Sharp Dressed Men: Tribute to Zz Top

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Sharp Dressed Men: Tribute Zz Top
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  1. Audio CD: Release Date 2002-04-30
  2. Publisher: RCA
  3. Artist: Various Artists
  4. Format: Import
  5. Sales Rank in Music: #111561

Product Review

ZZ Top's twangy, hyper-charged Texas-style blues-rock has always been superficially irresistible. The blazing guitar riffs and driving rhythms of hits like "Legs" and "Tush" have made them anthems in topless bars the world over. Yet on this 15-cut tribute, country artists like Lonestar, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., and his son, Hank III, not only manage to match the blistering, guitar-driven abandon of ZZ's original hit versions, but also imbue them with a measure of bluesy soulfulness. Some listeners will probably be surprised to discover that these familiar songs do actually have lyrics, since the ZZ boys tend to bury them under a ton of metal. While some of these covers are less than memorable, quite a few are outstanding. Along with the aforementioned artists, Brooks & Dunn (on "Rough Boy"), Alan Jackson ("Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell"), and Andy Griggs ("I Need You Tonight") also evoke a tough tenderness that's often obscured when the Topsters slip their sleek hit-making formula into hard-rockin' overdrive. --Bob Allen
Title Tracks for Sharp Dressed Men: Tribute to Zz Top

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore All The Other Reviews, June 23, 2002
WYK "wyk" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sharp Dressed Men: Tribute to Zz Top (Audio CD)
If you are a ZZ-TOP fan SECOND and a country fan FIRST, this is one of the greatest albums ever. If you are not a country fan, you likely won't enjoy this album, as many other reviewers can attest. The problem is you get ZZ-TOP fans who are expecting some sort of a Rythmeen concoction (Which happens to be my favorite ZZ-TOP album). It's nothing of the sort. It's pure country. Lonestar SOUNDS like Lonestar. Brad Paisley is 100% Paisley. As are Willie, Kenny Chesney, Tracy Bird et al. They ALL sound great on this album, and all manage to make the songs their own.
Buy it because you like Dwight Yoakam, Phil Vassar, Bocephus, but not because you want to hear ZZ-TOP. ZZ-TOP already has their OWN albums out. ;) Leave bluesy, humbucking, grungy goodness to the TOPs. That's what they do best. Country needs to be played by Country.
Y'all take care, now,WYK
Austin, TX


5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning combo of country acts doing zztop, April 30, 2005
Terry G. Clark (Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Sharp Dressed Men: Tribute to Zz Top (Audio CD)
Anybody dissing this record just don't get it. I have downloaded and bought a lot music over the years and this is one of the most entertaining listens i can remember in a long time. All the songs are well done and sound super. There is nothing weird on here just great covers of zz top originals. This record kicks off with a bang and just never stops, soulful blues and smoking rock with a little country twang thrown in on occassion. Not one bad song on this disc, how many of your others discs can you say that about!


12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Are these guys really country afterall?, April 30, 2002
Matt Wagner (Lawton, Ok United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sharp Dressed Men: Tribute to Zz Top (Audio CD)
This project just goes to show how far country has come in 10 years. Also gives a taste of what some of these acts would probably would have been doing if people like Brooks and Dunn or Vince Gill didn't introduce the country audience to the electric guitar.Easy to say if the Eagles came out today, they would only be welcome in the country format - listening to some of country's stars and you have to wonder if they came around 15 years ago if we'd be hearing them on our favorite rock station rather than beside Hank, Waylon, and Willie.This is one of those projects that you just have to sample song to song - some sound like karaoke gone way too far ("Gimme All Your Lovin' - Lonestar, "La Grange" Tracy Byrd, "Fearless Boogie" Hank III), others rock out quite nicely while the artists do their best impersonations of the Brothers Gibbons ("Rough Boy" B&D, "Legs" Trace Adkins, "Cheap Sunglasses" - Warren Brothers, "I Want to Thank You" Phil Vassar), then there are some tunes that are...Read more

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