Weekend Spin- ZZ Top: Eliminator (1983)

This is a great rock album. Period. Eliminator was my first ever ZZ Top purchase back in 1983 on cassette tape than of course it was an upgrade to CD’s when that became the rage and then a ways back I got this on vinyl.*

You really need to hear this one on Vinyl! Loud!

DROP THE NEEDLE!

Frank Beard or is it the drum machine? Well, whoever the drummer is led off the album with Gimmie All Your Lovin. What a track as Billy Gibbons just blazes that guitar sound that is out of this world cool on this record.

Look at those tunes posted above from the back cover. Blogging Pal Geoff Stephen said certain studio records from the ’80s by artists or bands were almost like Greatest Hits Records. Bon Jovi with  Slippery When Wet and Def Leppard with Hysteria are two that come to mind right away.

Eliminator would be another one added to that Greatest Hits Studio list. Look at Side 1 with that One-Two-Three punch of tracks.

How on Gods Green Earth was I Need You Tonight not a single? Who dropped the ball on that call?

You gotta love Bassist Dusty Hill who gets to belt out the lead vocals on Side 1  closer I Got The Six and Side 2 closer Bad Girl.

Ya gotta love that one verse of I Got The Six which goes…

Look at this, what a pair, she won’t let me touch her there,
she’s so discriminating.
This is weird, it’s time to blow, I just heard the rooster crow.
I guess I’ll have to spank my monkey.

That my friends is poetry in motion.

Side 2 begins with Legs. I mean how many copies sold because of those videos and this song? I betcha a cool 2  million alone. Don’t scoff at that last comment as Eliminator has sold over 10 million in the U.S and is 10 Times platinum here in Canada! 

As much as Side 1 crushes with that ZZ Sleaze Top sound Side 2, once you get past Legs, doesn’t let up.  Love that Bass n Pop that Billy er I mean Dusty does on Thugs which is such a cool song. Billy sells this tune with his vocal. Carrying on TV Dinners is just that.  TV Dinners. I mean what a great advertisement for well, TV Dinners. Gibbons slips n slides on that guitar like no one’s business. It’s like his playing is so greasy on this track its’s as If Billy ate a Fried Chicken TV Dinner before recording. 

If I Could Only Flag Her Down is one of the all-time great ZZ tracks. You hear Billy’s guitar sleaze tone on this bad boy! Holy Shit Man. So right now crank this sucker up as its one of those wham bam thank you mam tracks! End of Album GEM!

Billy Gibbons is a true star on this record. Gibbons playing on this record is easily in my all-time Top 5. Maybe that could be up for debate but my reasoning is this was my intro into the world of two Longbeards and Mustache and Billy man what a sound and not a whammy bar in sight!

If you have been following my blog for a while you know that I’m sure that Gibbons had a hand on this album with the help of a fella named Linden Hudson. Hudson unfortunately never got the due for his contributions to Eliminator which is a shame really but it’s called the music business.

*- I got Eliminator a ways back but recently picked up some records and this one was in the pile. Congrats Tbone you’re getting your own copy of this record if COVID thing ever lets up…