Friday, August 26th 2011
News: ZZ Top
Mastodon, Coheed & McKagan Get Their Beards On For ZZ Top
A Tribute from Friends is the title of ZZ Top’s tribute album, featuring Steven Tyler, Mick Fleetwood, Jonny Lang, John McVie (all together, performing as The M.O.B.), Mastodon, Filter, Duff McKagan’s LOADED, Coheed & Cambria and some bands called Nickelback and Wolfmother, among others. The record will celebrate more than 40 years of ZZ Top’s music and influence.
“We’re so delighted that our music resonates with these great musicians whom we so admire” said Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard in a statement, the original and only formation of “That Little Ol’ Band from Texas”. The album is set for release on October 11th .
To honor ZZ Top’s legacy, bands and musicians from all walks of the sonic spectrum and from different generations will appear together on the release. There’s no other situation where Mastodon, Wyclef Jean and Johnny Lang would appear on the same album, unless they lose their minds and attempt some SuperHeavy stunt.
ZZ Top’s influence has come to most of us indirectly, from bands and musicians closer to our generation. Remember that amazing song that came as a bonus track on Queens of The Stone Age’s Lullabies to Paralyze, called Precious and Grace? It had Mark Lanegan roaring through the song, and it featured ZZ Top’s own Billy Gibbons on his guitar duties. For some of us, that served as a generational bridge.
These tributes and cover albums, when well done, serve as a gateway to look further into the catalog of the bands receiving the homage. That’s kind of what happened back in the 60’s, when musicians where digging back, tracing the roots of Rock N’ Roll, to discover the Blues in it’s rawest, purest form.
Hopefully, this celebration here will motivate that interest on most of us. ZZ Top is a band with a great trajectory and cultural influence (you do remember those ZZ Top’s lookalikes while on the fair on Back To The Future III, right?).
This collection will be released by Show Dog-Universal Music.
A Tribute from Friends tracklist:
1. Sharp Dressed Man – The M.O.B. (Mick Fleetwood, Steven Tyler, Jonny Lang & John McVie)
2. Gimme All Your Lovin’ – Filter
3. Tush – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
4. Legs –Nickelback
5. Cheap Sunglasses –Wolfmother
6. Got Me Under Pressure – Duff McKagan’s LOADED
7. Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers – Coheed & Cambria
8. Just Got Paid – Mastodon
9. Rough Boy – Wyclef Jean
10. Waitin’ for the Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago –Daughtry
11. La Grange –Jamey Johnson
GD Nickelback and Wolfmother gotta put a lil douche into something cool…… As I think about it tho, I am somehow not surprised. As a Canadian, I sincerely apologize for Nickelback.
Wyclef? Woah, who let that one slip?
wow..i love zz but i will not be checking this out. coheed , nickelback AND wolfmother? haha..fuck that
How are people knocking wolfmother and nickelback before daugtry? Especially considering he’s tackling one of their best songs…That said I can’t wait to hear what Jamey Johnson does with La Grange, and Mastondon’s should be pretty itneresting as well
pot kills brain cells, so they say…
Like fucking hell it does. Temporarily blocked synapses at the very worst.
Mastondon is definitely most itneresting than daugtry fo’ sho’….
I’m a big fan and I gotta say that looks awful apart from Mastodon. Uninteresting choice of songs too….
And tell me that aint Dusty Hill on the left
I can’t understand why Antiquiet shits on Wolfmother? Apparently, a guitarist with a flamethrower for a right hand is not cool? His soaring vocals don’t showcase an amazing god given talent? No one has invented a machine to make vocal cords pull off sounds like he gets. Daughtry, Wyclef, Duff McKagen, and Nickelback – geez ha ha ha. As soon as ZZ Top calls me and says “Hey, who should we get to play on our next tribute album.” I’ll say: Fellas – Clutch, Black Mountain, Fu Manchu, Black Keyes, Eagles of Death Metal, Monster Magnet, The Sword, and Kings of Leon (yeah I said it) would be a good start.
Clearly, the whole point of a tribute album is for the record company to make money. Therefore, a tribute album needs two big ‘star’ performers (in order to sell the damn thing) at least two ‘cross-over’ acts (to bring in additional sales), one newish band, two bands that actually enjoy the group being tributized, and a few bands with some name recognition to round the disc out.
The Black Keys – our first star performers. Arguably America’s most popular rock band. Loved by their fans and critics alike. Their fans will buy anything with their name on it. Our ‘biggest’ band gets ZZ’s first ‘big’ hit – “La Grange”.
You want cross-over? Well, who better than the Beastie Boys! Both groups never took themselves too seriously. ZZ’s silly beard gimmick and the Beastie’s goofy hip-hop outfits even wearing baggy pants and giant fake necklaces long past when it was cool. Both bands like to party – therefore, BB’s get “Can’t Stop Rockin”
One new band – easy as it gets! Cage the Elephant. Cage always sounds a little too angry for me. Sort of like “Jesus left Chicago”. ‘Nuff said. Let’s move on.
I am 1000% sure The Devil Jesse Hughes owns every ZZ Top album. So, his band Eagles of Death Metal would love to be on this tribute album. And both bands are known to boogie till the break of dawn. And name me to bands who love tongue in cheek lyrics better? So, let the boogie happen Jesse and his boys get: “Tube Snake Boogie”.
‘Big’ band number 2: Kings of Leon. Both bands hail from south of the Mason Dixon line. The Kings of Leon are the undisputed Kings of modern rock. Kings of Leon have their own clothing line! Cheesy yes and so was “Sharp Dressed Man”.
Cross-over number 2 – sort of she is half country half rock I give you Sheryl Crow. Let’s be honest ol’ Sheryl is still real sexy. What would be hotter than having her sing “Tush” you can thank be later. Also, as an added bonus her Eff Buddy (you know it’s true) Kid Rock can play guitar on this track and lay down some duet vocals too!
Neal Fallon from Clutch kind of sounds like ZZ’s vocals anyway. Therefore, let’s give him and Clutch “Precious and Grace”. This is making way too much sense. Let’s make this happen.
Let’s continue the ‘round-out’ with one WTF-how-did-this-band-get-on-here act. Cake – are you doubting they couldn’t do justice to: “Pearl Necklace”? I also, thought that song could use some horns anyway.
We need at least one ‘older’ band to help with the filler. Matthew Sweet will absolutely dominate the guitar work on “I’m bad, I’m Nationwide”. And judging by the last photo I saw of Matt he is now as fat as those chubby rockers in ZZ. So, we got that too.
Clearly, I have way way too much time on my hands. But then again I recently survived the East Coasts first earthquake in 60 years. And I’m about to deal with a hurricane named after my least favorite great Aunt Irene. So, I have the weird conflicting feeling that both anything is possible and I’m living on borrowed time anyway. Let’s rock!
Whoa! That was in-depth my friend. Nice
1. Daughtry blows too, just can’t tear it too far apart, gotta stop somewhere.
2. I’m not really a Wyclef fan at all, but he’s a talented dood and deserves no bashing
3. If pot killed brain cells I would be shitting myself drooling in a care home
4.Matthew Sweet eh…. Right on man!. Forgot about him for awhile. He had a killer lead guitarist for half his albums too…. what the hell was his name…..
Man did this article make me cringe. Before I even looked at any names on the album I was already thinking this is going to be a mess. ZZ Top is one of those bands that I’ve loved since the beginning (my beginning, their beginning preceeded mine by a couple of years) and have remained somewhat untouched by mainstream trends and pop-music influences. Even their MTV-glazed 80s albums which broke into the pop arena still stayed true to their blues-based roots and simple rock-n-roll. To me ZZ Top is band (much like ACDC in a different genre) that has stayed true and has courted only their fans and fans of music like theirs – they should be on display in a glass case in a museum as perfect specimens of their genre, not dissected, “reimagined”, covered, updated”, and all that other bullshit people do when making a tribute album. Make a tribute album when they are dead or irrelevant, not when they are in the same place today they were 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and 40 years ago!
As for the artists on it …. ugh. There might be a gem or 2 in there, but for the most part this list looks like it was put together by some magazine rack rag trying to get as many eyeballs as possible. If any of these bands “get” ZZ Top more than QOTSA I’d be very surprised. They just want to add to their shitty catalog by picking a sure winning song and not having to get up from their sun-soaked Beverly Hills patios to bother to write something. The only thing this tribute album is going to do, for sure, is water down ZZ Top’s legacy by infecting it with drab, mainstream hanger-ons. I think I’ll just plop in a real ZZ Top album instead.