hard partyin’, blues soaked boogie, goofy lyrics, and sexual innuendo to go around. "Poke Chop Sandwich" and "Belt Buckle" are vintage wet ZZT-shirt contest material, and "36-22-36" is a pure, unadulterated, shake-’em-if-you-got-’em bimbo ‘fest in 4/4 time. Face it - the "little ol’ band from Texas" perfected MTV video rock years ago. While they may not be onto anything new with this release, if you’ve been rockin’ to ZZ Top’s beer drenched and stiff nippled brand of ten gallon funk for the past three decades, you’re gonna love XXX. ###