ZZ Top ‎– Tejas

ZZ Top – Tejas

Tejas is the fifth studio album by ZZ Top, originally released in November 1976 on London Records. Recorded during 1976 and produced by longtime ZZ Top producer Bill Ham, it captures the Texas trio of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard at a fascinating point in their development, combining their trademark blues-rock guitar sound with boogie, Southern rock and a growing willingness to experiment in the studio.

The album opens with the bluesy "It's Only Love", before moving through the hard-driving "Arrested For Driving While Blind", the atmospheric "El Diablo" and the swaggering "Snappy Kakkie". "Enjoy And Get It On" continues the record's loose, groove-heavy character, while the second side brings together "Ten Dollar Man", "Pan Am Highway Blues" and "Avalon Hideaway". Dusty Hill takes the lead vocal on "Ten Dollar Man", while his vocals also feature prominently elsewhere on the album.

One of the album's most distinctive moments is "She's A Heartbreaker", which features violin from Lenny Solomon, adding an unusual texture to ZZ Top's otherwise guitar, bass and drums-based sound. The closing "Asleep In The Desert" is an instrumental written by Billy Gibbons and provides a strikingly atmospheric finale, quite different from the band's usual boogie-driven approach.

Tejas sits firmly within the classic 1970s ZZ Top period, following Fandango! (1975) and preceding the band's move to Warner Bros. for Degüello (1979). For fans of "ZZ Top", Texas blues, Southern rock, blues rock and classic 1970s guitar music, this is an essential early album and a particularly good example of the band's rawer pre-Eliminator sound.

Tracklist

Side A

1. It's Only Love – 4:24
2. Arrested For Driving While Blind – 3:05
3. El Diablo – 4:20
4. Snappy Kakkie – 2:56
5. Enjoy And Get It On – 3:23

Side B

1. Ten Dollar Man – 3:42
2. Pan Am Highway Blues – 3:15
3. Avalon Hideaway – 3:07
4. She's A Heartbreaker – 3:02
5. Asleep In The Desert – 3:24