ZZ Top

Billy Gibbons discusses the making of 1981's El Loco, the “bridge” album from the Texas legends’ feral days to their slicker, mid-Eighties sound

- ANDREW DALY

IN THE MID-EIGHTIES, ZZ Top went from being a group of Texas-bred blues bangers to a chart-topping powerhouse on the strength of albums like 1983's Eliminator and 1985's Afterburner. But neither of those now-classic albums could've happened without the “bridge album” that preceded them, 1981's El Loco.

“The band, in the midst of the ongoing roadshows, returned to take advantage of some rare, nonperforming days with reentry into the studio in the early Eighties," says ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons (via email) when looking back on this tweener period. He adds that the band’s aim was simple: “To make loud noise in Las Vegas, Memphis, Houston and back home in Los Angeles.”

Songs like “Pearl Necklace,” “Tube Snake Bookie" and “Groovy Little Hippie Pad” did a fine job of reflecting ZZ Top’s past. More importantly, they showed signs of what they'd eventually do so well on later hits like “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’.”

“We were writing new material and recording the sounds the band is known for,” Gibbons says. “Following a wrap with sessions, it was us trippin’ into the desert surrounds back out in West Texas to capture the band in the shifting sands near their haunts at the Tex-Mex border. Tortillas and hot sauce meet rock 'n' roll, as always.”

If that sounds roundabout - yet oddly encapsulating — that's because it is. Gibbons has a particular way of viewing the world, which he filters through a quasi-poetic sense of humor that runs on through his guitar and out from his amps. So, if you really want to understand the vibe and feel of El Loco — or of any ZZ Top album — it's best to just sit back, listen and take it in.

“All it requires is having a glance at the desert setting, which takes one directly into ZZ Top’s Texas heritage,” Gibbons says. “It’s that Lone Star State of mind making its 'separate country' status so mysterious. The poetry from song to song says it all quite succinctly.”