Sharing nothing with such bands as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Brothers Allman, Z.Z. Top have always been unfairly and shortsightedly lumped into the Southern Rock/Boogie Band genre. Outside of a penchant for blues-based Rock N Roll, any parallels you may care to draw between the aformentioned bands and Z.Z. Top end there.

The Z's are a post-garage/pre-punk missing link between bands such as The 13th Floor Elevators and post modern Texas blues. Sonically speaking, the best of the ZZ Top ouevre holds its own with the high energy sounds of the Raw Power-era Stooges, MC5 and the N.Y Dolls of whom they were contemporaries. Their music is well played with no over indulgent soloing, intensely tight, funky and bluesy. Mostly though, it makes you want to drink beer, f**k and drive waaaay too fast.

Sometimes simultaneously.

Billy Gibbons is one of the most underrated guitar players to ever grace a stage. Deceptively simple, his style just about defies description. Many people write him off as a one trick "BLOOZ" pony but his style is not easily imitated. His sense of timing and when and where to put notes (and just as importantly the space that falls between them) is classic and tasteful. A musician's musician, his fans are myriad amongst guitarists. Folks ranging from Dimebag Darrell & Kurt Kirkwood to the late great Robert Quine, and Keith Richards, to name a few, have all paid him lip service. Jimi Hendrix was big on the man as well. After a gig with Billy Gibbons' great 60's proto-punk band "The Moving Sidewalks", Hendrix was moved to call Billy one his favorite axe slingers that wasn't named T-Bone. I couldn't think of a higher recommendation.

If you're looking for a decent set of Z.Z. Top at a reasonable price you could do much worse than this. Should you feel a little loose with your wallet hand I would grab the "Chrome, Smoke and BBQ" box set or the ZZ Sixpack set which has all of the first 6 Lp's in their entire digitally remastered glory. Or just pick up a copy of "Tres Hombres", a case of ice cold Shiner Boch and call up all your friends and neighbors for a party on the patio tonight. Have mercy...