ZZ Top

Since Rhino released an exhaustive four-disc ZZ Top box in October 2003, some may question the appearance of a double-disc retrospective in June 2004, a mere eight months after the box set. The two may be released awfully close to each other, but they do play to different audiences – in other words, there are a bunch of fans who want all the hits, but not a full box set, and that's what the 38-track Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top delivers…

Following 2004's Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top by a decade, The Very Baddest of ZZ Top comes in two different styles: a single-disc compilation with 20 tracks and a set that doubles it. The single disc is good, racking up most of the MTV-era hits – "Gimme All Your Lovin," "Sharp Dressed Man," "Legs," "Got Me Under Pressure," "Rough Boy," "Velcro Fly" – while doubling back for "La Grange, "Tush," "I Thank You," "Waitin' for the Bus," "Jesus Just Left Chicago," "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," and "Cheap Sunglasses."…

ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. The band consists of guitarist and lead vocalist Billy Gibbons, bassist and co-lead vocalist Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard. The band and its members went through several reconfigurations throughout 1969, achieving their current form when Hill replaced bassist Billy Etheridge in February 1970, shortly before the band was signed to London Records…

Well, if you just had your biggest hit ever, you'd probably try to replicate it, too. And if you were praised for being visionary because you played all your blues grooves to a slightly sequenced beat, you'd probably be tempted to not just continue in that direction, but to tighten the sequencer and graft on synthesizers, since it'll all signal how futuristic you are…

Chrome, Smoke & BBQ is a box set by American blues-rock band ZZ Top, released in 2003. This box set is notable for using the original mixes for all of the tracks from the band's first five albums for the first time on the CD format. This box set, and the companion release Rancho Texicano, are the only two CD releases which feature original mixes from ZZ Top's First Album, Rio Grande Mud, and Tejas, aside from 1977's The Best of ZZ Top which features two tracks from Rio Grande Mud and one track from First Album. Tres Hombres and Fandango! were reissued in their original mixes in 2006.

Interestingly, while always priding themselves on being a kick-ass live band, ZZ Top never got around to issuing a full-length live album during their 1970s/1980s peak. But as they say, it's better late than never, and 2011 finally saw the arrival of an archival live ZZ Top recording, Live in Germany 1980. Featuring half of the audio portion of their 2009 Double Down Live DVD, Live in Germany 1980 does a fantastic job of displaying all of the group's pre-Eliminator classics in a concert setting…