AAA Vinyl

Have mercy! Rhino High Fidelity (a.k.a. Rhino Hi-Fi) does it again with today’s special box set release — namely, ZZ Top’s From The Top: 1971-1976 (Warner Records), a limited-edition vinyl reissue collection containing the first five LPs from that little ol’ band from Texas — ZZ Top’s First Album (1971), Rio Grande Mud (1972), Tres Hombres (1973), Fandango! (1975), and Tejas (1976).

The box itself is a faux leather hardshell slipcase, and each LP inside it sports a glossy cover and a tip-on jacket. Also included in the set are detailed liner notes by James Austin in conversation with ZZ Top frontman/guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons. (If you want to see what the right Rev Billy G had to say about his perpetual love of vinyl to me here on AP back in August 2022, go here.) The limited-edition From the Top box is numbered to 2,000 copies, and it is available today, August 2, 2024, exclusively here at Rhino.com for $199.98, as well as internationally at select WMG stores.

The box set itself is shipped inside a sturdy, reinforced cardboard box that’s branded with the ZZ Top logo and the title of the collection below it on opposite quadrant ends. According to the Team Rhino PR team — and most important for us here at AP central — Kevin Gray cut the lacquers AAA from the original stereo master tapes, and Optimal handled the 180g vinyl pressing.

Some stats now about each LP in the box, albeit slightly edited and revised from the official press release. ZZ Top formed as a trio in Houston, Texas, in 1969, with vocalist/guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill, and rhythmist/drummer Frank Beard. They released their January 1971 debut LP, ZZ Top’s First Album, on London, and it was produced by Bill Ham. This album established the band’s roots in blues, boogie, hard rock, and southern rock. Gibbons observed that, “As trios go, the rhythm section, bass and drum backing the guitar, was getting solid. That and the band’s playing style ignited a surreal kind of automatic cerebral contact communication.”

Rio Grande Mud, released in April 1972 on London, maintained the debut’s blues flavor and saw ZZ Top dive deeper into the songwriting process. It was their first album to chart, reaching No. 104 on the Billboard 200. The single “Francene” became an instant fan favorite, and was the band’s first charting record, hitting No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100.

ZZ Top reached a commercial breakthrough with their third studio album on London, July 1973’s Tres Hombres. The certified-Gold album peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, and the forever iconic single “La Grange” (haw haw haw haw) charted at No. 41. It was their first time working with producer Terry Manning at Ardent Studios in Memphis, and Gibbons attested this collaboration to the band’s success: “[t]he jump from Texas to Tennessee reinforced that pure rock ’n’ roll spirit lingering large from both ends.”

Their April 1975 release on London, Fandango!, is a Gold-certified collection of both live and studio tracks, and it’s home to the perennial classic rock radio hit “Heard it on the X,” in addition to the band’s first Top 40 single, “Tush,” which peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. The fifth and final album in the From the Top collection, also on London, is November 1976’s Tejas — a word that means “friends” in Caddo, and is also a reference to the band’s home state — and it too was another Gold-certified record, peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard 200. Tejas is seen as a transitional record, incorporating modern equipment into the band’s creative process. The opening single, “It’s Only Love,” is a strident Texas shuffle, and it reached No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Given the overall excellence in evidence all throughout the From the Top box set — in terms of Sound (which I rate as a 9; the tone and clarity of Gibbons’ pair of tasteful guitar solos that follow the second hard stop in “Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell,” Side 2, Track 3 on Rio Grande Mud, cinched it), Music (also a 9, as this collection reflects truly prime Top tune time), and its overall presentation — here’s hoping the Rhino Hi-Fi collective brain trust continues onward into the next era of ZZ Top LPs that began at the end of the 1970s and rolled triumphantly onward into their MTV-era heyday of the 1980s. This second coming of ZZ Top, if you will, commenced when the now two-thirds long-bearded band returned from their post-Tejas hiatus with their first LP on the Warner Bros. label proper, November 1979’s Deguello — and that’s a mighty bad, mighty fine nationwide place to start box set Numero Dos. In the meantime, you really can’t go wrong with all that encompasses From the Top.

ZZ TOP
FROM THE TOP: 1971-1976
180g 5LP (Warner Records)

ZZ Top’s First Album (1971)

Side One
1. (Someone Else Been) Shaking Your Tree
2. Brown Sugar
3. Squank
4. Goin’ Down to Mexico
5. Old Man

Side Two
1. Neighbor, Neighbor
2. Certified Blues
3. Bedroom Thang
4. Just Got Back From Baby’s
5. Backdoor Love Affair

Rio Grande Mud (1972)

Side One
1. Francene
2. Just Got Paid
3. Mushmouth Shoutin’
4. Ko Ko Blue
5. Chevrolet

Side Two
1. Apologies To Pearly
2. Bar-B-Q
3. Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell
4. Whiskey ’N Mama
5. Down Brownie

Tres Hombres (1973)

Side One
1. Waitin’ For The Bus
2. Jesus Just Left Chicago
3. Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers
4. Master Of Sparks
5. Hot, Blue And Righteous

Side Two
1. Move Me On Down The Line
2. Precious And Grace
3. La Grange
4. Shiek
5. Have You Heard?

Fandango! (1975)

Side One
1. Thunderbird
2. Jailhouse Rock
3. Backdoor Medley:
a. Backdoor Love Affair / b. Mellow Down Easy /
c. Backdoor Love Affair No. 2 / d. Long Distance Boogie

Side Two
1. Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings
2. Blue Jean Blues
3. Balinese
4. Mexican Blackbird
5. Heard It On The X
6. Tush

Tejas (1976)

Side One
1. It’s Only Love
2. Arrested For Driving While Blind
3. El Diablo
4. Snappy Kakkie
5. Enjoy And Get It On

Side Two
1. Ten Dollar Man
2. Pan Am Highway Blues
3. Avalon Hideaway
4. She’s A Heartbreaker
5. Asleep In The Desert