![“Live From Texas” [Blu-ray] by ZZ Top](https://www.piercingmetal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Bluray-ZZ-Top-Live-In-Texas.jpg)
Artist: ZZ Top
Title: “Live From Texas” [Blu-ray]
Label: Eagle Vision
Release Date: 6/24/2008
Genre: Blues Rock
Rating: 4/5
Having reviewed this DVD when it originally was released on standard edition DVD and finding no real difference other than the presentation on the Blu-ray medium I am re-presenting my words about this issue for those fans who might not own it yet. Please continue.
You’ve heard their songs on the radio for years and cannot deny the instant appeal of their Blues-based Rock sound and yet despite the bands juggernaut level of success there has never been a concert video released from them – until now. Thanks to the folks at Eagle Rock Entertainment, “Live From Texas” captures the power trio on home ground and this release is chock full of the hits that made them famous along with a number of other treats from their back catalog. The band was formed in 1969 and since that time has not had a single lineup change over the almost forty years that they have existed. It’s pretty admirable considering just how many groups have come and gone over that time and how ZZ Top has kept going strong while peers from their early days are finding the need to come out of retirement and do reunion shows with less than half original members. The show presented on this DVD was filmed at the Nokia Theater in Dallas, TX in 2008 and it is sure to keep anyone who watches it entertained. It starts off with “Got Me Under Pressure” from the bands breakthrough “Eliminator” album, and for those interested, the DVD features all four of the main tracks from that release (“Legs”, “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and “Sharp Dressed Man”). Just the mention of those three tunes makes the videos play through in my mind. Visually this is not much to watch because the band is not as much known for antics and showmanship as much as they are for musicianship and groove. If you are looking for super-bombastic display, then you might find this rather dull, but if you want some awesome music then just sit back and press play as this one delivers the goods. Clearly the almost four decade span of their career has not slowed down the talents of Dusty Hill, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard who perform as tight as well fitted glove on each and every tune. Additional classics featured are of course “Cheap Sunglasses” and “Tush” but absent are songs like “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers” which I found to be a little bit of a bummer. With the latter tune having been done by the likes of Lemmy and Ministry, it only serves as a rousing endorsement about the level of impact that this band actually has. Despite my slight and minor reservations about some of the omissions there are clearly enough inclusions of note to make this a rock solid presentation.
Continue reading “Live From Texas” [Blu-ray] by ZZ Top →
Artist: Various Artists
Title: “We Wish You A Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year” Deluxe Edition
Label: Armoury Records
Release Date: 9/14/2010
Genre: Holiday Metal
Rating: 4/5
A couple of years ago the folks over at Eagle Records gave the Metal fans a holiday album that was really something up their alley. Though not as much a story-telling enterprise as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra or as tongue in cheek a delivery as a Twisted Christmas, this really had some interesting and fun stuff to enjoy. Having reviewed the original CD and then its EP follow-up, I decided to combine and slightly rework those thoughts based on Eagle Records re-releasing these albums in time for the 2010 holiday season as one package.
“I’ve been a fan of the holiday juggernaut that is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra for several years now, but there was no way that my experience with that would have prepared me for how Twisted Sister would deliver their “Twisted Christmas” release. I bring them up as it originally hit me as one of the most absurd items in reviews to do pile but after several listens I found myself intrigued at just how well the conventional Metal vibe worked when crafted together with Holiday classics that they chose. It was an album that left you hungry for more and that made the arrival of the “We Wish You A Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year” release something I was eager to dig into. The players on this one are as vast as the Metal genre itself and as result finds legends like Alice Cooper and Ronnie James Dio performing along with the likes of diverse quality players like Steve Lukather and Ray Luzier and many, many more. The vibe of this release is rather heavy which was good and I admit it that it almost felt like a Motorhead track when Lemmy gave it a go at “Run Rudolph Run”. Shock master Alice Cooper and John 5 delivered the creepiest “Santa Claws Is Coming To Town” I’ve ever heard and believe me at the end of this one, the fact that he knows when you are sleeping and knows when you are awake will scare the Charles Dickens out of you. Winners come shining through during a few numbers like “Silver Bells” which has a powerful modern Metal drive to it and Geoff Tate singing and I felt the same way about the albums opening title track that gave us the magical voice of Jeff Scott Soto, a singer I have always been able to enjoy. Dio is at his ominous best with Mr. Iommi and company for “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and the best way to describe this one is as imagine the band Heaven And Hell doing the track. Weird huh, but it does work on some levels. I had to say that I was put off by the Death Metal growls of Chuck Billy and Thrash treatment given to “Silent Night”, as this is a track that I like to much to see given such a reworking. Of course there are some who might enjoy the chance to finally hit the circle pit to this one, so here you go folks. Former Judas Priest/Iced Earth front man extraordinaire Tim Owens hits it out of the park with “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” and he sounds like he is having a blast and the same can be said for King’s X vocalist Dug Pinnick during “Little Drummer Boy”. It wouldn’t be fair for me to ruin every single surprise on the album so I shall leave the remaining tracks to your own surprise as you unwrap this present with glee after you taking it from the spiked leather stockings that are hanging on your mantle. It does end with a rousing rendition of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” and I love this tune and felt the guitarist/singer did a fantastic job of it. He is joined by Toto’s own Steve Lukather who can deliver the goods in any situation it seems.
Continue reading “We Wish You A Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year” (Deluxe Edition) by Various Artists →
Artist: ZZ Top
Title: “Live From Texas”
Label: Eagle Records
Release Date: 11/4/2008
Genre: Blues Rock
Rating: 4/5
Earlier in the summer of 2008, the Blues-Rock trio ZZ Top released their first ever concert DVD on Eagle Vision entitled “Live In Texas”, and it was a great way to enjoy the bands best material in a live performance setting. Presenting the companion CD to the film and while I was happy to be able to load what I saw on the video onto my music player, I am unsure why this was delivered separately in the first place. I know it’s a common practice for companies to put out a DVD and a CD for these live releases but I think based on the ever shifting geography of the music buying public that it is time to stop this and release them together as one affordable package. Like the concert film, the CD finds the band in top-notch form as they deliver their most popular classics such as “Sharp Dressed Man”, “Gimme All Your Lovin’”, and “Legs” among many others. If you had not seen the film, you would be best informed that if you are looking for the bands earliest material that it is not really presented here and that it focused on the blockbuster “Eliminator” album and a few more of the bands staple numbers. All four of the bands most known tunes from that album are presented here for the curious.
Continue reading “Live From Texas” by ZZ Top →
Artist: ZZ Top
Title: “Live From Texas”
Label: Eagle Vision
Release Date: 6/24/2008
Genre: Blues Rock
Rating: 4/5
You’ve heard their songs on the radio for years and cannot deny the instant appeal of their Blues-based Rock sound and yet despite the bands juggernaut level of success there has never been a concert video released from them – until now. Thanks to the folks at Eagle Rock Entertainment, “Live From Texas” captures the power trio on home ground and this release is chock full of the hits that made them famous along with a number of other treats from their back catalog. The band was formed in 1969 and since that time has not had a single lineup change over the almost forty years that they have existed. It’s pretty admirable considering just how many groups have come and gone over that time and how ZZ Top has kept going strong while peers from their early days are finding the need to come out of retirement and do reunion shows with less than half original members. The show presented on this DVD was filmed at the Nokia Theater in Dallas, TX in 2008 and it is sure to keep anyone who watches it entertained. It starts off with “Got Me Under Pressure” from the bands breakthrough “Eliminator” album, and for those interested, the DVD features all four of the main tracks from that release (“Legs”, “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and “Sharp Dressed Man”). Just the mention of those three tunes makes the videos play through in my mind. Visually this is not much to watch because the band is not as much known for antics and showmanship as much as they are for musicianship and groove. If you are looking for super-bombastic display, then you might find this rather dull, but if you want some awesome music then just sit back and press play as this one delivers the goods. Clearly the almost four decade span of their career has not slowed down the talents of Dusty Hill, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard who perform as tight as well fitted glove on each and every tune. Additional classics featured are of course “Cheap Sunglasses” and “Tush” but absent are songs like “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers” which I found to be a little bit of a bummer. With the latter tune having been done by the likes of Lemmy and Ministry, it only serves as a rousing endorsement about the level of impact that this band actually has. Despite my slight and minor reservations about some of the omissions there are clearly enough inclusions of note to make this a rock solid presentation.
Continue reading “Live From Texas” (DVD) by ZZ Top →
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