Great Rock Albums of 19779: ZZ Top- Delguello

Once again, I realise that I missed at least one more great classic album from before 1978. I could have included several albums by ZZ Top in my "Great Rock Albums of the 70s" chapter, but the one I should have definitely visited was "Tres Hombres." So here it is:

What I love about this album is that it features two of my very favourite ZZ Top songs of all time: "La Grange" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago." Of course the rest of this album is totally killer too, so without any further ceremony, let us proceed to their great offering from 1979, Deguello.

This is the album that when I heard it in my early military days, had me playing air guitar around the barracks, not caring how silly I might have looked. Billy Gibbons shows why he should be counted among the great guitarists of the 70s on this album. It is a fantastic album. It holds many of what I consider some of the forgotten classics by this trio. Of course, I remember the opener "Thank You" and the next to last song on this album, "Cheap Sunglasses," another great fave of mine. But in between those two are some of the very tracks I used to bop my head to, drink beer to and cruise down the road to while playing on the cassette or 8-track. (Sometimes, I did all three at once.) "She Loves My Automobile," "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" and "Hi fi Mama" were great anthems for me throughout those days. Plus, the bluesy sound of "Fool For Your Stockings" is reminiscent of my favourite "Jesus Just Left Chicago." So, what's not to like about "Deguello?"

Track Listing:

1. Thank You

2. She Loves My Automobile

3. I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide

4. A Fool For Your Stockings

5. Manic Mechanic

6. Dust My Broom

7. Lowdown in the Street

8. Hi Fi Mama

9. Cheap Sunglasses

10. Esther Be the One

ZZ Top

Billy Gibbons- guitar, vocals

Dusty Hill- bass, keyboards, vocals

Frank Beard- drums, percussion

Four years after this great album came out and I returned to civilian life in New Jersey, many of the slightly younger than me generation were all going nuts over the "Eliminator" album. Yes, it's a great album and I will visit it, but I was rather amused at the way they thought the Top were some great new thing. For me, I always knew how gifted Gibbons, Hill and Beard were and the Deguello album proves it for me. Thanks for giving me great memories.

Next post: Van Halen II

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Great Rock Albums of 1979: Boomtown Rats- The Fine Art of Surfacing

I have two memories of the Boomtown Rats, the first is their incredible hit, "I Don't Like Mondays," which I am very surprised that it only reached 73 on the Billboard Charts, not that I ever paid attention to that. The other was they were featured in the opening title sequence of a programme called "Rock World," which I used to sometimes watch on Friday nights back in 1980. This means, like so many albums I have visited in this year, I am visiting it retrospectively.

Besides the fore mentioned single, the album has a few other gems on it too. The first two tracks, "Somebody's Looking At You" and "Diamond Smiles" are attention grabbing and built my hopes for the rest of the album. After that, however, the album seems to level off for the most part except for spikes in the graph compliments of "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Nothing Happened Today." Still it's a good little album.

Like so many other new acts at that time, the mainstream American media was quick to brand the Boomtown Rats as punk and their earlier albums support the claim. However, with "The Fine Art of Surfacing," they deviate more from that punk style and incorporate other musical styles as well and maybe that's what makes this album more interesting.

Track Listing:

1. Somebody's Looking At You

2. Diamond Smiles

3. Windchill Factor

4. Having My Picture Taken

5. Sleep

6. I Don't Like Mondays

7. Nothing Happened Today

8. Keep It Up

9. Nice N Neat

10 When the Night Comes

The Boomtown Rats

Bob Geldolf- vocals, saxophone

Peter Briquette- bass, vocals

Gerry Cott- guitar

Johnny Fingers- keyboards, vocals

Simon Crowe - drums

Garry Roberts -guitar, vocals

You have probably already noticed that I have made no mention of Bob Geldolf, the man responsible for Live Aid. I will be the first to acknowledge that before his rise to fame, he first cut his rock and roll teeth here with the Boomtown Rats. He will get his deserved glory later on down the timeline of rock/metal history. In the meantime, here's a cool album with one of my favourite singles of all time to remember.

R.I.P- Clive Burr

Next post: ZZ Top- Deguello

To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London