• AllMyVinyl #62
• Band: ZZ Top
• Album Title: Degüello
• Release Date: ? Nov 1979
• Date purchased: Unknown
• Location purchased: Unknown
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

This one is an odd one in my collection as is the other ZZ Top album I have from their earlier years.  The reason for this is I don’t remember ever buying this album.  When I got into ZZ Top it was through the era of MTV and the Eliminator album and its videos.  I knew ZZ Top existed before that, but I never sought out any of their music.  If I heard it, it was simply good ol 70s FM radio.  So to that, why I have a copy of ZZ Top’s sixth studio album on vinyl in 2024 is a complete mystery to me.  I certainly never bought it when it was new – and in fact my first foray into ZZ’s material prior to Eliminator was a big CD set they had put out in 1987 called “The Six Pack”, which included their first five albums plus their seventh, but oddly NOT Deguello – apparently as it was already on CD at that time.  But I remember listening to this expecting Eliminator again, and well, these earlier albums were not Eliminator.  So mentally I kind of wrote off the earlier ZZ Top material, as it wasn’t like the stuff from Eliminator was, and as such it took me a long time to get over that built in prejudice against earlier ZZ Top.  I mention all this as by the time I got into ZZ Top, I had mostly stopped buying vinyl, so why I have this 1979 album of theirs on vinyl, I have no idea.  All I can think of is it used to belong to someone else and I forgot to get it back to them, so now it’s down here with me in Texas.  Shrug.  Also, this was one rescued from my mom’s basement in 2023 – a common theme, as it applies to about 1/3 of my overall collection.

Also apparently my album is an original print – which confirms I didn’t buy it new.  The reason for that is that the song “Dust My Broom” was credited to “Elmore James” on original pressings, and later one was reprinted to be credited to Robert Johnson, and mine said Elmore James.

Anyway, I always viewed ZZ Top as a songs band, and less an albums band.  Oh sure, they have 15 studio albums, but when I think of them, I think of individual songs and less the full albums they came from.   Degüello has what I would consider two songs that fit that thing of “Oh yeah, I know that song”.  Those are “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” and “Cheap Sunglasses”.  The latter one is a song that probably would wrk on Eliminator, but never mind that.  The are the two tracks that I know very well.  The rest of the album, I don’t know just by looking at the song titles, so this is one that while I”m sure I’ll enjoy (I’m writing this bit before I go pull the vinyl to listen to), I will say will be MOSTLY unfamiliar.  Not fully, but a bunch of ZZ Top I won’t remember.

This is also the first ZZ Top album where they recorded cover songs.  Specifically “I Thank You” and “Dust my Broom”.  Something that comes ip a few more times over the years – but never in any sort of dominant way.

The first song is one of those covers – “I Thank You” is credited to “Isaac Hayes & David Porter” and was originally recorded by Sam & Dave.  It’s a slow blues track, something that’s a staple of earlier ZZ Top.  Not a complex song, a simple one, but one with a great riff that drips in the blues – again something that Billy Gibbons has a great handle on.

She Loves My Automobile – My first thought when I saw this was Queens’ track “I’m In Love With My car”.  That’s not what this is, but that’s were my brain went.  This one is a faster track – has a great vibe I liked running through it, but it was only 2 min 22 seconds, so it was over pretty quickly.

I’m Bad – I’m Nationwide – Has one of my old favorites in it – the time change, although that’s not really a staple of ZZ Top, so it’s use here on one of their bigger singles from the earlier era was very noticeable to me.  It’s definitely not the kind of single they’d be known for later (Legs, Gimme Some Lovin), or even IN This era (Tube Snake Boogie, Tush), but it works for me.  There’s a guitar song towards the end of it which I’m pretty sure is Dusty’s bass that has a great fat sound that runs under the track that I really like.

A Fool For Your Stockings – A super slow track – good lord, this makes me feel like I should be having a few shots at a bar listening to ZZ Top play with like three other people there in total. I can see the cigarettes, the whole dive bar look when I listen to the start of this song.  It speeds up a little, but really is a slower track.  Good one though, just DRIPS in atmosphere.  Had ZERO idea what this song was when I went to play the album and its blues sound just hit me in the face like a Mack truck.  Of all the songs outside the big two, I probably like this one the best.

Manic Mechanic – The vocal stylings at the start of this song remind me a bit of the way the lyrics for the novelty song “Monster Mash” sounded.  The guitar riff is also very different from the kind of stuff that ZZ Top usually does.  This is a weird one.  I don’t dislike it, but it’s by far not one of my favorites.  With a song title with the word “manic” in the title, you’d expect something fast, so when I got something mid tempo and with an oddball personality, it garnered a bit of the ol “Mr. Spock eyebrow raise”.  That goofy vocal delivery never changes, either.  An odd one in the catalog, for sure.

Dust My Broom – It’s interesting, the guitar sound here sounds like a mix of the one from the prior track (Manic Mechanic) and a standard blues riff that you’ve heard since people first ever picked up a guitar.  It sounds both different and traditional at the same time.  A lot of that is down to Billy Gibbons who seems to be able to play both lead and rhythm guitar by himself.  This is the second cover, and well, it sounds like someone else’s song.  Not bad at all, but not exactly a traditional ZZ Top sound.

Lowdown in the Street – A definite unknown to me.  Once it started I can’t recall hearing this before, or if I have, it’s been so long I’ve totally forgotten.  The return of the Gibbons / Hill / Beard ZZ Top sound is here, it sounds like one of theirs.  It’s not a fast one, has that ZZ Top sludge sound the early albums had.  Another short one at 2:49 – in fact, four of the 10 songs on this album are under 3 mins (with three more being under 4).  It’s just kind of there, it never feels like it goes anywhere.  Not bad, but just kind of “there”.

Hi Fi Mama – At some point Lowdown transitioned into Hi Fi Mama, and I didn’t even notice it, I musth have been distracted.  I was about to write for Lowdown that the end of the song was much better then the start, and then I realized I had overlooked the change in song.  Hi Fi is a much faster, in your face kind of track.  Even the vocals are in a higher register with some screaming, too.  My favorite kind of track.  In fact, some of the sound reminds me of music I’d hear in the video game Spy Hunter – which is an odd connection to draw.  Loved this track.  I love the “Goodnight” vocal line at the end, too.

Cheap Sunglasses – The most well known song off the album (and also the longest one at 4:46, one second longer than Nationwide).  This is for me the first indicator of where they’d go sound wise, as it sounds like something that would easily fit on Eliminator.  It’s actually one of my favorite overall ZZ Top songs.  The bit in the middle with no vocals (not a solo), has a cool sound I quite like.  A bass-y feel with a guitar “sound” I’m finding myself at a loss for words to describe (it occurs a few times at 2:?? of the track).  I do remember thinking when I was much younger thinking “Are cheap sunglasses really the thing to get?” hahaha.  The fact it slows WAY down at the end was a musical choice I always wondered why they did that.

Esther Be the One – The album closes with a song that I remembered nothing from.  Enjoyable with a nice beat that ran through it – but again, it’s early ZZ Top, of course it’s gonna have that.  :)

Overall, this is kind of what I expected.  The two songs I really liked I continued to like (Sunglasses, Nationwide), and it was a pile of things I either completely forgot about which fell into two categories (I really liked it or it was just “ok”).  Nothing on this album is bad.  Taken as a whole it’s a better album than I thought it would be.  Not Eliminator of course, but nothing could be really.  As I said earlier, they’re a band I tend to like songs from vs albums.   This is the first time I’ve played Degüello since I got a record player four years ago, so I doubt I’ll be reaching for it again before too long, but I did increase my appreciation of a few tracks from this one from today’s listen.  A Fool For Your Stockings I really loved.  In a way, Stockings reminds me of “Heart Like a Wheel” from Black Sabbath’s Seventh Star album.

The album has no music contemporary music videos, but they did release a few things later on, so I’ve included them below.