Observations, rants, and musings by Joe Siegler.

ZZ Top – Goin’ 50

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Given how large this set is, it’ll be one of my shorter ones.

This is a 5 disc vinyl set put out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ZZ Top.  What’s unique here is that it covers their entire career for the first time.  Given their longevity, they have never done this before due to licensing issues with various record companies.  However, it was sorted out for this collection.  Overall, ZZ Top has 15 studio albums ranging from the first in 1971 through the most recent in 2012.   The majority of that came earlier, as the first 9 of them were between 1971 and 1985.  After that, things slowed down with the remaining 6 coming out between 1990 and 2012, and then none since.  Given the general state of the industry in general, and the death of Dusty Hill in 2021 after this came out, it wouldn’t surprise me if there are no more ZZ Top albums ever.

So I’m grateful this exists.  As I said, it covers their entire career, and brings it all under one collection.  Given I don’t own a ton of ZZ Top on vinyl, this was a great solution for me.  Five vinyl discs of ZZ top songs covering all of their albums worked for me.  This is also available as a single CD and a triple CD, but given the nature of their catalogue, I wanted the 5 disc version which has the most songs on it.  What else is cool is it’s not ALL in chronological order – the first couple of songs are well known (La Grange, Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers, Tush).  Then it goes off into the olden days of 1969 with ZZ Top’s first single, a track called “Salt Lick” followed by “Miller’s Farm”.  Farm was the B-Side to Salt Lick and are the only two ZZ Top songs that drummer Frank Beard doesn’t play on – a drummer by the name of Dan Mitchell played on those. Additionally, Dusty Hill doesn’t play bass on these two either (it’s Lanier Greg) and they have a “possibly” for the organist on that song in the credits (Tom Moore).  Check this article for more on the earlier incarnations of ZZ Top (and the band before that called “The Moving Sidewalks”).  Given the majority of this set is in chronological order, I wonder why the first three and the last two tracks are not in the right slot in the order they were released.  Shrug?

For this I’m not doing track by track.  We’ve got five discs here and a total of 50 songs (Goin’ 50, get it? ha).  I’ve been known to write 2 – 3,000 words on albums with just 8 songs.  I’ll be here forever, so I’ll skip that part of my review for this one.

The box set itself is kind of minimal.  It’s got just the five discs on it, and a very small sheet to ID what all the tracks are.  It’s just a single sheet of paper folded over once.  No actual booklet as such.  So no stores to read, no rare photos – just the music.  Which in some ways is refreshing, they didn’t come up with a ton of extra crap that might get looked at once and never again to charge you more.  The price of this was fairly reasonable – at the time I bought it, it was $73 US – for five vinyl discs, I didn’t consider that a bad price at all.

ZZ Top has always been a simple band to me – three guys standing there without a huge stage show just playing the music.  That extends to this box set which now apparently is out of print, as I don’t think you can buy it new anymore.  Not in the 5-LP format anyway.   There’s a lot of goodness from the little ol band from Texas in here – and plays for a long time as well it should with 5 discs.  If you want an afternoon of ZZ Top to listen to, this set more than fits the bill.

Here’s a listing of all the tracks on here.  One amusing thing I found about it having 5 discs is that the sides aren’t sides 1, 2,3, they’re letters. It’s the only set I own where there’s a “Side J”.  Also, like every compilation out there, even ones with this many songs on it, there’s bound to be tracks that people think were left off unfairly.  For me that track is the title track from their 2003 album “Mescalero”.  It’s a great track – that we got SEVEN of the ten songs from 1986’s Afterburner is a bit of an odd choice.  I would have preferred a bit more of the later albums be represented here.  Oh well.  Here’s the songs…

Side A:

  1. La Grange (1973, Tres Hombres)
  2. Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers (1973, Tres Hombres)
  3. Tush (1975, Fandango!)
  4. Salt Lick (1969, original single)
  5. Miller’s Farm (1969, original single B side)
  6. (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree (1971, ZZ Top’s First Album)
  7. Francine (1972, Rio Grande Mud)

Side B:

  1. Heard it on the X (1975, Fandango!)
  2. It’s Only Love (1976, Tejas)
  3. Arrested for Driving While Blind (1976, Tejas)
  4. Enjoy and Get it On (1976, Tejas)
  5. I Thank You (1979, Deguello)

Side C:

  1. Cheap Sunglasses (1979, Deguello)
  2. I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide (1979, Deguello)
  3. Leila (1981, El Loco)
  4. Tube Snake Boogie (1981, El Loco)
  5. Pearl Necklace (1981, El Loco)

Side D:

  1. Gimme All Your Lovin’ (1983, Eliminator)
  2. Got Me Under Pressure (1983, Eliminator)
  3. Sharp Dressed Man (1983, Eliminator)
  4. TV Dinners (1983, Eliminator)

Side E:

  1. Legs (1983, Eliminator)
  2. Sleeping Bag (1985, Afterburner)
  3. Can’t Stop Rockin’ (1985, Afterburner)
  4. Stages (1985, Afterburner)
  5. Rough Boy (1985, Afterburner)

Side F:

  1. Delirious (1985, Afterburner)
  2. Woke Up with Wood (1985, Afterburner)
  3. Velcro Fly (1985, Afterburner)
  4. Doubleback (1990, Recycler)
  5. Concrete & Steel (1990, Recycler)

Side G:

  1. My Head’s in Mississippi (1990, Recycler)
  2. Give it Up (1990, Recycler)
  3. Decision or Collision (1990, Recycler)
  4. Viva Las Vegas (1992, Greatest Hits)
  5. Gun Love (1992, Greatest Hits)

Side H:

  1. Pincushion (1994, Antenna)
  2. Breakaway (1994, Antenna)
  3. Girl in a T-Shirt (1994, Antenna)
  4. Fuzzbox Voodoo (1994, Antenna)

Side I:

  1. She’s Just Killing Me (1996, Rhythmeen)
  2. What’s Up With That (1996, Rhythmeen)
  3. Bang Bang (1996, Rhythmeen)
  4. Rhythmeen (1996, Rhythmeen)
  5. Fearless Boogie (XXX, 1999)

Side J:

  1. 36-22-36 (XXX, 1999)
  2. Piece (Mescalero, 2003)
  3. I Gotsta Get Paid (La Futura, 2012)
  4. Waitin’ For the Bus Live (1973, Tres Hombres)
  5. Jesus Just Left  Chicago Live (1973, Tres Hombres)

NOTE: Date verification here on ZZ Top website.  Wikipedia’s release date is for single CD & digital version, the 3-CD & 5-LP version came out later.

Edit: After I posted this, I was chatting with someone on social media, and it occurred to me I meant to do a song breakdown to see which album got the most. Definitely Afterburner for sure.  Here’s the list:

  • Pre-album singles – 2
  • ZZ Top’s First Album – 1
  • Rio Grande Mud – 1
  • Tres Hombres – 4 (2 are live and not studio originals)
  • Fandango! – 2
  • Tejas – 3
  • Degüello – 3
  • El Loco – 3
  • Eliminator – 5
  • Afterburner – 7
  • Recycler – 5
  • 92 Greatest Hits – 2
  • Antenna – 4
  • Rhythmeen – 4
  • XXX – 2
  • Mescalero – 1
  • La Futura – 1





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