BILLY F. GIBBONS-The Big Bad Blues

Concord Records

Not too sure how active ZZ Top are these days but front man Billy F Gibbons for sure is not resting on his butt and counting his money. He has made some guest appearances with Supersonic Blues Machine on their records and shared the stage with them and now he presents us with a genuine solo record that contains pure blues rock Gibbons style. Of course there are some similarities with earlier ZZ Top to be heard on ‘The Big Bad Blues’ but basically the eleven songs are with the exception of the album closer ,,Crackin’ Up’’ (more a Tex Mex song) pure blues rock songs with a prominent role for Gibbons ‘lazy’ guitar exploits, a blues harp that plays a few cool tunes, his dark vocals and songs that just want to make you dance and move. Gibbons just has a perfect feel to create songs that swing, tease, shake, rattle and roll. Especially ,,Rollin’ And Tumblin’’’ is a very energetic track and to be brutally honest this album could have used a few more songs with that pace as now the album is fairly slow paced. But like I said, Billy has the emphasis on the more traditional blues and has some real ‘horny’ moments in store like ,,My Baby She Rocks’’ and ,,Mo’ Slower Blues’’. If you are looking for stuff that made ZZ Top a household name like ,,Gimme All Your Loving’’ or ,,Sharp Dressed Man’’ I think this album is not completely suitable for you but if you are in the market for genuine blues this is surely more than suitable material. I personally love this kind of stuff as Mister Gibbons is one of the best in this business. He is like a fine wine, getting better by age.