ZZ TOP

(UNITED STATES)

AFTERBURNER

(1985)
LABEL:

WARNER

GENRE:

MELODIC HARD ROCK

TAGS:
80's, Bluesy, Easy-Listening, Electro, Rasping vocals, Southern
"ZZ Top has hardly changed anything from the original recipe he created two years before, but he still manages to deliver an unstoppable and very catchy "Afterburner"."
LOLOCELTIC (27.06.2017)  
4/5
(0) opinions (1) comment(s) (1) Biography + (1)
Imagine you've just sold over 10 million copies of an album in the US market itself. To do this, you have taken the time to evolve your musical identity and have put in place a tremendous marketing plan that has achieved results beyond your expectations. When the time comes to write the follow-up to this opus that directly entered the Rock legend, which path will you follow? To reuse the same recipe with a few changes, or to take excessive risks by changing all or many of the elements that have led you to the top? In the case of ZZ Top, it is definitely the first solution that was chosen, especially since Dusty Hill almost stayed there at the beginning of 1985. While his partner was helping him to remove his boots after a walk in the area, the weapon tucked in one of them fell unfortunate while firing, lodging a bullet in the belly of the most famous of the bearded bass players.

Resuming where they had left off with "Eliminator", the three Texans offer 10 new tracks that, for the most part, could have come out of the recording sessions of this opus. The unstoppable riffs of 'Stages' or 'Dipping Low (In The Lap Of Luxury)', of the more scathing 'Wake Up With Wood' or of the energetic and humorous 'Planet Of Women', are all of a flawless efficiency. The mixture of the basic rhythm section, the simple but irresistible riffs, the hyper catchy choruses and the luminous soli, always makes its effect. Of course, the presence of the synthesizers will continue to deflate the fundamentalists, especially as it is sometimes a little too invasive ('I Got The Message'), but in these 80's, it is fashionable and allows Gibbons & Co. to be one of the rare formations associating metallic ingredients and success with the greatest number.

One of the tours de force of ZZ Top, it is to succeed once again in offering a hyper coherent package but never linear. With its omnipresent keyboards, 'Sleeping Bag' opens the hostilities with this kind of hard-electro as obvious as irresistible, which cancels any tentative of resistance. On the more rootsy tracks but still in the tone, Dusty Hill takes the microphone to throw a direct and catchy 'Can't Stop Rockin'', and a 'Delirious' which closes the whole in a scathing way like 'I Got The Six'. And then there are the two summits of this "Afterburner" which are the ultimate ballad 'Rough Boy' and the slamming 'Velcro Fly'. Electric blues with multiple refined soli, the first one will become an interplanetary hit, whereas the second one is not without reminding 'Thug' of the previous opus, with its slamming bass and its invading synthesizers and typical of the time.

If the surprise effect caused by "Eliminator" is no longer relevant, the efficiency and the catchiness are still as strong and allow "Afterburner" to continue to dig the furrow started by its predecessor. It's obvious that ZZ Top didn't take any artistic risk and didn't change anything to the original recipe he created two years before, but he still manages to keep on surfing on a well deserved success. Although less important than "Eliminator", sales will once again be astronomical. On the other hand, the Texans will be expected to make their next album, for which they will not be able to afford to recycle.
- Official website

TRACK LISTING:
01. Sleeping Bag - 4:06
02. Stages - 3:35
03. Woke Up With Wood - 3:49
04. Rough Boy - 4:52
05. Can't Stop Rockin' - 3:04
06. Planet Of Women - 4:06
07. I Got The Message - 3:30
08. Velcro Fly - 3:32
09. Dipping Low (in The Lap Of Luxury) - 3:15
10. Delirious - 3:41

LINEUP:
Billy Gibbons: Chant / Guitares
Dusty Hill: Chant / Basse / Claviers
Franck Beard: Batterie
   
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STRUCK
27/06/2019
  0
Les goûts et les couleurs... Effectivement comme il est parfaitement souligné, "Afterburner" est la copie de "Eliminator" mais l'expérience aidant, la recette est encore améliorée avec un opus composé que de hits et sans aucun temps mort (que comportait son grand frère)
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3.7/5 (3 view(s))
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4/5 (3 view(s))
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-/5
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