ZZ Top: Tres Hombres [WARNER]

Why you'll love it

This 180g pressing is cut from the original analogue master tapes and housed in a gatefold jacket. Tres Hombres was the band's commercial breakthrough in America, climbing to No. 8 on the Billboard 200.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Cut from the original analogue master tapes
• Remastered
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

Three men, one name in Spanish and a whole lot of Texas boogie. On their third album Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard found the sound that made them famous: lean, greasy blues rock with a swagger you could hear from the next county.

It was their first album with engineer Terry Manning, with Bill Ham producing, and Manning's work shows. "Waitin' For The Bus" runs straight into "Jesus Just Left Chicago" without a breath, a tape edit Manning says he tried several ways before realizing the two songs belonged together as one. Bill Ham was wary of it at first; after a few plays everyone agreed there was no other way they could exist. "La Grange" rides a stomping boogie riff into the Hot 100, "Master Of Sparks" and "Hot, Blue And Righteous" slow things to a smoulder, and "Precious And Grace" struts.

Gibbons later said the band could tell they had something special, and that the record turned them into honorary citizens of Memphis. Fifty-odd years on, playing "Waitin' For The Bus" without letting "Jesus Just Left Chicago" follow still feels faintly rude.

Also at Kops: more ZZ Top on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On London / Warner Records (cat# RHI1 274492), a reissue of the 1973 album.